This afternoon I got off work a little early because I needed to go buy a couple things for one of our camps and as I was leaving work I saw the American Red Cross Blood Mobile across the street in the RSM Library parking lot so I decided that I should go and give blood. I made my way over there and boy did I time it right, there was no one waiting in line so I was able to go right in! I answered all of their questions and had my finger pricked to test my iron level, well I failed the iron test, my iron level was only 11.9 and it needed to be 12.5, they asked me if I wanted to try the iron test again to see if they could get a better number, I said yes, they pricked my finger again and this time I got a 13.9, woohoo! The got me all situated and and hooked up and I gave a pint of blood, I was amazed how quick it went, it took maybe 10 minutes or so. However, being a first time blood donor, I had to wait longer before I was allowed to leave since I was not sure how my body would react. So I sat and enjoyed my Oreo cookies and orange juice (nothing better than chocolate and orange juice, yum!) and waited for about 20 minutes, I never felt light headed just a little tired, who knows that could of been from a long day at work and from laying down. Well, my first blood donation would not be complete without photo's and a blog post so here you have it!
The sticker they give you when you check in.
Looks at little shady, but it was much nicer inside.
Let the donation begin!
Look at all of that blood, I am impressed!
A sweet treat to keep me from passing out!
I am so glad I did this, it was so easy and painless, the most painful part of it all was the finger prick, I will totally do this again. It was kind of cool, while I was waiting to leave there was a guy there telling us that today would mark his 6th gallon of blood that he has donated and that he has been donating in honor of his niece who was born with a lot of problems and has needed many blood transfusions in her short life.
For more information on how and where to become a blood donor visit the American Red Cross's website at http://www.redcross.org/donate/give/
Geez your iron levels jumped in like 10 seconds? What did you do, eat a bowl of spinach?? Wow, thats a LOT of blood - 10 minutes worth? Eeek! How do you NOT pass out?
ReplyDelete