stories of blood & other fun things

one of the things on my lifelong to do list (which isn't very long yet) was to donate blood.

clearly i'm a capable human being filled with blood but the very thought of being stuck unnecessarily with needles seemed silly. except that it could save someone's life.

okay fine you got me. we'll give this a whirl.

my friend katherine and i talked about this months ago and decided to donate this past friday. i got past the finger pricking part (which didn't hurt at all for the record) and the enormously long list of questions they ask you. then came the sticking part.

i politely informed the blood taker that i would be ignoring her for this portion. to which she responded "that's usually what happens.." good. i got to squeeze a fun looking foam blood drop and we were off.

about 5 minutes into it she informed me that her shift was over and that there would be other people around to look after me. away she went... with my arm all hooked up & i was lying on some table. uhmmm? i asked the nearest guy if perhaps this machine shuts itself off or if they just keep taking blood. luckily it has some shut off valve. phew.

the guy kindly removed me from said wires and bags while i asked him about how many people passed out that day. "why, are you feeling bad??" actually it felt quite lovely although apparently i was loopy... because i informed him that i was going to get a yellow tattoo in the shape of the yellow mark that the iodine left on my arm.

i went over to that little table thing where they make you drink juice and what not except i was feeling so great that they gave me water and said i could go...

... 1 minute later...

"uhmm guys...."

i remember sitting down and getting a rather dizzy feeling and next thing i knew i was on the floor across the room on this weird stretcher thing with about 6 people standing over me throwing ice & other things at me. whoops! i did wake up laughing uncontrollably though :)

also, to make matters funnier/worse there were 6-8 friends from IV who happened to be on a balcony overlooking the place watching me pass out. perfectttt.

so fun times. i can donate again on the 25th of march! hopefully no more monkey business next time.