Day 52- Give Blood

Give Blood

So I planned on doing this awhile ago. I have a list of of 31 things I wanted to do this time around. Number 5 on the list was give blood.

I have very strong opinions about blood-- I believe it belongs inside of me. I should not fill up a bag of it for any reason. I don't know how much I need to live but I'm sure most of it is in my body.

Out of every thing on the list this was the one I was most afraid of.

Mostly because I heard it hurts.

There are three things I'm afraid of: bees, being locking in a bathroom over a weekend and pain. I'm really not a fan of pain. For example when I was in the hospital to give birth to my daughter the nurse asked me "Have you given any thought of how you wanted to deliver your baby? Did you want to do it naturally?"
I said, "Lady, I've been here for 15 minutes and I'm pissed you haven't given me anything yet."

To sum up, I'm not a fan of pain.

But after the snow storm, the Red Cross had a shortage of blood because blood is only good for 5 days and no one could get out to donate. Besides I thought what better way to help a stranger then to give life.

I think donating blood is very admirable so I was already to do it.

Event:
I went to the Red Cross website and read what to do if you are a first time donater. I kept hydrated all day.
I made an appointment in the Columbia office. When I told my husband about it, he said that 98 Rock was doing a blood drive at the Glen Burnie Mall and I could win prizes.
I opted for that place instead.
I also wrangled Do Good Crew member Cindy to go with me.
The blood drive was from 10-4, we got there around 2:30.
We signed our name, read the booklet of infromation about giving blood and got our number. I was 93, she was 94.
I should say how amazed I was at how many people were there. There were probably about 15 people waiting to give their information, 20 giving their information and another 20 donating blood. Apparently everyone else doesn't the fear issues that I have.

While we were waiting one of the volunteers started a trivia game. I rock at trivia. Anyone who knows me, know I hijack conversations so I can sprinkling a tiny dose of useless knowledge in there.
When they pulled out a trivial pursuit card-- I knew I had it! (Unless they asked a question about spelling something or sports-- then I'd be screwed)
The question was about music-- I answered before they could finish the last word of the question.

I won an American Red Cross Blanket--- YAY for good free stuff, karma is coming back in my favor. <--- There will be more on the blanket tomorrow.

I went back after 30 minutes of waiting to answer my medical question. (They had forgotten I was back there)
They drew my blood to test if I had enough iron-- I did. I got a band aid and everything.
This process took about another 30 minutes. Then I was ushered into the "donation room" Again I waited.

I will discuss what happen in the waiting room tomorrow.

Cindy came in a few minutes later.

Two chairs opened up next to each other. HERE WE GO!

Reaction:
I sat in the chair. The nurse tied the rubber ribbon around me. I asked her how long she had been there, "I've been up since 4 am, we got here at 6 am. I'm exhausted."
Uh Oh!
I said, "Um I have very tiny veins, when I get blood drawn I normally need a butterfly needle." (That's what they used on my two year old daughter to get her blood).
"We don't use the butterfly needles here, because of how much blood we take."
"Oh." See I knew this because my husband told me... this was one the many times I wished he was wrong.
"We'll see how thin they are." She started to poke at my veins. "Um lets try the other arm."
Again poking. She called another nurse over, who also poked.
The nurse shook her head, "You have very thin veins, the needle with rupture your vein. You also have a nerve under the vein." She paused. "It's going to be bad-- very bad. We can't take your blood."
"Really?" Very disappointed. "Well thank you for having my best interest in mind."
"We're SO sorry." The first nurse said, "But you can have a cookie." <-- I do like cookies.
I looked over at Cindy who was pale. I reassured her, "No, the needle's not really that big. I have baby veins. My veins are so small I should probably be dead, you'll be fine." I looked up at the nurse, "can I stay?"
"Nope."
"Oh. Cindy you'll be fine."

I left, got my free goodie bag (I use the term loosely) and ate a cookie while waiting for Cindy.
If you want to read all about my experiences of walking around the mall, you can read it at my other blog.

Would I do it again-- NOPE I CAN'T. STUPID BABY VEINS
Cost-- nothing
Effort-- way more then needed
Time: 2 hours.

This was my first EPIC FAIL!!!!
I felt like I should post it because some of the Do Good Crew are having their own EPIC FAILS themselves. I wanted them to know they aren't alone.

As I am writing this, Cindy is not having a good day. She's been sick. She blames giving blood and now I feel VERY guilty.