Thursday, ROCKtober 23rd, 2008

Goodness it's been a long time. The 18th of September, in fact. Until the 21st of September. That's a month. The reasons for not doing plasma during that time include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Couldn't make appointments because the schedule fills up so fast and I was too late to get the time slots I needed.
  • Went to Kaua'i, Hawai'i.
  • Worked overtime at my real job, making more money than I can make doing plasma.
  • Medical family emergencies and the aftereffects thereof.
So yes, I went and did plasma on Tuesday, and the place is all ripped apart and switched around and I was lost but it all worked out and today I'm an old hand at the new (albeit temporary) system. And then yesterday, Wednesday, I got a card in the mail from Biolife saying, more or less, "We miss you, come back, please donate again." Obviously it missed me in the mail, having been sent before I donated on Tuesday, and the whole process is a computerized automated thing anyway of sending out cards to the wayward plasma donor.

Monday night / Tuesday morning I didn't sleep. Or did, but it was about a half hour. Had to take the missus to the emergency room. Long story, point is, I had hardly any sleep and so on Tuesday I was quite loopy. Pure adrenaline and caffeine all day. I was worried about doing plasma in such a condition, but it turned out to be fine. Specifically I thought I could potentially fall asleep while laying in the chair/bed, which is bad. But I pulled through. The action of pumping your fist during the draw cycles is enough work to keep you awake, and then during the three or five minutes while you're idle you don't quite have time to get relaxed enough to go to sleep. So it turned out to be just fine, and that was a relief.

See, donating plasma isn't just laying there and waiting. The hard part is not enduring the pain of the needle. For me, anyway. I suppose it varies from person to person. Pumping your fist doesn't sound like all that much work, but for forty-five minutes or an hour, it is. At least, the way I do it it is. I have an orange squish-ball that I work the living daylights out of. Other people generally just move their fingers in and out really fast, which seems kind of pathetic to me. But then, I'm old-fashioned. Also hardcore. You don't want to mess with me trust me you don't.

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