Well not really, I mean…not in this case. I just couldn’t come up with a more catchy title.
I gave blood yesterday, for the first time.
It is not for a lack of trying, it was my third try…I was pretty much going to give up if it didn’t happen this time.
If you haven’t given blood before, they test your iron levels before you are able to donate. And seriously what is stopping you? Do this!!
Anyway…my iron was 123 the first time, and of course it has to be 126. Dammit. After that try I went to the doctor and had everything checked out. I was fine, my diet is healthy…we thought maybe it was just a fluke thing.
Second try it was 123 again. Sigh.
So I vowed I was going to take a multivitamin with iron as well as eating right and working out. I went last night with pretty much no expectations.
She pokes me and tests my blood….146!! So awesome.
So then comes the actual doing part.
I should say right here that I am not a fainter, at least not that I know of. I have fainted once in my life that I recall…we were at opening day of Metro-town mall in Vancouver when I was about 12 and knowing me as a kid, I hadn’t eaten breakfast and by the time it was lunch time in a totally crowded insane mall with a food line-up 2 miles long, I dropped in the line-up. One way to get to the head of the line in a damn hurry, right?
Anyhoo…I have no problem getting blood tests, needles don’t bother me at all, watching the blood run out of my veins doesn’t make my knees weak. It was all good.
I told the lady that was helping me, that it would suck huge if I was the fainter. At the time I was totally joking.
It all went great until she took everything out and I was sitting in recovery period. Suddenly I felt that vaguely familiar darkness creeping in from the outside. I held up my hand and waved at the other lady that was working there who I know from her shopping at the Garden Centre. Instantly she was yelling a number and suddenly there were 6 people with cold compresses surrounding me and pressing said compresses to different parts of my body. At this point I chuckled a little. Because I am a little nuts that way…all I could think of was when Colton had been born and I started to hemorrhage…people had that same look on their face, and there was also blood involved, though this time it was on a totally different and far less dangerous level.
Approximately 2 minutes after this had happened, everyone was then summoned like a flock of sparrows to the young man in the chair opposite me who was also a first time donor, and he was goin’ down.
I am happy to say my recovery was swift…his, unfortunately for him, took a while longer.
Once I was good sitting up, I was sent to the snack table where some lovely ladies gave me a mango juice tetra pak…and then they pushed a basket of cookies in front of me and told me to eat. More than one package.
Hell yes I will. Because cookies. I consumed two Peak Freans with jelly in the middle and then two Oreos, washing it down with the mango juice and a chaser of water. What the hell is not to love about this gig?
Apparently the nearly passing out thing shouldn’t happen again. It doesn’t matter if it does…now I know to give them the heads up that I may indeed be that girl.
But I am doing this…and it feels good. And I am going to do it again and again if they will let me. Not much feels better than knowing you could be saving someones life, it might seem like a drop in the bucket…but every drop counts and that is the only way the bucket will get full.
Have you ever given blood? If not, what’s holding you back? It feels really great once you get past the passing out part :)
