My eyes snap open with a jolt of energy, and I find myself in a peculiar and odd place that I have never seen before. “Where am I?" I say to myself, not expecting a response. I look around; my eyes dance around the pitch-black room I am trapped in. As my eyes dart around the room, I begin to see a room full of eyes; they all look perplexed, just like me. “whyyyy can't I move” a voice behind me says; I try and lift my arms just to find out that I, too, am also immobilized. Just as I am about to reply, the room becomes light; a TV appears, the volume in the mysterious room dims down and the quietness ripples through the room as everyone becomes silent in anticipation of what will happen next.
The TV begins yapping and everyone tunes in to what it has to say.
“Greetings fellow stem cells and welcome to the body of Anthony Lambert. After some tutorials and training, you will become a very important red aspect to his body. You will be transporting oxygen to the tissues in his body, ensuring he stays energized healthy and most importantly... alive”
Everybody cheers, excited at the prospect of helping Anthony.
“At the moment you are nothing more than a stem cell” blares the TV violently through the room; “your training begins in two days.” The TV shuts off, leaving everyone in utter darkness which quickly turns to utter silence.
I drift into the darkness, embracing the warmth and blocking out the world.
Two days pass in a blur, and I awaken to the familiar rhythm of a heart beating. I look around; I am desperately waiting for the TV to make an appearance and begin with the training. Just as I am about to give up and go back to sleep, the room illuminates with a familiar blinding light. The tv appears and tells us it is time for training.
Seven days of training pass and I have learnt when to get a ticket to open the valves because that is the only way they open to prevent blood cells from going the wrong way. I have learnt how to deliver the oxygen crucial to the body and how to collect it to begin with.
The TV tells us that very very shortly, the doors for our journey will unlock and the adventure will begin. A loud sound comes from the TV “3, 2, 1, go!”
The red blood cells head to the heart via the capillaries (the blood cell is deoxygenated currently)
I begin sprinting as fast as I can through the capillaries, making my way to the heart.
I go up the inferior vena cava (the largest vein in the human body) and am pushed into the right atrium. I stop running and look out for my next destination. I spot the tricuspid valve and pull out the ticket labeled “ticket of three points” I swipe my ticket into the machine which accepts my ticket by contracting the right atrium which results in me being pushed into the right ventricle.
I spot another valve and pull out the needed ticket. After my ticket gets accepted, I am pushed through the pulmonary semilunar valve to the pulmonary artery out the heart. After all this sprinting I am extremely puffed, and I need more oxygen.
As I become aware of my desperate need for oxygen, a non-existent smile appears on my non-existent face as I am at the lungs. When I finally get to the lungs I begin sucking in as much oxygen as I can; I manage to store 100 billion molecules inside myself.
After sucking in all this oxygen, I begin racing to get back to the heart. I take a turn and go through the pulmonary veins which lead me to the left atrium.
I push a button in the left atrium and it contracts, pushing me and about 30 million other blood cells through the bicuspid/mitral valve into the left ventricle. I press another button which pushes me through the aortic semilunar valves, out the heart and into the aorta.
While travelling through the aorta I have a bunch of choices for where I want to go. When I finally find where I want to go, I travel via the aorta and deliver all the oxygen into that section of body.
The organs produce carbon dioxide which the red blood cells and I carry to the lungs.
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