Hey Y’all! Since I started this blog I’ve done some pretty
interesting things and while holding that python was pretty scary it doesn’t
even come close to what I did this week. I gave blood, voluntarily, at a
bloodmobile. No big deal to some, absolutely terrifying to me. And by the way if
you haven’t already guessed the answer to my little joke above it’s that they
both suck you dry! Haha!
A couple of Sundays ago I noticed in the church bulletin that
the Bloodmobile would be at the church on Wednesday and people were encouraged
to donate before the evening service. So last Wednesday I, along with my
favorite brother from another mother, Matt, went down to donate blood. Matt
happens to be a nurse so I figured he was a good one to bring along with me to
cross this task off the list. I wouldn’t say that I’m necessarily known for
excellent decision making but that turned out to be a pretty good one as you’ll
soon find out.
I’ve had a lifelong fear of giving blood, either voluntarily
or not. In fact I made it to my 26th birthday without ever having to
have blood drawn and since then I’ve only had it done one other time. I have to
say I think that’s pretty impressive. I just hate needles. Needles of any shape
or size, it doesn’t matter. As a child my mother had to bribe me with Barbie
dolls just to get me to let the doctor give me a shot without kicking him!
So Wednesday rolls around and Matt and I decided to meet at
the Bloodmobile right when it opened at 4:30pm. I was the first one to arrive
(that never happens by the way) and just the sight of the big white bus sends
me into a panic. If Matt hadn’t pulled up right after me I would have turned
around and headed home. But alas, he did so I had to go through with it.
We go inside and meet with an adorable little nurse who looks
like she could be Hayden Panettiere’s doppelganger and get to filling out the
paperwork. They take you into a very tiny little room in the back of the bus to
fill everything out. I’m not kidding when I say it was a tiny room. I’m 5’3 on
a good day and I could barely even turn around in there. It was kind of like
taking a standardized test in an airplane bathroom. Holy guacamole are there a ton of questions
they want you to fill out! 54 in total. Have you been out of the country
recently? Are you on any medication? Have you ever worked as a prostitute? Not
even kidding about the last one.
By this time I’ve told them that I’m a first timer and that I’m
doing a blog about facing my fears. So they all know that I’m a nervous wreck
about what’s about to go down. By the time I’ve finished up my questions and
had my finger pricked to test for an iron deficiency they already have Matt
hooked up and ready to go. He was a total trooper to do it with me especially
since I really asked him along to play photographer and to take care of me if I
got sick. Now it’s do or die time. Nurse Panettiere (her name is actually
Britney but I like her new nickname better) gets me all situated into a chaise
lounge type thing and brings me a coke. On a side note I have a crazy addiction
to Coke a Cola but I’ve taken myself off it for the past three weeks. I’m not
kidding when I say that I’ve actually wondered if I could just get an IV of
coke into my veins. I guess I could have asked for juice but if having your
blood sucked out of your body isn’t a good enough reason to cheat on a diet
then I don’t know what is!
“You’ll just feel a little pinch” she tells me right before
sticking me with the needle. I somehow doubt this but at this point it’s entirely
too late to back out. Surprisingly enough she was right! I can’t tell you how
big the needle was or anything else about it because thankfully Nurse
Panettiere has covered my arm with a towel so I don’t have to see what’s going
on. That was definitely for the best because I can see everything that’s
happening over on Matt’s side of the bus and it was sending me into the panic
zone. As you can see in the pictures I tried to put on a brave face but on the
inside I was a hot mess. I’ve also been given a squishy ball inside of a rubber
glove to squeeze until the whole thing is over so I try to focus on that and
making the fingers of the glove pop up every time I squeeze it.
The last time I had blood drawn I got really lightheaded
after it was done so I’m completely expecting something similar to happen this
time. At this point we’re getting pretty close to being done and I’m thinking, “Wow,
I can’t believe I haven’t gotten sick yet.” Well, I must have jinxed myself
because no sooner did that thought pop into my brain did I start feeling super nauseous. I looked
over at Matt and said “I’m going to be sick” and Nurse Panettiere heard me and
came dashing over with a small trashcan. Thank goodness I did not actually
throw up because that would have been absolutely humiliating. As you can tell
in the pictures I got super duper pale (even more than usual) and my hands
became really clammy. They had to put ice packs on my forehead and neck and
push the lounge chair back so my feet were above my head. They also had to feed
me Rice Krispie treats to get my blood sugar up. I wish eating sweet,
marshmellowy goodness did the trick every time I wasn’t feeling well! Of course
I’d probably weigh 800 pounds if that were the case!
At the end of the day
my visit to the Bloodmobile lasted an hour and a half due to my little episode.
After checking my blood pressure three different times I was finally back to
normal and thank goodness because I was apparently one more low pressure
reading away from having the paramedics called out. I’m sure you’re thinking
there’s no way I’d do it again but you’d be wrong. I most likely won’t be going
for a while but I would definitely try it again. Other than my freak out at the end everything
was significantly better than I had imagined it would be. I hear that a lot of
people have reactions the first time they donate because your body has no clue
what’s happening. So maybe that’s just what happened to me. At least I know what would happen should I ever encounter a thristy vampire!
