Donating Blood

http://www.blood.co.uk/pages/flash_questions.html

well done the national blood service...

oh it's the same site with 2 different addresses :(

12 months after a tat (or acupuncture!)it appears

I remember once saying "yes" to the drugs question & I had to speak to 3 different people about it & they put a white paper clip on my file. Oh the shame.

it puts me right off, i can tell you: i mean, i fucking hate needles in the first instance, but i feel it's my duty to go and donate.

i guess it's time for another attempt. piss.

there shouldn't be any need to make an appointment: just hoy along to your nearest donating centre. obviously, if you go at a busy time (lunchtime, 5pm, saturday mid-morning) you'll be waiting around a bit, but go early in the morning or an hour before they close and you should be seen pretty quickly.

the staff in glasgow are wonderful: a lovely bunch. i just feel bad that i keep letting them down. honestly: it's like not being able to get an erection.

er, i imagine.

I have given about 9 times now, I think. And I hate needles with a passion.

mark, you've never had a drying-up problem, then?

nicole: join the club!

you have to re do the quest and the haemoglobin test each time you donate, which is quite fun because usually the only things thats changed is if you've been abroad, so you get to boast about yr travels, to a largely unconcerned nurse.

http://sparky.thehold.net/pix/arm

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs169.snc3/19663_288344793782_556118782_4529871_2867050_n.jpg

Donate blood. That is all.

i donated blood a little while ago for the first time. Apparently I have exceptionally small veins :/ I will go back again when I'm allowed to at the end of February.

You can donate blood w a tattoo? Or does it only have to be more than 6 mos old or something?

ugh, I haven't given in over a year, I need to get back to a regular schedule

I want to donate blood.

That picture made me queasy and dizzy.

How do I reconcile these two things?

It doesn't hurt, that red stuff in the photo is antiseptic swab not blood, and it really makes you feel like a hero when you're done.

The place I give blood to lets you donate if you have tattoos over one year old. That did not stop them from calling me literally every week in the year after I got my most recent tat, telling them, "Please don't call me again until Jan. 2010, when I will be eligible to give blood. I can't help you right now! I've told you this several times." And they kept calling anyway. It made me so mad I almost wanted to never help them out again, but I ended up donating blood last Saturday. Those sons of bitches!

Also, free juice and cookies, and sometimes a free t-shirt.

To clarify:

Belligerent phone workers: dud.
Giving blood: awesome, super classic, costs nothing, saves lives, you get to see your own blooood which is cool if you are a weirdo like me.

If you are planning on donating blood, drink hell of delicious water beforehand. Makes that shit a lot easier.

Yes, the phone workers are obnoxious. I only gave this weekend because they were badgering Mrs. Kongvsgodzilla and I had to get on the phone and ask if they'd take me in her place, since the only time she gave blood she puked and doesn't want to go back.

I used to give several times a year, back when I was a student. It's been hard to squeeze it in recently, but I really want to get back in the habit because they need blood.

Still gay, still ineligible!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NInft_D7i2U&feature=player_embedded

I have inexplicably woken up in the middle of the night, thinking: I don't donate blood, maybe I should.

I've never done it, I've never even considered it, I haven't got the faintest idea where this suddenly came from (haven't read about someone being rescued by a blood donation, haven't seen or heard it being mentioned) - anyway, I'm gonna see where and when the next local event at the Red Cross is now. I'll see if I can fill up a jerrycan by then.

So yeah. I guess this is how callings work for religious people.

Good for you! It's a great feeling.

I need to start going back. The main recruiter at UBS in Tupelo kind of drove me away from donating after I gave double red cells instead of whole blood a couple of times. She thought she had a milk cow she could just hook up to the pump whenever, and basically harassed me to try to keep to a schedule I didn't want. But it's a tougher donation than whole blood.

I've just given up on it, every time I've tried in the past two years they've spent 10+ minutes poking at me only to conclude I apparently no longer have veins. I was really into donating blood, too!

The Food and Drug Administration announced on Tuesday that it would scrap a prohibition on blood donation by gay and bisexual men, but would keep a block on donations by men who have had sex with other men in the last 12 months.

Define "have had sex."

I donate every two months (some reasons), but every time I run through the list of intrusive questions about my private life, health and travels I feel like the most boring person around.