In the past, I had been excluded from donating because of my time spent in Denmark in the 80s. I was told a while ago that they had changed some of their restrictions so I checked online and realized I was no longer "blacklisted".
The last time they had a blood drive in the area I was unable to attend due to childcare issues and an evening meeting. Friday I happened to drive by the sign alerting me to a blood drive being held at my church today and figured I would do my best to get there. After dinner was finished and the girls were in the midst of their bedtime routine I left Rick in charge and headed off to church.
I have actually given blood samples on numerous occasions - a large percentage of them during my traumatic experience with an ectopic pregnancy back in 2004 - but I had never before donated a large quantity of blood. I found it was not really that much different from giving blood samples except that they ask you a bazillion questions, check your vitals (I had a respectable 13.8 for my iron test, a pulse of 60 bpm, and blood pressure of 98 over 66) and the time to actually give the blood is obviously longer. I think it took about 10 minutes to get a full bag o' blood out of me.
I felt no ill effects once all was said and done. I was required to sit at the 'snack table' with the other recent donors - some of whom were fellow church-goers - for about 15 minutes before I was allowed to leave. But it went well and now I'm no longer a blood-donation virgin! It was quick and relatively painless and it feels good to know that I've given to the community in a meaningful way. If you are an eligible blood donor and have not given blood recently I urge you to do so. Let those 'vampires' suck your blood this Halloween season. They will thank you for it and you might even walk away with a cool T-shirt like the one I got tonight!
