Donating blood

Last night I answered the phone in my cabin and a voice asked me if I would give blood. I registered a sample weeks ago, and now one of our patients was in need. I went down to the lab and the technicians wisked Rachel and I (2 units were called for) off to the recovery room. There I laid down, and my blood was taken, just like the many times I've done at home. A small difference was they had a scale to weigh the bag - at 450 grams I was done. Then I watched the nurse walk to the other side of the room and hang up my bag of blood and start intravenous line on the patient.


The lady needed blood after Vesical Vagina Fistulas (VVF) surgery . This is an abnormal connection between the urinary bladder and the vagina provoking constant leakage of urine in women. Mostly this is caused by prolonged obstructed labor which can last up to seven days or more.


I watched the blood drip through the IV and thought of how I have given many things to people, but this was amazing. I've never seen the person recieving my blood back home. The doctor told us that our hemoglobin count is usually around 15, the patient's was 3.

(Hemoglobin carries oxygen around the body in the blood to all your cells. So yeah, it's pretty important.)