Prick me
Comments: 18
I gave blood yesterday for the first time. Don’t ask me why I’d never done this in Australia — I have no idea. The last time I tried to give blood in Japan, which was quite a few years ago, I was told (somewhat more politely than this but in no uncertain terms) no foreigners. “Well, prick me!” I thought. “Do I not bleed?” I wish I’d known the Japanese translation of that line.
Anyway, yesterday I went down to the lobby of the building in which I find myself Thursday afternoons, intending to get a coffee. The Red Cross was having a blood drive and I thought, why not, let’s give it another go. The fellow in the lobby holding the Please Give Blood sign seemed a bit flustered when I asked him if foreigners were OK now, and he directed me downstairs where events were taking place.
I rode the escalator down and was greeted by another chap whose job was to waylay escalator riders and shanghai them into a leeching. He didn’t bat an eyelid when I asked if I could donate and ushered me towards the necessary paperwork. Yet another friendly fellow helped me with the form (a lot of it was beyond my reading ability) and then I went into the big room where many people sat pale and fidgeting while blood sucking machines whirred away.
One of the questions on the form was whether I have Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Really, how would I know? I sway a bit and dribble occasionally but I think I’m OK. I said no.
Finally I was called to one of the many stretchers set up and a nice old lady (“Do you mind if I practice my English?” she asked in Japanese. “I haven’t studied since junior high school.”) prepared the bag, apologised profusely for the pain she was about to inflict (it was comparable to a mosquito bite), and inserted the needle. She was a bit surprised I insisted on watching.
As soon as the needle was in, blood just gushed from me. It was like a Sam Peckinpah movie in a tube. “Ooh!” she said, “looks like you’ll be finished soon.” (She’d abandoned her English by this point, which had mostly consisted of numbers and the word “sorry.”) I felt a tiny touch of pride that my vascular system could illicit coos of admiration from a seasoned professional. At least that’s what I told myself.
So I lay there, craning my neck to watch as the bag filled while the machine sloshed it around (to prevent coagulation, I guess). I felt like I was making more in-roads to this country that I love so much, that I was even more a member of the community than I had been just an hour ago. I loved the thought of taking part of me, putting it in a bag, and then giving it to someone else later on (a local, someone Japanese, maybe even someone who had said “No foreigners!” at some point in their life). “You can have more if you want,” I told her, “Just leave me enough to get home. I feel fine. Really.” But 400ml is the most they let you give.
And I did feel fine. When I sat up afterwards there was absolutely no indication whatsoever that I was, temporarily at least, minus half a carton of blood. No dizziness, no tiredness, no nothing. Even so, I got juice and tea and was offered cookies and was given the obligatory towel as a thank-you gift. (You get these small bath towels — good for hot springs — on all sorts of occasions in Japan. Open a bank account, get a towel. Bump into a stranger on the street, get a towel. Sneeze, towel.)
But the best thing I got was my blood donors card. I slipped it into my wallet as I walked out humming “All of Me” quietly to myself. I’m looking forward to the next time — walk in, flash the card, fill the bag. Just like the hundreds of other people who went through that room yesterday.
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Posted to Oh, the Humanity • 2004.06.18 (Fri) • 21:53
Comments
Posted by pao 2004.06.18, 23:08
this is a graphic account of your day as a donor. :) pretty cool. here in the philippines it a bit different. we don’t have machines to collect blood. you lie down, they put the needles inside you, and you squeeze a stress-reliever while waiting for the bag to fill up. a nurse moves the bag around so that it won’t coagulate.
Posted by UltraBob 2004.06.18, 23:55
“as I walked out humming “All of Me” quietly to myself.”Pocari Sweat out the nose is a painful thing! I appreciate you helping me discover that.
Posted by unthinkable1 2004.06.19, 01:41
That’s interesting. I always thought foreigners weren’t allowed to give blood in Japan, but you’ve opened the way now - I might give it a go! btw. Your blog’s a gooden!
Posted by John Todd 2004.06.19, 02:05
Swaying and dribbling?
Are you sure you’re not in a boy band?
Posted by Fazal Majid 2004.06.19, 02:17
Japan is not the only country to discourage foreigners from giving blood - I live in the US, and anyone who lived in Europe for more than 6 months in the past is barred from donating, ostensibly from fear of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
Posted by jake 2004.06.19, 04:01
Congratulations on donating. I’ve been doing it for a while here in the States. Sadly, I am now taking Propecia (the hairloss drug, I don’t know why everyone is so shy about stuff like that), so I can’t donate. I guess cause of the risk to women that they always talk about in the commercials. It really pains me when I get things in the mail requesting I donate, it’s really depressing I can’t contribute.
Hopefully I’ll get to do it again someday. I’m glad other people are contributing to the well being of others. Thanks.:)
Posted by Kristen 2004.06.19, 04:37
Now that you’ve given whole blood, you should consider platelet donation. You get stuck in both arms! The blood comes out one side, gets centrifuged in a machine behind you and the platelet-less red blood goes back in the other side. It takes about two hours to recycle all your blood. I don’t know if they do it here in Japan, but I’m sure I wouldn’t be allowed because of my tattoo. Rats.
Posted by Matt Frost 2004.06.19, 04:50
I felt like I was making more in-roads to this country that I love so much, that I was even more a member of the community than I had been just an hour ago. I know the feeling, though not on the international scale.
Where I live, the setting is a dingy, dim rec center, and, as in the Philippines, the blood is hand-squeezed. All the while, tiny old women dressed in nurse-like outfits hover about offering juice and cookies, and when you finish, one of them insists upon walking you over to the snack table, her brittle little hand on your elbow. It’s very sweet, but purely symbolic, since any one of them would probably snap like a matchstick were I to faint on her (and I’m no hulking mass of a man myself).
The scene is so beautiful and strange, all these ungainly people bleeding into identical bags. Everyone there- whether fat or slovenly or loudmouthed or anxious - provides the same precious little bag of hope for someone they’ve probably never seen, and I always walk away chastened by that display of common humanity.
Posted by Inkblot Web 2004.06.19, 07:26
Every time I’ve ever given blood it makes me faint. :(
Posted by graham 2004.06.19, 09:08
Great post - I remember being on JET several years ago and being told I couldn’t donate blood because I’m a foreigner (protests that I’m not a foreigner - I’m British! fell on deaf ears). The doctor went into a pretty cool explanation too. sounded convincing for about 2 nano seconds. Anyway, in the UK they don’t care who you are as long as it comes out red. This explains the laughter I used to receive when friends would ask me for my blood type, and I would say ‘red’.
I’m wondering what they would tell my friends who are ‘only’ half Japanese. Maybe they’ll mix a bag up specially for them.
Posted by Mary Beth 2004.06.19, 15:15
LOL — many years ago I donated blood and then went off to pick up something at an art supply store. It was hot and crowded and while waiting in line suddenly the room went fuzzy and down I went. Now I never had had a problem before giving blood so this was unexpected.
Nonetheless, i was rather ticked off to hear in the distance someone saying in a pouty voice: “probably just another druggie”! Perhaps that meant I really looked like an artist? I don’t think so. I was even wearing my blood donor sticker.
Anyway, nasty person aside, the store took good care of me and made sure I was ok before letting me leave. No towel though… I agree that it always made me feel like part of a bigger good. A small gift but important to the recipient. You go Jeremy!
Posted by AainaalyaA 2004.06.20, 02:51
Giving is a good thing, as long as you don’t expect anything else in return., otherwise it would be “business, as usual”.
Posted by Joseph 2004.06.20, 07:59
You should consider yourself privileged being able to donate your blood. I’d like to, but I can’t. In the UK, if you’re gay you’re not allowed to donate your blood. This is despite the fact that I’m in my first and only relationship with a guy who’s also in his first and only relationship and we’ve been together for a year and a half and have tested negative for STIs and the HIV virus.
Posted by Jeff 2004.06.21, 21:58
“…apologised profusely for the pain she was about to inflict (it was comparable to a mosquito bite)…”
Silly man, mosquito’s are stealth when they bite. That’s one reason they’re so dastardly.
Donating blood: great first step, Jeremy. Now, if they will only let you become an organ donor, then you will truly be accepted in Japanese society.
Posted by gleek 2004.06.21, 23:32
good for you giving blood! i’m glad you got past the whole foreigner trip-up. i’m not allowed to give blood because of my constant low blood pressure and low blood sugar. i faint giving one vial of blood for testing purposes. it stinks.
Posted by gleek 2004.06.22, 09:42
well, i jumped onto cnn today and found this article about a woman who is the only U.S. resident thought to have the human form of mad cow disease. incidentally, the name of this disease is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), in case anyone wanted to know :)
Posted by tokyoredhed 2004.06.23, 19:17
Great on the blood stuff, even better on the lengthy amusing posts, however now left me wanting more…
Posted by Jacques 2004.07.13, 02:26
Thank you for your fine self-observant eye - you made me chuckle for several minutes in recognition of those tiny bits of awkwardness that marked my time in Tokyo. I too have come to love the people - in spite of the barriers. What little glimpses one is allowed simply melt the heart.
I never got as far as the blood thing - but I certainly bled money. I had to get used to walking around with nothing less than 100k yen in my wallet! Consumerism is more contagious than BSE it seems…
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