I Skipped Breakfast, Donated Blood, Went For An Ill-Advised (Post-Donation)Walk, And Forgot To Eat Lunch.
Yet I was on a roll, my productivity at an all-time high. Why?
So all of this is true. I did donate blood, sans breakfast, simply because I cant eat early in the morning, came back, hung some washing on the line, then went for a long walk.
It was only on hiking back up the hill towards home, that I remembered about the Blood Bank questionnaire I’d filled out. I’d answered NO to: Do you plan to do any challenging physical exercise today?
Oh well, too late.
Forgetting to eat lunch was more about there being nothing exciting, or immediate to eat, at home, so I dismissed my fleeting despondency, knowing I would be shopping later.
And got stuck into writing.
What was different, and very unlike me, was that I then wrote two Medium stories, edited a few others from fellow writers, and commented on some others.
After which, I went shopping.
I also cooked dinner in record-quick time…we won’t talk standards here!
The thing is, my days are rarely so action packed.
Wonderwomanism is not my bag.
Sadly, I now have to report that I am NOT Wonderwoman.
One day later and I am paying the price for believing I might have been, no energy, and very little creative inspiration.
Donating blood is a wonderful gift, but recovery can be as much as several weeks.
Your blood is vital
Still, given the huge number of people relying on blood donations, I am grateful that I am able to. Besides, as a universal donor, it’s become something of a moral duty to donate.
A universal donor, for those who don’t understand, is a person whose blood cells can be given to anyone in an emergency.
It also means ours is a hugely popular, and relatively-rare group!
But it’s not all about giving
There are distinct benefits for donors too.
“For as long as medicine has been around, we’ve had to rely on the goodness of other people to give us blood when we need it,” says Dr. Sarah Vossoughi, the medical director of apheresis and associate director of transfusion medicine and cellular therapy at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. “We really need people who want to come and donate. The fact that we can store blood and use it when we need it in parts — whether you need the red cells, the plasma, or the platelets — has been a huge medical advance.”
While blood donors don’t expect to be rewarded for the act of kindness, rolling up your sleeve comes with some surprising health benefits.”
Here’s what you get when you give blood:
Donating blood can alert you to possible health issues
This is a way to way to keep an eye on your cardiovascular health. “You’ll receive a mini-physical prior to the blood draw, in which someone will check your pulse, blood pressure, body temperature, hemoglobin and more. This can sometimes shed light on issues you didn’t even know about”
Some years ago I got a call from a Red Cross doctor. I had donated a couple of days previously. She asked if I was feeling well. I was. “It’s just that there was problem with your donation,” she said.
When I probed further, she explained that my blood had been combined with another donor’s and they weren’t sure where the problem lay. ‘I’ll get back to you,” she assured me.
She never did, so I suppose the problems was not with me.
Donating can remove harmful iron stores. “Hemochromatosis is a disease that causes an iron overload and is labeled as the most common genetic disease among Caucasians.”
It can also lower the risk of your having a heart attack. Imagine reducing your risk of a heart attack by 88 percent. That’s according to a study conducted by the American Journal of Epidemiology. This also relates to the iron issue.
Even the risk of cancer is lowered. “Phlebotomy (the process of drawing blood) was found to be an iron-reduction method that is associated with lower cancer risk and mortality, according to a study published by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.”
Would you say yes to a healthy liver? This gets back to the level of iron in your blood. Avoiding the overload could protect you from NAFLD, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
And what about the warm-fuzzy effect of donating? Knowing that you are helping sick people, especially the chronically-ill, really is a great feeling. I see it as part of volunteering. It costs a couple of hours of your time, factoring in distance in my case.
It’s one thing to give blood, but the psychological health benefit works in tandem with donating. It’s the best feeling.
That you, the donor, are also the beneficiary, is such a bonus.
So what do you think? Are you prepared to roll up your sleeve, donate some life-saving red stuff, knowing you’re making a difference?
Bear in mind that not everyone CAN donate, which means that at times, hospitals are stretched to the limit.
“My Blood Type Is The Only Reason Why My Friends Remember Me. By The Way, My Blood Type Is O Negative.”
But here’s an even better reason to donate. In giving blood, you can always be assured you’re somebody’s TYPE!
You’ll always be somebody’s TYPE!