One Hundred And One Things

Just before Christmas I went to give blood for the fourth time this challenge. I'd booked an appointment, left work early, and turned up at the church hall. (It's only five minutes walk up the road from work, so not too much hassle.) I handed my form in at the desk, had a drink of water, read through the 'Before You Give Blood' leaflet, and was called through. The nurse went through my health questionnaire with me; I explained that I'd had flu and had been on a course of antibiotics to clear up a cough, but not in a timeframe that would affect my ability to give blood.

So far, so good. The next bit is where it always goes wrong...

The nurse pricked my finger and took a little blood to drop in a jar of copper sulphate. All being well, the drop of blood should, well, drop to the bottom: this shows that you have enough haemoglobin. Mine didn't. It floated around at the top.

When this happens, they have to take a second sample of blood - a small phial full. This comes out of a vein in your arm, but not the arm you usually donate with, in case you find that your haemoglobin levels are fine after all. I wasn't hopeful. We did all the messing around with rolling up sleeves and finding veins, and the nurse took this sample off to be tested. (I'm not entirely sure how this is done.) The minimum level is 125 - I am not sure what the unit is, but I only came in at 121. So I'm not dying. I'm not even anaemic. But I couldn't give blood. So I went back to work, with a little leaflet telling me how to get my iron levels up. (Iron deficiency is the most likely cause of low haemoglobin.)

This still counts towards goal 50. I did everything that was in my power to do. I turned up, and I was prepared to give blood. And I'll try not to drink so much tea with my meals for the next four months.

Why do I want to do this?

I'm a reasonably regular blood donor; I just want to keep the habit going. You wouldn't believe how much trouble I had with the wording of this goal. On the last list I had 'Give blood five times'. Fine. Except at least three of the times I went to a donation session I wasn't able to give blood, for various health-related reasons - and so I missed it.

Then I thought, well, why not aim for whatever the next level is in the award scheme. The trouble with that idea is that I've already got the blue card, and have been at least twice since then - so getting the bronze award would entail very little effort. I can't attempt silver, though, because one can only give blood three times a year. I think I've got the wording about right now. We shall see.


How will I know I've done it?

I'll have turned up at seven blood donation sessions, and have made every effort to give blood.


I'll record this in this post, and potentially in other posts in this journal.

[9th December 2010] [Two] [Three] [Four] [Five] [Six] [Seven]