Giving Blood

At the moment I am in the storytelling mood, so here's one for the record.

I am glad to say that my littlest brother Neal has successfully completed his Eagle Scout project, and I was able to be a part of it. He organized a Red Cross blood drive here at our local chapel, and we all lined up and gave blood for him. Oh, and for the people who were on the poster for the Red Cross that said "Save a Life." We did it for them, too.

I really enjoy giving blood, and pride myself on my O positive blood and my juicy veins. As I went through the screening process the worker told me I had "good iron," at 16.5 on the machine. I have no idea what that really meant, but I was a good three points above everybody else I bragged about it to, so I figure I win.

After this bit of screening I went "on deck" to wait for a gurney to be bled on. I eventually made it to the point where the nurse was swabbing my arm with iodine, and at that point I think something deep in my subconscious woke up with a bit of alarm. I of course paid no attention to it.

A pint of blood later, they put me back together, and I stood up, quick and victorious! I am the best donor in the whole world. I couldn't wait to get to the table with the orange juice and crackers...I was hungry. You see, I had woken up late, and barely made it on time for my donation. Suddenly I couldn't see where the chair was for the table. I found it somehow by touch and sat down, then I could see again. I saw an open orange juice, and thought 'hmm, that won't do--unsanitary.' So I pushed it away and while looking for a new one to take as my own the color started to drain out from the bottom of my vision again, slower this time. 'How convenient,' I thought, 'I actually do feel somewhat tired.'

Needless to say, pretty soon I was slumped over at the snack table and I had the entire Red Cross staff scrambling. Pretty soon they had me in a gurney again with my feet elevated. One of the workers started asking me questions like "who are you? where are you at right now? how many fingers am I holding up?" I almost laughed at this point, and thought about giving him the wrong answers as a joke, but realized at the same time that this would be rather too serious of a situation for that kind of behavior, so I gave him correct answers with a wry smile.

Lesson learned: make sure to eat breakfast and drink plenty of fluids before donating blood, especially if you weigh approximately 120 lbs.