A pint of your finest..

Alright - I've been warned not to go on about this too much but I really can't let the opportunity pass without reporting that I gave blood last week for the first time. I'd been to the clinic once before about 6 years ago. The company I worked for at the time organised a bus to come and take several of us down to D'Olier Sreet to give up a pint of the red stuff. We all rolled in and, one-by-one, realised that for a variety of reasons, including foreign nationality, recent illnesses, iron deficiency, unprotected sex with dubious characters and regular, enthuiastic consumption of various class A drugs, we wouldn't be able to donate. I won't say what my excuse was but let me assure you that there's never been a problem with my iron levels!

So, I went in last Thursday evening and filled out the questionnaire they give you when you arrive. There's lots of questions about drug use, medical history and general well-being etc. to consider. You have to answer no to all the questions. Which is easy because nobody would ever say yes to any of them! Not to a stranger at least. If the answer to any of the questions was yes, I think I'd just bin the form and run for the hills. No need to let a middle-aged woman know what you've been up to.. As it was, I was brought into a consultation room where a man looked at my form and asked me all the questions again. As if I might answer the question 'have you had unprotected sex with someone who has paid for sex in the last 12 months' any differently the second time around. Unless, of course, they think you might have odne it in the time you were waiting between completing the form and having the consultation. It's possible I guess.

So after I passed the test, I was taken into a room where my blood was tested for iron content (or something - I wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying) and then I was led into the Bloody Chamber. Actually that's not what it was called but I thought it sounded better. The woman taking blood out of me didn't laugh though.. They took my blood pressure first which was good, I think. 100 over 60. That's good, isn't it? After that they tried to find a vein which was a bit of an effort. I've never been the veiniest of boys really - although the same can't be said for me being the vainest of boys, a title for which I've been competing aggressively for some time now. In the end, they gave up on my left arm, moved on to the right and hit gold. Or blood, I suppose. And that was it. I was given a little dog toy (but not a toy dog, which might have been fun) to exercise my fist, told not to cross my legs (which seemesed a bit silly - but I guess it's really important) and spend about 10 minutes chating to a lovely woman about rugby and tennis. Two subjects that I dont really have 10 minutes worth of chitterchatter going spare. Still - i held in and waited patiently while she extracted a pint of really red blood from my right arm. I'm sure everyone says that their blood seems really dark but it did.. Much darker than when you cut a finger or something.

Afterwards I went off to the little canteen and had chocolate and Guinness. They actually give you Guinness. I thought that was a bit of a myth but they really did. In a way I was worried Id be one of those people who faints after they give blood but afterwards I was a little put out that I felt fine. I was hoping for some kind of wooziness or something. Just for kicks really. But no, I felt fine throughout. It really is quite painless. I'm actually a little embarassed that it took me this long to give blood. I expect I'll be back sooner rather than later. I'm going to find out this week what kind of blood I've got. I hope it's something rare. I expect it won't be though.


Actually, if anyone from the Blood Transfusion Board is reading (you never know - someone claiming to be from Dublin Port posted last week!), I have to give them top marks for the operation in there. I know that it's their job to make people feel good and well looked after but they're really doing great work.

Go on - drop in some time and give them a pint. You'll feel better and, more importantly, so will someone else.