For every action...

...there is an equal and opposite reaction. (Newton's 3rd law)

I gave blood yesterday for the first time, at Nationwide Arena, where the Columbus BlueJackets play hockey. My friend George went with me to give blood too, and for moral support. The whole thing went pretty well. My iron count was fine, I passed the barrage of questions, so I was allowed to give.

The nurses were really nice, and made my first blood-giving experience a good one. I didn't want to look when they put the needle in or took it out, so the nurse warned me when to look away. Where I was sitting, I was able to look outside where it was sunny and warm, and that worked out well.

Once I was all hooked up, it took just a little over 6 minutes to fill the bag, which evidently is pretty good. It's too bad that 6 minute process took more than 1.5 hours from start to finish, including paperwork, questions, prep and wait time. But they were pretty busy, and all things considered I think the got people through relatively quickly.

After giving blood, you get water and snacks. The donor snack area was set up in an area where people had a view of the ice rink in the arena. The BlueJackets were practicing, so George and I stayed around and watched them practice for a little bit while we enjoyed our snacks. That was pretty cool. After 15 minutes or so, that rounded out a total of 2 full hours for the whole thing. It was a long "lunch hour," but then we had to go back to work.

My arm doesn't even hurt today - I am so impressed. Even when I go to the doctor's office and they take a very small amount of blood, and the needle isn't in my arm as long, my arm usually hurts for a day or two. I often bruise around the area where they put in the needle, and my whole arm hurts a little bit all the way down to my fingers. I do not feel any of that today! The only thing that does hurt is where they had to prick my finger first to test for iron count.

So now for something really ironic, maybe even karmic part about the whole thing. It is the reason I mentioned Newton's law. My mom had to take my dad to the hospital around 2 or 3 am yesterday morning (which is important, but no need to get into too many details on that to make my point here.) In short, he got up in the night to use the bathroom and passed out. After some tests, they found that he has multiple ulcers and a torn esphagus, which caused bleeding, which is why he passed out. His blood count was low, so last night at the hospital they gave him some blood to replace the blood he had lost. And today, my mom said he did look much better and he said he felt much better, and he should get to go home in a couple of days.

The first time I ever gave blood, was the very same day my dad received blood.

I know my dad was about 300 miles away and it's not like he got my blood, specifically. (I don't even know my blood type - yet.) But I can't help but feel a sense of balance from it all.