Yeah, so that … 24 hour day thing … it’s tough. I think, if I were going to try to ‘get used to’ it, it would take at least a couple of weeks. No need to do that, I was just trying to throw my sleep schedule off by 12 hours in two days. The method was 24 hours awake, 8 hours asleep, 24 hours awake, 8-10hrs asleep, wa-lah! So, I’m on that second 24hr day in a row, I’ve been awake almost 21 hours so far, and I’m feeling it. That, and I donated plasma for the first time today. Though I doubt that’s effecting me much at all.
I’ve tried a few times in the past to donate plasma for the first time, but the first time is the hardest. They normally expect it to take 3-4 hours your first donation. Donations after that are expected to take 90-120 minutes on average, including wait time. Except that yesterday two of their three nurses quit. And nurses are the only ones that are allowed to do the mini-physical required for new donors (and other donors annually). So from the time I walked in to the time I walked out was almost seven and a half hours.
They tell you to eat not more than two hours before you come in. I ate about a hour before I signed in. I then waited almost 6 hours for them to take my plasma. Luckily, it didn’t seem to adversely effect the actual process by slowing down my blood or reducing the amount of plasma in my blood, so we’re okay.
I’m so tired, but … I’m going to go watch the Surreal life now.
22.5hrs and going strong… Making little internal updates to Modern Evil, sending out emails to follow up on jobs, listening to strange music…
I think I’m going to go to sleep at about 23hours… This is plenty long enough awake.
Would you believe that the titles of some emails I received this morning got a song stuck in my head? I’m listening to it now.
Looking at the operation and thinking about the overhead, I began to wonder (as I waited and waited and waited) how much money these guys get per mL of good plasma. They pay a staff of technicians and administrative personel, they even provide entertainment (tvs running DVDs and videos all day, every day), and then there’s the sterile equipment that has to be disposed and replaced with EVERY donor, plus anti-coagulant and saline solution (okay, okay, saline solution is cheap) for each donation, plus I’m sure there’s maintainence and replacement costs for the elctronic plasmapheresis machines… and they pay people cash money on top of it. If I got $25 for my first donation, how much do THEY get for my donation? $100? $250? $More?
I didn’t notice it until i thought about how to talk about it when posting about it later (which i forgot to do and am trying to do now instead), but I am still a very patient person. For most of the 7+ hours I was at the plasma place, I was simply sitting, waiting. The movies they were playing are movies I have seen (and the noise level was enough to make following dialogue a chore), so it was mostly just sit still, look forward, and wait time. Other new donors who had to wait just as long as i did were getting up and wandering off, harassing the front desk reps, asking about when they would be processed, pacing, whatever. i just set there. Early on they gave me a bider of documents explaining what plasma is for and the procedures they use and how to have healthy plasma, and the legal disclaimers I would have to agree to later about tests they would run on my blood, and one of the things I read indicated that i should drink more water. So, as I waited, I got up once in a while to drink some water. Otherwise, i basically just set still for 7 hours.
And I hardly noticed it. I did not become frustrated or antsy. After about four hours I noticed that someone I knew years ago was working there, and when she came over to say Hi, as part of the conversation i noticed myself saying that i had been there four hours. Except I didn’t seem to mind. She went back to work and I just went back to waiting. i mean, after four hours do you just give up? In no time at all (another couple of hours) I was being physically examined by the nurse and then having my blood drawn out of my body, the plasma sorted out, and the blood cells put back in.
There, now I’ve been awake almost 23 hours.
22.5hrs and going strong… Making little internal updates to Modern Evil, sending out emails to follow up on jobs, listening to strange music…
I think I’m going to go to sleep at about 23hours… This is plenty long enough awake.
Would you believe that the titles of some emails I received this morning got a song stuck in my head? I’m listening to it now.
Looking at the operation and thinking about the overhead, I began to wonder (as I waited and waited and waited) how much money these guys get per mL of good plasma. They pay a staff of technicians and administrative personel, they even provide entertainment (tvs running DVDs and videos all day, every day), and then there’s the sterile equipment that has to be disposed and replaced with EVERY donor, plus anti-coagulant and saline solution (okay, okay, saline solution is cheap) for each donation, plus I’m sure there’s maintainence and replacement costs for the elctronic plasmapheresis machines… and they pay people cash money on top of it. If I got $25 for my first donation, how much do THEY get for my donation? $100? $250? $More?
I didn’t notice it until i thought about how to talk about it when posting about it later (which i forgot to do and am trying to do now instead), but I am still a very patient person. For most of the 7+ hours I was at the plasma place, I was simply sitting, waiting. The movies they were playing are movies I have seen (and the noise level was enough to make following dialogue a chore), so it was mostly just sit still, look forward, and wait time. Other new donors who had to wait just as long as i did were getting up and wandering off, harassing the front desk reps, asking about when they would be processed, pacing, whatever. i just set there. Early on they gave me a bider of documents explaining what plasma is for and the procedures they use and how to have healthy plasma, and the legal disclaimers I would have to agree to later about tests they would run on my blood, and one of the things I read indicated that i should drink more water. So, as I waited, I got up once in a while to drink some water. Otherwise, i basically just set still for 7 hours.
And I hardly noticed it. I did not become frustrated or antsy. After about four hours I noticed that someone I knew years ago was working there, and when she came over to say Hi, as part of the conversation i noticed myself saying that i had been there four hours. Except I didn’t seem to mind. She went back to work and I just went back to waiting. i mean, after four hours do you just give up? In no time at all (another couple of hours) I was being physically examined by the nurse and then having my blood drawn out of my body, the plasma sorted out, and the blood cells put back in.
There, now I’ve been awake almost 23 hours.
Okay, okay. 24.5 hours. i don’t know what I was thinking when I said I would be in bed three hours ago. Anyway, i’m almost there. I’ve got just about everything I was doing wrapped up, I’ve got my teeth flossed and brushed and I’m going to bed.
Compelling reading, eh? Me typing on and on forever about going to sleep instead of me actually just going to sleep.
Okay, okay. 24.5 hours. i don’t know what I was thinking when I said I would be in bed three hours ago. Anyway, i’m almost there. I’ve got just about everything I was doing wrapped up, I’ve got my teeth flossed and brushed and I’m going to bed.
Compelling reading, eh? Me typing on and on forever about going to sleep instead of me actually just going to sleep.
Email titles? Songs stuck in your head? Whatever do you mean?
…a little more spark…
Email titles? Songs stuck in your head? Whatever do you mean?
…a little more spark…