Sunday, June 1, 2008

A Bloody Worry

It was a worrisome call. My voice-mail message at work disclosed that it was Patti at the Cincinnati airport and it was about the blood donation I made there in early May. Could I call her please?

What would you think? Returning home from the Flying Pig Marathon, I had a couple of hours to kill at the airport so I followed some signs to a local blood donation center. They raised their eyebrows at my blood pressure ("Is it always this high?") but took my blood anyway. I left a pint lighter, my 75th lifetime donation (I'm a runner. I write this stuff down). I really do it for the cookies and soda you get afterwards.

If you actually read all the stuff they tell you to beforehand, it would scare you. It's bad to have gone to Africa, England, Europe, or the Channel Islands, to have been in the American military since 1980, to have decorated your body, to have had sex, to have treated baldness, to have taken drugs, or to have cavorted with certain people. (Oh no, I don't think any of them ever did any of that. Shall I call them up and ask them?)

And if you have AIDS or something, they'll not only tell you but they'll report you too. You'll never get insurance in this country again! No good deed goes unpunished!

As I listened to Patti's message, I was hoping that it was the West Nile Virus they were going to tell me I had, and not something awful like Hep C or HIV. Not that I do ever do anything fun beyond running 26 miles to be at risk for those diseases. That's plenty of fun, right?

I finally got ahold of Patti after her days off. She knew exactly who I was the instant I said my name. "Oh, yessir, I have your file right here! Do you remember giving blood earlier this month at the airport in Cincinnati?"

I swallowed hard. "Yes," I whispered.

"You won a t-shirt. Where shall we send it?"

15 comments:

David said...

A bloody fine T-shirt at that I'm sure.

DawnB said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DawnB said...

OMG LOL, I just can't believe this. congratulations on giving blood. Wear that Tshirt with pride.

Unknown said...

Ha!

I can actually relate to this because Mark gives blood religiously and has ever since I almost died after giving birth to our son (long story, but he's repaying for the blood that saved my life and saving many others in return).

We occasionally get calls from teh blood center too. Once they called because he had anemia. Often they called because he's able to give blood as of today and could he please make a trip there tomorrow. And once it did sound serious....and he had won a coffee mug!!!

yumke said...

My god that would scare the hell out of me! I think she should actually say you won the tshirt and not have you guessing

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh! I'm so glad it was just winning a t-shirt, that must have been scary.

They really should change the way they inform people of these things.

Unknown said...

Sorry to hear the story about your sister. At least you *get* why they screen donors for disease these days. Too bad it wasn't that way for her. :(

Don said...

So this good deed did NOT go unpunished, but if you like the T-shirt maybe that'll even it out :-)

Sunshine said...

What an unnecessary scare for you! But at the end I really did LOL! What every runner needs is another T-shirt.. Sure hope it is a good one worth wearing proudly.

Susan said...

Oh happy day! You had me worried there for a second!

ShirleyPerly said...

Oh man, she should know that leaving a message might cause worry. Glad it turned out to be a prize, LOL.

akshaye said...

Haha! Glad that was it.

CewTwo said...

Life should be a balance, I guess.

It can make you wonder about the way, why and how. So worried about abstract possibilities, and s feeling of immediate relief and gratification when the news is known.

Great story that affected all of us. Thanks for sharing, Peter!

Anne said...

Hey, thanks for giving blood -- and so often. I'm a major donor too, or was until the scar tissue built up to the point that pulling a pint was too painful. It's hard to find people here who having been on a cruise outside the U.S. (i.e., Mexico) or having gotten a tattoo in the last year, so the need is always great.

Glad the T-shirt arrived (I read ahead) and was well received.

Jade Lady said...

Ah, gees - I'd be so worried too! A bloody Tshirt! Bet you've never been happier to know you won a tshirt!