Calorie Killers Intense Fitness, Honest Advice

Give Back – Donate Blood

The thought of blood donation used to make me really nervous.  It's not the sight of blood that freaks me out.  I think it's the size of the needle and the thought of it going into the soft part of my arm that spazzed me out.  I finally overcame my fear of blood giving in late 2008.  I knew I was helping the community and it acted as a good memorial to my grandfather who had recently passed away.  I think he was possibly the champion black belt of blood donation in his hometown.  I'm not sure what his lifetime blood donation total was, but I'm sure it was very high and probably saved a lot of lives!  We were having a company-wide blood drive complete with the blood mobile in the parking lot.  I figured this would be the best way to do it without the danger or driving soon after the donation process.  Basically, I decided to stop being a major wuss.  So I donated.  All was well...until I started to get up out of the chair.  I flopped down and passed out.  This was the first time I've ever passed out in my life!  A very weird sensation indeed!  It was a tingly sensation, followed by cold, followed by a hot flash, followed by a Keanu Reeves style "Whoaaaaaa."  I felt like a goof as the bloodmobile was packed with my coworkers all staring at me sprawled out on the chair covered in hospital blankets sucking down Coke Classic.  Ahh, this is not a fond memory.

Just do eet!

So when the blood center sent me happy reminder postcards that I was available to donate again I was a little uneasy.  I didn't want to do it.  Just a few weeks ago I got a happy email from our community outreach committee that we were again having a company blood drive.  Because I'm on our Emergency medical team, I helped with the sign-ups.  Slightly guilty of signing others up to donate the red juice, I signed up, too.

I was nervous going in.  Shaking in my space boots.  I read somewhere that a key to not passing out is staying hydrated.  So I was guzzling down some bottled water.  Then the attendant gave me hell for that because she needed my temp.  Heh.  They took my iron count, and by the way, I swear this little surprise finger prick is WORSE than them putting the fat needle in your arm.  My iron saturation was good.  I checked it online and it was in the high level.  I ate some molasses that morning to contribute to my total and I think it worked!  My blood pressure was superb (110/70) and my pulse was 72 (a little nervous).

I plopped down in the chair and got prepped by the slightly harsh scrubby widget.  I have no idea what it's actually called, but that will suffice.  I got the band around my arm for added pressure and got a grip on the squeezer (again, not technical).  The needle poke was surprisingly easier this go round and the attendant gave me a compliment on how awesomely visible my veins were.  Thank you weightlifting.  A couple minutes later I was done and sitting on the recovery couch eating a 100 calorie pack of Chips Ahoy and polishing off my water bottle.  Not the best snack choice ever, but it was one of the better choices available.

Note the attractive black Band-aid crud.

To show my street cred for donating, here's a photo of my funky bandaid.  I applied this one this morning.  Thanks to the Miller Keystone bloodmobile and its cool staff, I've dontated blood once again - this time without passing out!  Great success!

If you are interested in donating, do it!  It's not that bad and you get to save some lives!  All in about 5 minutes work.