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June 30, 2018: I gave blood today. So I answered a question on Quora about why. The first part of this piece is about my blood-giving history.
When I was a young man, there were blood banks. Every pint I gave was counted. I was told if I was ever in the hospital and needed blood, any blood I got would be free up to the amount I gave. Plus, it was a good thing to do- many people in hospitals need blood. Donating saves lives.
A friend of mine, Jeanne, got me started in 1976 or 77. In college she had a job at the UW working in their blood center. But I can’t remember. Maybe she just told me about it? I gave at least once- it was a long way across campus and this was decades before online accounts and email. It gradually sunk in that it was important.
After I transferred to Stanford, I only donated during blood drives. I think that continued through the 1980s when I started to work- I just donated blood when someone asked.
I think I gave again in the 1990s and discovered the blood banks were gone. They said it was because so many people got jobs with health insurance. The health insurance simply paid for the blood, so there was "no need" for people to save their blood credit. I felt a bit robbed that they would just wipe out my "savings" without telling me...
But Blood Centers of the Pacific gave a free movie pass with each donation. It was harder to get to, so I didn’t go too often.
In 2006 I discovered Stanford had a donation center about a half mile from my house! I suggested to Stanford that they also give a movie ticket, but they didn’t want to- they only gave them for special occasions, like when they were short of blood... I tried to stop by BSP on my way home from work, but usually I worked too late. I only went twice a year in 2004 and 2005 and once in 2006. In late 2007 I began to go more often.
I discovered in 2014, when I worked at ServiceNow, that Blood Centers had a website where I could find a nearby blood drive, so I did that a few times. I rarely rememered to look for one, so I didn’t go often. To make it more convenient, I tried to organize a regular blood drive at ServiceNow, but the company wasn’t interested in supporting it. I found that difficult to understand as well (they said they were worried about liability...) Once or twice, one of my coworkers joined me.
On average, I’ve donated 4.5 times per year (the max is 6.5 times, once every 8 weeks) since 2007.
Stanford had one blood clinic that had few people on Mondays, so they gave out movie tickets. I only made it there once- it was 5 miles out of my way. In 2017, when I worked for a year at Stanford Medical School, it was on my commute. But we rarely go to the movies, so I went back to just giving on Saturday at the blood bank close to home.
Before the donation, they do a pin-prick on the side of a finger to get a drop of blood to measure one’s hemoglobin (iron) level- too low and they won’t let you donate (that happened to me once because I was exercising a lot.) I I always tense up before they do it, but the anticipation is worse than the momentary pain. Today, the worker pricked the fingertip instead! I didn’t give it much thought- that rarely happens...
In the donation chair, I barely felt the needle go in- that was wonderful! Often it’s uncomfortable for a few minutes. Only once did I not feel it at all- that was last year. The last time I donated, 2 months ago, it was a bit painful for the whole donation. Today, it healed well, too- but that’s normal. I only had a bruise at the injection site once in 50 donations..
But today my fingertip still hurts, 8 hours later! Usually they do it in the side of the finger which is much less sensitive. I’ll try to remember next time to make sure it’s in the side... But I’m sure the slight pain will be gone by tomorrow. The other hassle today was that there was a wait, so the whole thing took 90 minutes instead of an hour.
Still, it’s not much hassle compared with the value of the donation.
Bonus: It provides a check on health stats.
PS: Once in 2010 I donated double-red cells. This can be done only half as often, so it saves effort. It weirded me out a bit to have my blood go through yards of plastic tubing and then come back into my body. I didn’t do it again. Plus, a double-red donation does’t include platelets, so it’s a bit less valuable to them.
PPS: I also signed up as a bone-marrow donor, but have never been called. It’s a bigger deal (adventure) to donate bone-marrow. I don’t recall the details, but I spent a full day learning about it years ago and finally signing up. I looked it up just now- it can involve an overnight stay in the hospital and it takes most people 2–30 days to recover. Plus, complications are possible.
But again, it’s a huge good-deed to the recipient and his/her family. I decided that for me, not signing up would be cowardly and petty. That’s not who I want to be.
PS Mar 8, 2021: They’re still open during the Covid epidemic, but no walk-ins, appointments only. It’s better- there’s less wait, so it takes about 40 minutes. Usually I only go in on Saturdays because I work during the day. Going in early doesn't work because it usually makes me tired for the rest of the day, and I work standing up at my computer. But I just discovered they’re open some evenings! My appointment was at 6:30pm.