Diabetes Blog – Happy-Medium.net

I toyed with the idea of headlining this post “Oops, I did it again”, but that just seems cliche now. And a little sad. And who could ever confuse me with Britney Spears? Okay, I’ll just stop now…

Saturday, I did it again: I donated blood.

According to the American Red Cross, “Diabetics who are well controlled on insulin or oral medications are eligible to donate”. When I learned this over a year ago, I was thrilled to know I could again participate in something I consider a civic duty.

This was the first time I had donated blood outside of my work environment, where they usually hold 2 or 3 blood drives every year. Instead, this time, I went to the local Red Cross office, which, thankfully for me, was only about a ten minute drive from home. I arrived early and was greeted by a friendly person who asked me to sign in, then chided me for looking at my donor card to double-check my blood type. “You should always know your blood type. It’s critical information in times of emergency”.

In my defense, I did know my blood type, but I wasn’t 100 percent sure of it until I looked again. For the record, I’m an O Positive. I think that’s kind of rare, because as soon as I’m eligible again, the Red Cross will start calling me, asking me to come back, the vampires. I joke all the time that the only two phone calls I ever get are from my wife and the Red Cross.

Only they don’t look like vampires down there. They’re just ordinary people going about their jobs, complaining about the bad children’s music blaring from the television in the waiting area, comparing nail polish, and talking about their husbands and wives. They make the whole process easy, comfortable, and as painless as possible.

It was about as nice an experience as you can have (sans the bad kiddie music) while having blood drained from your body. I generally don’t have any of the post-donation wooziness that some people experience after giving. But Saturday, I did have one or two moments where I needed to find a chair for a couple of minutes. Too much running around, I guess.

For the record, that makes four blood donations in a little over 13 months. It’s true… I have Type 1 diabetes and I can donate blood. And to quote Martha Stewart (which I thought I’d never do on this blog), that’s a very good thing.

Curious about whether you can donate blood yourself? If you’re in the USA, you can find all the info at redcrossblood.org, or send me an e-mail using the link in the upper-left corner of this page and I’ll tell you what I know.