I gave blood once as a junior in college. It was a big deal and some believed
blood loss permanently damaged one's health and many opted out. We were
encouraged to do it with cash rewards, honors, and perks such as free tasty
foods from the students' canteens to help us recover from such a profound loss.
I forgot exactly why I decided to do it this time. It could be an ad on the street
or a spam email. Or just cabin fever from weeks of shelter-in-place. Also the
thought hit me that the pandemic must have brought down the number of
donors and it was a good time to invest.
Anyway, at 2:45pm Apr 15 I found myself filling out forms and answering
questions on an iPad at a local blood center. One warning read that one should
not donate in order to get a blood test, which I thought ridiculous but must
have happened often enough. As my last time was 25 years ago, I qualified as a
first-time donor here.
Americans do not seem to worry too much about losing a pint of blood now and
then (or as frequent as every two months for whole blood donation). In fact,
bloodletting used to be popular and recently seemed to revive. People at the
clinic told me that there used to be a long waiting line even two weeks ago.
The place was run like an assembly line. I was first scanned, briefed, and
registered. Next, I was taken to a room for some tests. My hemoglobin was 17.3
which was good but blood pressures (100/64) were low after the six-mile run
earlier that day. "Eat something salty before and after" the elderly woman,
Aileen, told me. I was then handed over to Joanna, a young girl of medium height
and a sweet voice, who took the blood. We joked around a bit and it was done in
ten min. I was led to a canteen area and given a cup of orange juice. I couldn't
see any of their faces, heavily masked. In another 15 min, I left.
Unlike the hero-like treatment last time, I had two cookies and two cups of
juice and got a card for a Jersey Mike's sub.
The brochure they gave me said that, with good foods and/or supplements, it
would take 60 days for the iron to restore to the previous level and meanwhile
endurance will suffer. For supper, I had beef steak with salt and garlic. My
mind felt a bit less clear toward the end of the day. The next morning, I lifted
weight just as the day before. No problem. It would be interesting to see how
well I would do in the weekend long run.
P.S.
Losing 10% of blood seemed to make running harder. I ran 7 miles two days
later. Normally, I breathe in over four steps and out over five. But toward
the end of that run, keeping that pattern was harder. I had to do three-in
four-out sometimes. Skipping a long run, I took Tim to Mission Peak on Sat
and was surprised that I needed to take a nap in the afternoon.
Other activities, e.g., working and weight-lifting, have been business-as-usual.
