Vampires Calling
Like a lot of other chemicals, alcohol and I are not good bedfellows. While not technically an “allergic” reaction, I have an adverse reaction to certain types of exposure to alcohol. I say it’s not an allergy because the effects I have are written right on the side of the bottle or on the Material Safety Data Sheet. Given a large enough exposure, EVERYONE has the same reaction I do. I just seem to be more sensitive to a number of things than most people.
I’ve given over two gallons of blood through the years, but when I went a few weeks ago my request to not use alcohol to clean my finger before they pricked it was met with a serious case of red tape. Remember, they don’t use alcohol to clean your arm before they take the blood donation – they just use it for the finger prick where they check your iron level to make sure it’s safe for your to donate. Apparently the Red Cross has been under the FDA’s microscope lately and someone put the fear in the nurses that they weren’t allowed to deviate AT ALL from the normal procedure. Since I need my fingers to be unswollen to type and do my job, I decided not to allow the alcohol and they decided to defer me as a donor.
Well, today they called me back and said it’s all cleared up – not a moment too soon as I was about to defect to a commercial blood bank :).
