For 6 months, I shuddered every time I looked at the April 14th entry on my calendar…”Blood Drive.” I have blood issues. I’m pretty sure it started when I was about 4 or 5 and my stepfather fell off a ladder with a storm window and just about cut his hand off. We were home alone and I remember him looking through the window in the front door, begging for me to let him in. I thought he was playing a game and so he ended up running in through the garage and up the stairs, splattering blood on the walls along the way. I remember him talking on the phone to the pre-911 emergency service and receiving instructions to remove his belt and wrap it around his arm. He went off in an ambulance and I stayed home with a neighbor.
When I was about 13 I fainted in the doctor’s office after the nurse who was drawing my blood said “oops”. I spent 2 days in the hospital after that episode, had a CAT scan, and narrowly missed a spinal tap. I also fainted at school after my finger got pinched between 2 desks and a blood blister appeared, and at the grocery store when the deli clerk cut her hand on the meat slicer.
Since then I have had 3 babies and lots of blood tests for thyroid levels, so I thought our office blood drive might be the perfect opportunity for me to conquer my fear among friends. I DID IT!! For any of you who are afraid to give blood, it was really no big deal. I didn’t look at my bag-o-blood, but I accidentally saw one of my coworkers’ and even that didn’t send me crashing to the floor. The most painful part of the whole thing was sitting in a broom closet answering questions about my health history and habits that might make me ineligible to give blood. It was all worth it though, when the nice lady asked me if I had ever had sex with anyone who was born or had lived in Africa. She was visibly startled when I answered, “At least twice a week since 1998.”
5 million people per year receive blood transfusions…your blood can save a life! Plus you get guilt-free cookies! Just do it!!!
