Fear the Beard, Not the Blood

I had quite an eventful day today.  Allow me to share...

This shirt for a pint of blood...good trade!

I donated blood for the first time today.  My work was sponsoring a bus in the parking lot.  They are having a special promo where you get a Giants tee shirt when you donate so I used that to try and get more people to go with me.  My mom (a first-time donor like myself) and my brother's girlfriend (a veteran donor) came with me.  So, I'm sitting there donating away, feeling okay and when I finished I was a bit worried about feeling dizzy because I knew to eat today but it hadn't been since lunch and it was now close to dinnertime.  I moved to a different seat where I could sit up and drink a Capri Sun and all the sudden I'm not feeling too hot.  The next thing I know people are saying my name, a nurse is shaking my feet and I feel like crap.  They helped me move over to the reclining chair I was in previously and I'm just trying to keep my eyes open when my mom grabs my hand.  I look up and she has tears pouring down her face.

According to my mom, I was out for a few minutes and they couldn't wake me up.  The nurse said it was because I was sitting up and once they laid me down a bit I came to.  AND my mom said my face turned blue.  She apparently started trying to climb over the nurses who were trying to wake me up (she wasn't yet hooked up) and my brother's girlfriend (who was hooked up) started shaking and freaking out because she couldn't see what was going on because she had a needle in her arm.

It was all quite dramatic!  My mom wasn't able to donate because they were worried about how worked up she was about me (I am the favorite - I can say that because my brother doesn't read my blog) but she will be going back in a couple weeks. 

They are still giving shirts away so if anyone in Sonoma County needs extra incentive to give blood check out their locations.  But you can go anytime and save a life.  Check out Blood Centers of the Pacific website.

After this whole ordeal I am surprisingly less scared of going back.  At least I know what to expect.  I mean my experience wasn't exactly ideal but at the end of the day all I really lost was an hour and a half of my life, and I gained a story and gave blood so it was a pretty good deal.  Seriously, the whole thing is pretty funny now...maybe not to my mom yet but I think so. My one of the first things my brother's girlfriend said to me was "I wish I have my video camera."  And if she did, I'm sure it would have been hilarious.