Blood, Its Been In Me To Give

I have been trying pretty regularly, and generally wanting, to give blood since I was 17. The following are some of the reasons why this goal was not achieved:

• 7 piercings
• 1 tattoo
• one trip to Africa
• the vaccinations for that trip
• one trip to Indian
• the vaccinations for that trip
• 2 periods of anti depressants
  
• a bunch of periods on migraine maintenance drugs
• low iron
• and a host of random illnesses

That spells almost 9 years of non-blood giving. Every time I see those commercials/billboards/, etc "Blood its in you to give", I shout back, "yeah, well, then freaking take my blood!" And then I shake various body parts.

I got a notice in my mailbox at school saying the blood clinic was coming. And I thought, this time, this time I will not be defeated. I evaluated things from a female cyclical iron point of view, looked at my schedule and decided to make an appointment. I upped my water intake, started taking my vitamins again, ate meat, ate all my meals, etc - all in preparation. Essentially its like I studied for the iron test. And I passed. What what!

I also got through the screening, I wasn't on any random drugs, or had had dental work, or played with monkeys. So I made it to the bed. This was the farthest I had ever been. But there was still drama - there were no veins in my left arm (that could be used). I was seriously going to call my Mother and curse her genetics if I couldn't give because I had inherited her tiny collapsing veins. But, Dad's genes pulled through and the nurse found a nice juicy one in righty. We went for it.

Seriously I was so excited. Nine years of waiting to do this simple act - like I have felt guilt for getting a piercing because I knew it would put me out of potential for 6 months. But I was a little worried too - I've passed out for random reasons before, I'm generally shaky and light headed - I didn't want to be a blood donating passer outer. Things weren't helped by watching a young woman who in the words of another student waiting to donate, looked "like a corpse" - so much wrapping her in cool cloths and getting her feet up. I didn't want to do that.

On the good side I also heard a good conversation about how much of the tension and fear about donating or while donating is mental. Mental - I do mental well - so I began to psych myself up - I've had enough IVs in my life, and lots and lots and lots of blood taken for tests, 2 needles weekly for over a year for allergy shots, acupuncture, and pain, well heck, most of the time I'm simply in pain, I can handle "a little discomfort" from giving some blood and I can distract myself by singing German love waltzes in my head.

It took 7 minutes for me to fill the bag, which apparently is pretty good for a first time giver. And I didn't feel terrible or anything. I still feel good, I have to admit that I did not follow very many of the nurse's instructions for post donation (you can talk to Mrs. Laarman or Mrs. Smith about that).

I called my Mom just to tell her and my Dad that I finally go to donate. Mom said that nobody has every been as excited as I am about having given blood. But seriously, I'm excited to get my donor card in the mail and to set things up so that I can give again. I will travel, and I will get another tattoo (sorry Ma), and I will be on various drugs again, so I will take these times when I can get them.

Blood, its in me, I gave.