OH MY GOSH!

I FORGOT TO SAY THAT I DONATED BLOOD TODAY! And I ALWAYS blog about that!

So, today, admittedly, it was scary. I'm not really sure why, since after all four times I've donated, I like to think I'm pretty experienced.

Apparently not, because I was freaking out.

In the end, Charné couldn't donate and Marissa went before me, so once it was my turn, Charné came and held my hand while I freaked out some more. This is why roommates are cool. :) Donating blood was pretty uneventful, but as always, I'm weirdly fascinated with seeing a bag of my blood on the table. It's just interesting to think that a part of me that I had, walking around, going to work, talking and moving, is right there in a bag.

Yup.

Anyway, I have to sleep now because work is early. :/

NaBloPoMo and This I Believe

Hey, everyone! I've decided to participate in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) for the month of December (and CHRISTMAS!!!). It's my goal this month to do something specific and good for someone every day, so you'll be hearing about that a lot, I guess. In fact, that should continue after December. :) It just so happens that the theme for the month is "Mitzvah," which, according to Wikipedia, refers to 620 commandments in traditional Judaism. However, the word also means "an act of human kindness," which goes right along with what I hope to do.

Anyway, for my first post, I've decided to put up my most recent This I Believe essay. Enjoy!

Thicker Than Water

I have a personal mandate from the universe which is literally in my blood.

I learned this as a senior in high school, when I donated blood for the first time. I have O-Negative blood, which means I can donate to any other blood type. I'm what's called a universal donor.

We'd known about the blood drive for a few weeks. I was seventeen, so I could officially donate by then. The only thing holding me back was my own fear. It creeped me out that the nurse might dig around in my arm for a vein, or that I might pass out if I hadn't eaten enough. My dad, who is a giant at 6'4" and the last person you'd expect to freak out, faints when he gives blood.

I went anyway, of course, and missed my Spanish class fifth period less-than-grudgingly. Some friends and I walked over to the gym at our school and waited in line. I was terrified, to say the least. Waiting in the queue with my friends, I kept saying out loud how unafraid I was, as if it would help me feel better. Eventually I went into a booth where a lady pricked my finger and found out that I'm not anemic. Shortly after that, I was sitting in a chair with blood flowing out of my arm.

Despite my thin, deep veins, the nurse had found my vein without a hitch. The needle didn't hurt. I wasn't passing out. I was just talking to the nurse about vacations I'd taken, and suddenly I was drinking water and eating cookies before going back to class.

Donating blood, however, wasn't successful because I evaded pain or because I managed to stay conscious the entire time. Donating blood is simply a form of service, something I can to do keep someone else from dying, or worse, from the immeasurable grief of losing a loved one.

Just as I was afraid to open a vein for a dying patient, I believe that it's hard to find room in my schedule, my home, or my heart for serving other people. It can appear inconvenient, time-consuming, and downright frightening. Yet, in the long run, I believe that when I give up part of me for the sake of someone else, I am doing my part as a member of the human race.

I believe we're all universal donors of a different kind: we have the power to donate our time, our love, and ourselves in the service of another person. In our blood, which we share, we have an infinitely more unifying factor than inherited antigens or whatever it is that makes a blood type singular. We share our humanity. This brotherhood and sisterhood is our mandate from the universe to do everything we can for one another. I believe in giving my blood and my life to someone else, because every person's blood and life are equally important as my own. Every human bleeds red. There is no one on this earth who doesn't need to be loved. I believe our blood unites us. I believe in being a universal donor.

Third Time's the Charm

This has happened to me before, but never has anyone been so insistent that I see them again. We first met in December and spent a good afternoon together. In May, we had our second encounter. But after this morning, I'm convinced.

The Blood Donation Center is in love with me. They won't stop calling my house, they bribe me with cookies, free Soak City tickets and restaurant discounts, and they always insist that I stay fifteen minutes after every donation.

Talk about creepy.

Today was our third date; yesterday, they called me yet again. I tried to get out of it by saying I'd been out of the country, but apparently, they don't have malaria in France or Italy. (Hmm... I forgot to tell them about Monaco.) In the end, they insisted I come in today at 10:30.

Once again, because of my thin, deep veins, the lady had to dig painfully around in my arm. The donation went fairly well after that, until I got really dizzy and started to black out. There were little spots everywhere and my vision got a lot darker and I felt like I had earplugs in. Very weird. Luckily, I didn't actually faint, because the lady kept telling me to open my eyes. (Except I've always sort of wondered what it would be like to faint...)

When I told her I was dizzy, she leaned my chair back and made me stay there for-ev-er. Eventually I could see straight again, and then I sat down in the waiting area for a while and drove home later. :) It was a pretty good one, even though both these times at the actual center I've nearly blacked out. :/

In three more months, my stalker the Blood Donation Center will call me again. By that time, I will have cleverly changed locations and be out of their radar until they discover me in Utah. Ha ha ha... :)

Take Two: Donating Blood

Today I donated blood for the SECOND time ever! It was fairly scary because the lady was kind of new (you can just tell) and she couldn't find my vein. It was somewhat painful and made me very dizzy. I blacked out a little on the way out, so when I got home, I laid down on the floor in the living room and put my feet on the couch.
Donating blood is important, so even if this experience wasn't quite as idyllic as the last, I still did SOMETHING good today. I am happy. :)

Miss Brown Conquers Her Infirmities and Gets a Giant Needle Stuck in her Arm

Yes, you have read that mouthful of a title correctly.  Ladies and Gents, for the first time in my seventeen years, yesterday, I donated blood.

It was scary. It was nerve-wracking. But at the end of it, it was a self-fulfilling experience. All the way. :)

They even gave me a shirt:

I will now give you, readers, a play-by-play account of what it was like.

It starts like this:

We have known about the blood drive for a few weeks now. I am seventeen, so I can legally donate whenever I feel like it, apparently. But I am, as those of you who know me can attest, a bit of a wimp. I've heard many terrifying horror stories where the nurse didn't know what she was doing and dug around in someone's arm looking for a vein. People pass out if they haven't eaten enough. Even my Dad, who is a giant at 6'4" and the last person you'd expect to freak out, faints when he gives blood. 

So I have my reasons, right?

But then there are those reasons why we should. Donating blood does amazing things like saving people who are dying from blood loss. When you donate, you're basically doing your part to help save the world. Not to mention that I have O Negative blood, which I kind of consider my personal mandate from the universe to donate blood as much as possible. (O Negative can donate to all blood types)

But anyway, all day I was asking people whether they were going to donate. I decided that I would go fifth period, since I could eat and stuff at lunch and I would be less likely to have a bad experience. So, at lunch, I ate some chips, which was really not enough, and then when it was over, a bunch of friends and I went to the Mini-Gym at school and began the process.

First, you sign in. This is so that they can attest that you missed class for legitimate reason. They ask you a bunch of questions about whether you have donated before and stuff. Then, you fill out this little form, and if you forgot your ID like I did, you get a temporary one printed out in the counseling office. Then you go back. They made me eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and drink water since I hadn't eaten enough. Then I waited in a line of chairs, after which they enter you into their program. Then you wait in another line of chairs. All the while I am talking to my friend Courtney and my other friend Caitlin and saying positive things like "I am not scared. At all." 

When I was next, this lady called me into this little booth and asked me all sorts of questions about my health and weird things about who you've had sex with. I should have just said I was a virgin right off. I could have skipped so many of those. :) The only question I answered yes was whether I have been out of the country in the last 3 years. You know all about that. Then she took my blood pressure and stuck my finger to see if I'm anemic. I'm not. Then I went and sat in a chair and waited.

Eventually it was my turn and the nurse who was with me took my blood pressure again and put this tourniquet thing on my arm. You know what I mean, probably. Then she rubbed my arm with iodine on this giant q-tip, which tickled a lot. Then again, I'm ticklish pretty much everywhere. Sometime in there, she had me squeeze that little stress ball so she could find my vein. My veins aren't really visible from the surface, but she found them okay. Phew. :)

And then I looked away and she stuck the needle in.

It didn't hardly even hurt! At first, when I was squeezing the ball, I flexed my wrist upward, which hurt because I could feel the needle, but if you bend your wrist back, the needle stays straight and it's okay. :) Then the lady noticed my trip on the question paper, so I told her about it and she talked about how her grandma went to Vienna. And pretty soon it was over and she took the thing out and wrapped blue gauze stuff on my arm and then I was drinking water and eating cookies. You have to stay in the waiting area for about fifteen minutes and drink juice or whatever. I went to the bathroom and then I came back and hung out with my friends. 

We got T-shirts, even though they only had large and extra large left, and we stuck stickers on ourselves. They said things like "I survived the blood drive," "Done Sangre," which is Italian, and "Kiss me; I gave blood today." Courtney and I went back to English together, eventually. In English we talked about a poem. After class, my friend Scott was so proud of me for donating blood that he gave me a giant hug. :) And then I got my Passive Voice quiz back and I got 100%! Mrs. Marshall even put a sticker on it! :) Ha ha ha.

So that's the end of donating blood. Everyone should do it. Especially me. I live right near the hospital here, so I will be. I might have just been really happy because it wasn't a catastrophe, but I really felt like some kind of superhero. I kind of didn't want to take the gauze stuff off, except that it was bugging my arm.

Hmmmm. The End. :)