A Pound of Flesh....

In the Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice” Shylock demands a pound of Antonio’s flesh in repayment for his loan. The wise Portia points out that though Shylock is entitled to a pound of Antonio’s flesh, he is not allowed to spill one drop of Antonio’s blood. It is a very interesting and funny story by Shakespeare. I am thinking of the “Merchant of Venice” tonight because of an accomplishment I have reached today. Instead of giving away a pound of my flesh, I have given away a gallon of my blood this year. Since January I have now visited Bonfils eight times. In each of those visits they have taken at least one full unit of platelets from me. In many cases they have taken multiple units of platelets and a unit of plasma. Today was no different, as I donated a large unit of platelets and a unit of plasma. They actually wanted me to donate two units of platelets instead of one, but I just couldn’t afford to spend over 2 hours in the donation chair. In total I have now donated 4 gallons of blood/blood products to Bonfils. I don’t know how many people have received blood products from me, regardless it just feels good to be able to do this on a regular basis. The staff at the Highlands Ranch donation center have come to know me relatively well. It is nice to be able to go to the same place and receive their care and consideration. I haven’t passed out on them for a long time, but I know whenever I have a bad reaction to the donation, they will always get me back on my feet. So I will use this as my regular forum to say if you are healthy enough please consider donating blood, platelets, plasma, etc. You will be helping some one by your actions. It is an easy but important thing to do. Yes – I know I kind of harp on this subject, but I know that had it not been for blood and platelet donors we would have lost Patty years before she actually passed away, as she couldn’t have lived without the transfusions she received. Not much else to say about today. We have been busy doing lots of things. I had a conference at Sylvan about Zack. He only has another 2 weeks left of the program. He will be done on July 15th. I can’t tell you how happy we both will be when he is completed. He just wants to be done, I want him to be done and I want to stop taking him there several times a week. It will be a good thing for both of us. We grilled out this evening and had an overall good evening. This evening after dinner Zack sat here at the kichen table writing a “guide” for one of his video games. I spent a bunch of time hanging out on my back deck on the swing. Hope your Monday was good! Thanks and peace to all! – J.