- The place was mobbed. Good for the Belgians.
- I got a special pink sheet because it was my first time. Here. They treated me as a first-timer in other ways too, like propping my feet up.
- Because it's the Red Cross and because it's blood, the questions are pretty much the same as those in the US. Having lived in the UK is still bad.
- I had to do the questionnaire with a special nurse for newbies too. (Language note: They referred to her as the médecin, which in French French means doctor, but I don't think she was.)
- They give you all your tubes in a little plastic basket, and you carry that around until you get to your donor station.
- I saw a lady giving while her 8ish-year-old daughter sat on Mom's belly. When she finished, the first thing Mom had to do, fresh hole in her arm and all, was lift the daughter down from the table.
- The only prep I got was a brief alcohol swab.
- The stick was fast and painless.
- They fill the extra tubes at the beginning, not at the end. For some reason, I found that interesting.
- They don't cover the needle while you're giving, they didn't say anything about clenching your fist, and you don't get that little piece of bicycle handlebar to hold on to.
- When you're done, you get a beer instead of a cup of bad coffee. They were offering Jupiler, blond or brown Leffe, and Grisette, a local fruit-flavored beer that's a spring specialty in these parts.
Did I mention how much I like living here?
3 comments:
No wonder the place was mobbed! So, you'll be giving blood weekly? Boy, you'll do anything for a free beer....donald
Interestng -- to say the least. If Belgians give beer as a treat afterward, it makes me wonder if the French provide wine???
I don't understand the comment, "Having lived in the UK is still bad."
yes, the french do.
because of the mad cow beef business, you can't give if you lived more than 6 months total in the uk from, like, 1980-sumphtin' and 1998 or thereabouts.
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