I gave blood tonight. It went well. I don't mind giving blood. Of course I like the cookies and juice at the end, like some kind of big reward for doing it.
The Canadian Blood Service is very good. I liked the Red Cross and was disappointed to see them kicked off the blood collection after the health scandals in the past. I thought they worked hard to make the changes and I had confidence in them. But CBS is good. I like that they have appointments now and call you before to remind you about them.
I took 8 minutes to fill the bag. That's OK. One time years ago I did it in 5. They said I was too fast and made me wait a few minutes since maybe I lost the blood too fast. That was a good experience. I always like to get the blood pressure done. I always worry my numbers will start getting bad, although I don't know how to read the 3 numbers. They were about the same as last time so the trajectory is about flat which is OK.
I know I don't exercise like I used to so I always expect to see worse numbers in that area. Back in 1998 I was riding my bike to work downtown every day. In August I went in to give blood at the Gottingen Street site. When the worker took my blood pressure she was impressed at my numbers. She asked me if I was a runner. I said I biked. She wrote "athlete" on the form. That was pretty good.
Another time when I was young back in 1991 I gave blood one day early in the day. Then I went out to play tennis in the afternoon. I was a little sluggish but I won both sets. I wouldn't try that today, but at the time I realized it was nice to be young and able to do stuff like that. That was a good summer, 1991.
Is there anything as satisfying as winning at tennis? Not much. Winning at chess is pretty good too, not quite as good.
The thing about the blood is that I'm glad I'm in the position if giving it instead of needing to receive it so that's something to be grateful for.
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