My Blood, there’s a reason it’s on the Inside…

I gave blood today. I don’t mean I donated it, who’d want it? I mean, in the morning I had to go to the clinic and have blood drawn for tests. Very nearly gave all of it away this time. The human body has 6 quarts, or about 5.5 litres…. That’s it… 3 – two litre pop bottles is every drop of blood in your body.

In one 24 hour period, your blood travels almost 12,000 miles, the average heart beats around 35 million times a year and in the average lifetime, your heart pumps a million barrels of blood, enough to fill three supertankers… great, very interesting but all that only works provided they leave you with some blood to actually circulate…. rather than the sad little liquid marbles rolling around the lonely highway that are my literally bled dry veins. You know what I’m a big fan of? My blood and I’ll admit to going fairly out of my way in an effort to keep it, all of it. I’m funny that way.

If you’ve had opportunity to have blood drawn recently you’ll know about those colour coded vials they use… I’m not sure how much they hold – if it’s just pop or juice, the volume is next to nothing BUT when it’s blood and your blood in particular, they are HUGE, this morning she filled 8 vials…8…. easily, that is like 98% of my total volume of blood. I mean she just seemed to really be enjoying herself and didn’t want to stop when the light hit her just so, she kind of looked like Dexter, all the while my fluid gauge falling with no end in sight…. maybe she had some painting to do, maybe she just knew tasty blood when she saw it…. I have no idea.

She seemed old enough to have some experience under her belt, but I suppose she could have been new. I’d think when your patient goes Casper White and starts making random gurgling noises… it may not be a bad idea to re-evaluate the situation rather than blindly pressing on…. I knew I was in trouble when I started seeing hobbits in the stall next to mine. So starting to feel more than a little light-headed I uncharacteristically struck up a conversation with Frodo, couldn’t understand a word he said, something about a ring….

Just as we started making some headway in our middle earth discussion and why he was partial to original flavour Doritos, Nurse Ratchet decides to stick a cork in me. Leaving me with an ever so gentle whisper of blood trickling on…..

I give the experience 2 stars, and in the future, implore her to not be so greedy…

Have a great Day.