Giving back
Yesterday I decided to do something heroic - I made an appointment to give blood at the Coca-Cola blood drive. Giving blood is something I have wanted to do for a long time, as both of my parents had to have blood transfusions. My dad had to have multiple transfusions when he was first diagnosed, and both my mom and dad required blood transfusions during their chemo treatments. Needless to say I felt it was my duty to give blood. Afterall, it's not that bad, right?
Wrong. I learned something about myself.....I am not a blood donor. You can't say I didn't try, and I guess I succeeded in the fact that I actualy gave blood. It is however, highly unlikely that I will participate again. Here's what happened:
I go downstairs to the lobby at 10:10 where the blood drive was set up (pretty convenient, huh?). I get all signed up, and read all the material. They call me back for all of my inital bloodwork and questions, and I'm feeling great. I'm not that nervous and I feel prepared. They lead me over to my chair, and I'm still feeling good. I was even fine through the whole giant-needle-going-into-my-vein thing. It hurt a little, but nothing big. So I'm sitting there in my chair feeling all good b/c I'm donating blood and helping people. At this point, I'm starting to think about my parents and everything they went through, and I'll admit, I started getting a little emotional (but not to where anyone would have known -I am at work people). Then it hits me. All of a sudden I feel like I'm going to pass out. My nurse wasn't standing right next to me at the time, so I get the attention of another nurse and tell her I don't feel well. She rushes over and immediately lays my chair back, brings me a wet towel and some ice. About a mintue goes by, and I'm feeling fine. I figured if that's the worst of it then this isn't so bad after all. About 10 minutes go by, and I'm almost done donating. The nurse comes over and kind of starts messing with my blood bag (is that what you call it?), and then it hits me again. But this time it is SO MUCH WORSE. I feel like I'm going to pass out, and my body is going from hot to cold all over. I can literally feel the coldness taking over my face. It was the creepiest thing in the world. At this point I am now fully reclined, my face and neck are covered with wet paper towels, there are two nurses fanning me, and I now have ice all over me b/c it's really hard to get ice out of a cup when you're laying down. (It's okay to laugh - this was pretty hilarious looking back on it.) Anyway - that kept on for about five minutes, and then they made me lay there for another 10 or 15 minutes before I could get up. I then ate my snack and OJ, and went on about my day. I felt horrible the rest of the day and almost passed out one other time while I was hanging out with my co-workers. Awesome. I'm "that" new kid.
Moral of the story: I'm probably not going to sign up for that again, but you totally should!!! I encourage everyone to give blood - it is a wonderful thing to know that I may have saved someone's life. In the future though, I will likely stick to helping out with the logistics of the blood drive, and not subjecting myself to that again. As a sidenote, you should know that most people don't react in the way I did. I guess I'm just a lightweight or something. The nurse told me I didn't eat enough. Please woman, do you know who I am?
