amused"Thank you for giving blood on 1/9/2013. After first ensuring local hospital needs were met, your blood donation was sent to Bay Area Hospital in Coos Bay, OR to help a patient in need. Your donation is on its way to change lives!"
My blood's now better traveled than I've been these past two years. Feh. (Oh, is there a better message to take from this letter? Yes, there is!)
I like this: as you can see, the Red Cross told me where my latest pint of donated blood went. (THe rest of my blood's stayed in me. I've only barely been injured since then! Plus I don't cut myself.) The letter has other details: as a Type O-Negative, I'm among 7 percent of the population with that type of blood. "Less than 1 percent of the population," the note adds, "donates Type O Negative blood." It's especially useful blood; it can be used for anyone in a pinch, without their body rejecting it. Yes, my blood doesn't kill people. Score!
So this is a new thing for me, hearing in broad strokes where my pint went. Each donated pint can be split among up to three people, based on need. Seems very communist that way. (That's why blood is red!) Now I can imagine where else my blood's gone. Or even if it's gone into someone I know.
Meanwhile, there's a pint's worth swimming around in my veins that has an appointment with a sterile needle in five days. Carry on, pint; I'll use you until then...