Hi, my name is Blad and I am a red blood cell.

My buddies, the heart and blood vessels, and I

form the cardiovascular system. Through this system I carry all sorts of nutrients and oxygen
to the tissues of my town, the body, and remove carbon dioxide and other wastes from them.
Inside me, there is a protein called Hemoglobin that contains iron, which is like a vehicle to
transport oxygen and carbon dioxide everywhere. When I go through the lungs, this protein
attaches to me. With the help from my best friend the heart, I am pumped and carried all
over the body through arteries to perform my duties.
In a day I visit my best friend countless times and always leave through the Aorta, which is
the main artery of the body. From the Aorta I can either go north to the head or south to the
legs, arms and other parts through arteries. As I travel through the body, the arteries become
thinner and thinner and become smaller vessels called arterioles. The arterioles divide into
even tinier vessels called Capillaries. Since the capillaries are so tiny, it is very easy to
exchange material with other cells. Through the wall of the capillaries many other nutrients
can come in and go out, and I lose oxygen and become blue.
Through this journey around my town I see all kinds of wastes, and as I return to see my
friend the heart, I bring them with me so I can help get rid of them on my way. I always visit
my friend the brain, and my other friends around the body. When I visit my friend the brain I
return through the superior Vena Cava, which is the highway that returns blood from the
head, neck and upper limbs. When I visit my friends from the south, I come back through the
inferior Vena Cava highway, which returns blood from the lower parts of the body.
When I arrive at the heart I come go through the right Atrium, the upper chamber of the
heart. Because I am blue I have to go through the right ventricle after I go through the right
atrium. The right ventricle pumps me to see one of my friends the lungs. To see my friend I
go through the pulmonary arteries. There my friend gives me oxygen and I become red
again. Happily I go back to see my friend the heart through the pulmonary veins. But this
time I go through the left door, the left atrium. From there I am pumped to the left ventricle.
After saying my goodbyes, I exit through the Aorta and I can either go to see my friends in
the north or revisit my friends in the south.
On my daily journey around my town called the body, I go through veins in the digestive
system. As the food in breaking down into simpler proteins, carbohydrates and fats in the
small intestines, they are absorbed into the blood vessels, and are pumped all over the body
to spread nutrients and others.