The plasma center where I sell my blood has specialty plasma programs, in which they innoculate you for some disease (Hepatitis, Rabies, Anthrax), and I found out today that I qualify for one. I think it would be cool to say, "I'm vaccinated against Rabies," but the financial benefits of the program are not enough to make it worthwhile, especially since I'll likely only keep doing this until May if I can help it.
There are weird people at the center. Most of the people I meet come from a very different world than I do, and they talk about how to game the system all the time. Some of them claim to know people who pay the rent with their plasma earnings (trust me, they must be living in squalor based on how much they pay us). Others get rejected for having a high pulse (over 100 will get you turned away--how do you have a resting pulse that high?). One guy gets in and out in about 30 minutes. I asked him how he did it, and he told me he takes aspirin regularly (several pills a day) to thin is blood out, and the two days before his day to donate, he drinks lots of water and gatorade ("It replaces electrolytes"). Then he told me I owed him a bag of pork rinds as payment for his secrets. There are other guys who race each other to see who can finish faster. I spent my first few weeks trying to get things faster. One day I finished in 37 minutes, but usually it takes me around 50. So I started drinking lots of water. I tried taking aspirin the night before one donation. None of it helped. I tend to finish in 45-55 minutes no matter what. So I've given up trying. It isn't worth the effort to shave 20 minutes off my donation time. Other things are more important.
This is a business. I spend an hour waiting before it's my turn, regardless of how full the center is. They have arcane rules like, "If you step out the door, you go to the end of the line." But in the waiting room you get to listen to loudmouths brag about how quickly they finish. Then you think, "Do I really need to be here?" Unfortunately, the answer is still yes.
2 comments:
I spent one Mother's Day in the emergency room because one of the eating disorder patients came back from her weekend pass with a very high pulse. The cause: drugs. The solution: hydration.
I hope you can quit in May, too.
LoL! I have totally done this. You capture it well. I remember we got $10 out west. It was $15 if we referred a friend. I was jealous when my east coast friends told me how much they could make letting someone suck out their plasma while they studied, flipped through magazines or watched T.V.
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