negative
totally depressing - i was informed today that i can never donate blood again because i've lived in italy (well, can never donate again until they develop a test for mad cow disease). i went down to the building conference room, where the red cross had set up shop, and was promptly sent away (though all the staff were really sweet about it and gave me cookies anyway). i understand that they don't want mad cow disease sweeping through the country's blood reserves, but since i've donated blood a lot and firmly believe in doing it, especially since there is almost constantly not really enough blood and this summer has been particularly bad, i was sad. fucking european cows.
anyone want to donate in my place? if you've never done it before, it's kind of a fun experience. there is the whole sticking-an-enormous-needle-in-your-arm part of the deal, but then you just lie back for 15 minutes and squeeze a ball repeatedly. and then you get all the juice, cookies and soda you want. you also then have a fool-proof justification for not exercising for the next few days, and it can usually get you out of work for an hour or more (what boss is going to say you can't cut out for the afternoon to donate blood?). and you get to wear a "i donated today" sticker around, proclaiming your donor superiority to all who can see.
info here. go donate!
Comments
Do you think that they'll turn me away for living in Scotland?
I just checked it out. If you've spent more than 3 months in Scotland since 1980 you can't donate either. Man that Sucks! It was 6 months for Italy.
I bet if you even thought about going to Russia you're out.
i think russia is actually okay (especially if you were there for under 6 months). here are the no-no countries (it's much more lengthy than i would have though):
You are not eligible to donate if, since 1980, you :
Spent a total time of 3 months or more in any of these countries:
England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Channel Islands, or
Spent a total time of 6 months or more in any combination of these countries:
Albania, Andorra, Austria, Azores, Belarus, Belgium, Boznia/Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Channel Islands, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Falkland Islands, Faroe Island, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland (Republic of), Isle of Man, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Madeira Islands, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Netherlands (Holland), Northern Ireland, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Scotland, Slovak Republic (Slovakia), Slovenia, Spain, Svalbard, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Vatican City, Wales, Yugoslavia (includes Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia)
hmm. with vacations, I guess I'm over the limit for Italy, too.
Then again, I do distinctly remember being served and eating marinated raw ground beef on several occasions while over there. So yeah... they might have a point on that whole BSE thing.
tommy, i think you would be okay because it is six consecutive months. and that raw meat was tasty!
My boss just told me that some woman in her 20's just died of Mad Cow that she probably contracted when she was 8 or 9. That's scary!
Not that cooking the meat would get rid of BSE... so I say you're golden. Give me your blood.
I just gave blood today. The cookies were mediocre and they were out of juice.
How could they be out of juice???? What will they use to revive the people who are turning white about to pass out? (Not that I have first hand experience or anything.)
Well, one girl did pass out. I guess soda and water are a poor substitute.
Did they at least fan her? I got fans and juice and my chair tilted. It was like being in a tropical paradise, except for that needle in my arm and the sterile smell...
She had already finished giving blood and was in the front of the bus with the water and pretzels when she said she wasn't feeling so good. So they had her lie down. A few minutes later the guy who was capping off my vein had to interrupt the procedure to keep her from falling on the floor. I guess the bloodmobile isn't big enough for amenities like fans and juice.
same shit happened to me as happened to that girl. i was loopy the rest of the day. my high school friends kept joking around that i was stoned. now i cringe every time i see a needle. weird.
Brian, I wasn't talking about electric fans. I meant people fanning the fainter. Now that's service!
What's wrong with living in England? As far as I know, over here, it's perfectly alright for someone living here to give blood.
I potentially may have BSE, considering all the English beef I ate between the ages of 6 and 10, but it remains to be seen if anything will happen. I do feel okay though.
Teresa,
You obviously got much better service than I did. I had to go digging through the cupboards to find my own water and cookies.
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