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give blood stamp 1969

I'm going to make this quick and painless:)  I feel like I need to let everyone know what's been going on since my post last week so here goes...  As I mentioned before, I had to have my hemogloban levels checked last week and I was kind of hoping that it would be down to an 8 (normal would be a 15) so that I could have a transfusion and in a sense, have new life breathed back into me.  I just feel so much more alive once I get a transfusion.  No such luck.  My blood was low and down to a 9 but not considered critical enough by Red Cross and the hospital to share that precious "liquid red gold" that we call blood.  Although it's too bad I don't get to get a transfusion, I decided to make the best of this and pretend that there's nothing wrong with me:)  I've been telling myself that I'm "normal" (ok, stop laughing and shut up - especially you Kristine) and can do anything that anyone else can do.  It's amazing how far a good frame of mind can get you.  I've been feeling better since I've started doing this!  We'll see.  Yesterday, Ben had to take me to have my blood checked again.  I guess they'll keep doing this until I get critical or I get "normal".  I'll find out tomorrow what the level is this week.  I suspect it will be good:)

Incidently, Ben just received his Red Cross Donor card in the mail today and I thought now would be a good time to pass along these little Red Cross "fun facts":)  Did you know that every 2 SECONDS is how often someone in America needs blood?  Did you know that one blood donation can save 3 lives?  Did you know that LESS than 30% is how many first time blood donors will EVER give blood again?  Did you know that you can give blood 6 times a year which equals 18 lives that just YOU can save?

These are some pretty cool statistics.  I worked a blood drive that Red Cross was holding at our church, a few months back.  I wasn't able to GIVE blood, obviously, but I was able to give my time so that the people who COULD give blood would be more comfortable.  It felt good.  Anyway, out of all the people that we registered to give blood, Red Cross only turned away 3 people.  One was a young guy who was apparently too big to lay on their stretcher, another person was a woman who's iron counts were too low and the other was Savannah, Ben's daughter.  She lost her school ID and didn't have another form of identification.  The cool thing is that there were a lot of teenagers who showed up.  There were a lot of elderly men also.  Most of these men had served in the military and many of them in Korea or Viet Nam so they were VERY concious of how much blood was needed even in non war times.  I loved and appreciated them all.  If it weren't for these men and women, people like me might not even get to receive blood as much as we do.  There are times that the blood banks are so low that the hospital has to make a decision only to give blood to severe accident patients.  Someone like me might just have to go on a waiting list until the blood banks are replinished again. 

Ok, I'm done:)  You may all return to your regularly scheduled programs:)  lol

Armoured Medical Vehicle