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    Life and Death of a Red Blood Cell (Red Bull)
    Life and Death of a Red Blood Cell (Red Bull)
    Life and Death of a Red Blood Cell (Red Bull)
    Ebook61 pages35 minutes

    Life and Death of a Red Blood Cell (Red Bull)

    By Kenneth Kee

    ()

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    About this ebook

    MY STORY as a Red Blood Cell

    My name is Red Bull, the red blood cell.

    They called me Red because of the redness of my color and Bull because I am always charging along the Blood stream like a Bull.

    There are 5 million red blood cells per cubic millimeter of blood which means that the entire body contains approximately 25 trillion red blood cells

    Yes it is true that I have 25 trillions brothers in the human body.

    I was born in the bone marrow of the pelvis of my human host.

    The other cells wanted to call me Red Pelvis which is a horrible name so I start to chase them in my bull like fashion until they finally called me Red Bull.

    I have a best friend who was called Humorous Red because he was born at the bone marrow end of the humerus. He does not mind the name and was always making humorous jokes:

    “A man let out a large burp.
    Nearby, a man loudly says “How dare you burp before my wife!”
    The burper replies “I didn't even know she wanted to burp first!”Hahaha!”

    I called him HR. We have lots of fun together

    I was born on Christmas day 25/12/2012 at 10.am in the pelvis of my human host Ken.

    It took me 7 days in the bone marrow before I was transformed from a stem cell into a developing red blood cell or reticulocyte and then released into the blood stream.

    In fact 2 million of new RBCs are released into blood stream every second.

    I am expected to live for 120 days which means that I may die on 4/4/2013.

    My friend HR was born 2 days after me in the humerus bone.

    The first time that I was released into the blood circulation from the bone, I was still an immature RBC or reticulocyte.

    It took me 1 day before my Hemoglobin was fully developed and I was able to carry oxygen and carbon dioxide.

    That makes me a fully mature RBC.

    A mature RBC is biconcave in shape with a disk diameter of 8μm and a thickness of 2μm.

    My responsibility is to carry oxygen to the tissues and remove waste carbon dioxide.

    My unique biconcave shape gives small volume and large surface and my induced large surface-to-volume ratio will allow me to contain more hemoglobin which is helpful to increase the rate of diffusion of the Oxygen and Carbon Oxide.

    My first day in the blood circulation was in the blood capillary from the bone marrow.

    From the capillary I was taken into the venous blood system which then leads me to the heart where I was pumped into an area (the lungs) full of bubbly gas that cling to me.

    That gas (oxygen) was so refreshing.

    In a short while I was pumped out of the heart into the blood stream.

    I literately went round the whole body in 20 seconds.

    My biconcave shape helps me to squeeze through small lumen of the capillaries so easily.

    The diameter of most of the capillaries is 25% smaller than the width of our cell body but because of our concave shape we were able to squeeze through the capillaries.

    As I went through the body my oxygen gas is released to the cells.

    Some of them needed the oxygen and thanked me profusely.

    Others left me holding on to their carbon dioxide.

    “Wow” I exclaimed “This is an amazing job.”

    I loved moving in the blood stream and helping the other cells.

    I first met Humorous Red when he was just coming out in his capillary blood vessel from his bone marrow at the humerus bone.

    He was slightly bigger than me and was caught in a kink in the capillary.

    I was smaller than him and was so used after 2 days to moving around in the capillaries that I was able to push and pull him out of the kink of the capillary. I was also able to release ATP (adenosine triphosphate) and S-nitrosothiols which relax the blood vessel walls to relax and open wider.

    He was so happy that he now follows me whether I went.

    TABLE OF CONTENT

    Chapter 1 Story of Red Bull RBC

    Chapter 2 Life Cycle of Red Blood Cell

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKenneth Kee
    Release dateOct 12, 2013
    ISBN9781301685820
    Life and Death of a Red Blood Cell (Red Bull)
    Author

    Kenneth Kee

    Medical doctor since 1972.Started Kee Clinic in 1974 at 15 Holland Dr #03-102, relocated to 36 Holland Dr #01-10 in 2009.Did my M.Sc (Health Management ) in 1991 and Ph.D (Healthcare Administration) in 1993.Dr Kenneth Kee is still working as a family doctor at the age of 74However he has reduced his consultation hours to 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours inthe afternoon.He first started writing free blogs on medical disorders seen in the clinic in 2007 on http://kennethkee.blogspot.com.His purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of his patients which is also his dissertation for his Ph.D (Healthcare Administration). He then wrote an autobiography account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.comThis autobiography account “A Family Doctor’s Tale” was combined with his early “A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders” into a new Wordpress Blog “A Family Doctor’s Tale” on http://ken-med.com.From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 1000 eBooks.He apologized for typos and spelling mistakes in his earlier books.He will endeavor to improve the writing in futures.Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.The later books go into more details of medical disorders.He has published 1000 eBooks on various subjects on health, 1 autobiography of his medical journey, another on the autobiography of a Cancer survivor, 2 children stories and one how to study for his nephew and grand-daughter.The purpose of these simple guides is to educate patient on health disorders and not meant as textbooks.He does not do any night duty since 2000 ever since Dr Tan had his second stroke.His clinic is now relocated to the Buona Vista Community Centre.The 2 units of his original clinic are being demolished to make way for a new Shopping Mall.He is now doing some blogging and internet surfing (bulletin boards since the 1980's) startingwith the Apple computer and going to PC.The entire PC is upgraded by himself from XT to the present Pentium duo core.The present Intel i7 CPU is out of reach at the moment because the CPU is still expensive.He is also into DIY changing his own toilet cistern and other electric appliance.His hunger for knowledge has not abated and he is a lifelong learner.The children have all grown up and there are 2 grandchildren who are even more technically advanced than the grandfather where mobile phones are concerned.This book is taken from some of the many articles in his blog (now with 740 posts) A Family Doctor’s Tale.Dr Kee is the author of:"A Family Doctor's Tale""Life Lessons Learned From The Study And Practice Of Medicine""Case Notes From A Family Doctor"

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      Book preview

      Life and Death of a Red Blood Cell (Red Bull) - Kenneth Kee

      Life

      And

      Death

      Of

      A

      Red

      Blood

      Cell

      (Red Bull)

      by

      Dr Kenneth Kee

      M.B., B.S. (Singapore)

      Ph.D (Healthcare Administration)

      Copyright Kenneth Kee 2013 Smashwords Edition

      Published By Kenneth Kee at Smashwords.com

      Dedication

      This book is dedicated

      to my wife Dorothy

      and my children

      Carolyn, Grace

      and Kelvin

      This book describes the story of the one brave red blood cell (Red Bull) from its birth to its death in the human body.

      This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader.

      If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

      Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Chapter 1

      MY STORY as a Red Blood Cell

      My name is Red Bull, the red blood cell.

      They called me Red because of the redness of my color and Bull because I am always charging along the Blood stream like a Bull.

      There are 5 million red blood cells per cubic millimeter of blood which means that the entire body contains approximately 25 trillion red blood cells

      Yes it is true that I have 25 trillions brothers in the human body.

      I was born in the bone marrow of the pelvis of my human host.

      The other cells wanted to call me Red Pelvis which is a horrible name so I start to chase them in my bull like fashion until they finally called me Red Bull.

      I have a best friend who was called Humorous Red because he was born at the bone marrow end of the humerus. He does not mind the name and was always making humorous jokes:

      "A man let out a large burp.

      Nearby, a man loudly says How dare you burp before my wife!

      The burper replies I didn't even know she wanted to burp first!Hahaha!"

      I called him HR. We have lots of fun together

      I was born on Christmas day 25/12/2012 at 10.am in the pelvis of my human host Ken.

      It took me 7 days in the bone marrow before I was transformed from a stem cell into a developing red blood cell or reticulocyte and then released into the blood stream.

      In fact 2 million of new RBCs are released into blood stream every second.

      I am expected to live for 120 days which means that I may die on 4/4/2013.

      My friend HR was born 2 days after me in the humerus

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