I did my good deed for the season by finally forcing myself to suck it up and get over my fears of needles and fainting long enough to give blood for the first time. The needles hurt, but I did not faint (yet), so it was only half as bad as I expected. I am a little light headed, though. The bad/annoying: I’m not allowed to have caffeine all day now. Remind me next time the blood mobile comes around to pick an afternoon time slot. The good: I’m also not allowed to do anything strenuous for the rest of the day, so that prevents me from hauling more giant binders full of heavy paper down to the copy dungeon and gives me a break from that mess for a while. There’s also the fact that I faced a couple of fears head on, all at once, and I survived and it was no where near as big a deal as I had built it up to be in my crazy head. And, of course, there’s the good feeling of knowing I did my part to help out strangers in need.
Plus, I got a coupon for a free McCafé coffe. Yay?
Go you with the blood donation. Every time I try, they tell me my iron’s too low. Maybe I’ll eat a steak and some spinach and try again.
Are you going to try the coffee?
Of course! It’s fine coffee to drink for free, much better than the sludge they give us at work, which I also drink because it’s free. I’m a freebie slut.
Congratulations on your first time donation. I’m glad you got over your fears and took control. Well done! *AND* you get the bonus of knowing that you’ve helping another person!
Thanks. Yeah, the guilt over not doing was finally outweighing the fear of doing it. Now that I’ve gotten through it I can probably become a regular.
Good for you. I found it interesting that people who give blood have a lower incidence of heart attacks. http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/314/7083/793
I suffer from low blood pressure and low blood volume. I gave blood once when I was young, but I can’t any longer. I barely make enough for me.
Did you find out your blood type?