| Hi World,
Sorry that I haven't been updating or really paying any attention to this xanga... I'm wondering if I should keep this xanga going since I never ever update. HMmmm.. i guess. I don't really have anything worth letting you guys know that you already don't know about. (ie. laments about work, stress, exams etc etc...) But something happened yesterday that I originally wasn't going to post, but I felt it would be more responsible if I warned others of the potential danger if they were to try to do what I did. So here's what happened:
Background: Lately, I've been wondering, what kind of impact do I have on my co-workers? Do I do anything extraordinary that radiates Christ in my actions/work/behavior? What do I contribute to the Kingdom in my work place? ( with all this in mind, let the story begin)
There was a posting of a blood drive in my building all week. I didn't really give it a second thought during the week, but for some reason the day of the drive kinda hit me. And I started to think about it yesterday morning. My officemate and another co-worker (we're all christian BTW) came to me asking if I wanted to donate blood today. And I thought, how cool would it be that all the christians in the office to do such a selfless thing, as to donate blood to people who need it the most. Not only that, but to take our lunch to do it also. I did a little research on the socalredcross website and it so happened to be that I was finally eligible to give blood for the first time in my life, since you need to be at least 110 pounds. I am around 114 lbs. So, thinking it would be God answer to my pondering questions, I said yes to going with them to the blood drive.
We make it to the blood drive. Bear in mind I hate needles and I was really really nervous about the pain I would be in when giving blood. I kept on asking Elizabeth and Sabrina ( my co-workers) if it was going to hurt, or if I was going to take really long. They reassured me that it wasn't going to be that bad and after the needle was in my arm I would 'forget' it was there. Yeah right.... ok ... sitting there with a needle jabbed into the bend in your arm for 30 minutes hurts! ok anyway... that's not the point of my story... So they call my name to do the the preliminary paper work and blood test for iron. I told the nurse it was my first time donating blood and that I was really nervous about the process, and this is how she expounded,
N: " ID please."
Me: " Huh?"
N: " ID, I need your ID"
Me thinking: " Ok, rude! Stupid nurse, did you hear me say that I'm nervous. Not even a little reassuring look or comment.
I rolled my eyes at her and handed her my ID and she zoomed through all the "required questions" ie) Do i have HIV? Do I have any diseases I am aware of? Do I take any drugs or sollicit any sex from a prostitute for the past 8 months? Have I lived in Europe in the past 5 years? etc etc... Most of the questions she was reciting to me by memory, she didn't even wait for me to answer.. I kept on saying, " uhhh.. what" "ok".. "huh?" The nurse must have took any sounds I was making to be yes to those questions. whatever.. she pricked my finger to test the iron in my blood and shooed me away into the donating chair. The nurses took no time to get me prepared for the donation. They hooked a blood bag to my chair and quickly doused my arm with iodine(?). The nurse pulled out the thickest needle that I've even seen and I quickly looked away. After I was hooked up, a nurse walks by to me and said, " You're so tiny" How much do you weigh?" I say "around 114". She responds, " Oh.. it might be a little harder on you. It's better for people who are 120 and up. I'm thinking... great, just what every nervous donor wants to hear the first time they give blood..... oh well.. the site said I was eligible and the nurses didn't say i could be donating.
So... time passes I'm hooked up to the bag finally and my blood is slowly but surely filling the bag. Elizabeth was hooked up to her bag 3 minutes before I was, but was already done 15 minutes after I started thinking should I be done? I think anyone who bothered to look at me, could see how concerned I looked while I was sitting there. No one came to check on me. I slowly began to feeling sleepy and antsy at the same time. I was shifting in my chair a lot, crossing and uncrossing my legs, putting my right arm above my head to calm myself down and breathe better. I thought, ok.. this has to be normal, I was just feeling nervous right? Wrong.... a few minutes later my right arm went numb. I initially thought it was because there was no more blood in it but it felt really wrong, because at that time my breathing being more irregular, my head felt really light, my mind drifting. Finally, a guy nurse came by to check on me, he asked me how I was doing. I shook my head and said, "no!" He quickly tried to unhook me and he called over all his other nurse friends, " get her cold towels!" "lift up your knees!" "breathe into the paper bag!" It seriously was a scene from the ER. Five nurses surrounded me. I was really out of it. My body went into shock because of the blood loss, so instead of breathing into the paper bag, I threw up in it. They nurse kept on holding up my head for some reason, so I was drowning in my own barf for a brief time. A nurse comes around with a trash can so I continue to throw up everything I ate in the morning while 3 people hold me up, 1 holding cold towels on me the other holding the trash can. I completely lost it for about 3 minutes.
After everything, the nurses had me lay on the chair for almost 45 minutes. When I started to get up from my chair, the nurses kept asking, " are you sure you want to get up", as if insinuating that it was too early for me to do so. So I laid back down. (Geez... i finally get attention after I nearly passed out.) The nurses kept asking me," are you sure you were at least 110?" I said, " yeah, or else I wouldn't have even thought of doing this". Stupid... I was really upset that the lack of care and sensitivity of these nurses towards the donors. I could not believe that it was the Red Cross! I think worst thing out of all this was when asked if they would be able to use my blood and the nurse gave me this look and said, " No, because you didn't find up the test tubes". Apparently they take 6 test tubes of blood to test your blood to determine if it's clean, the blood type.. etc. I was really upset...after all that.... I come out with nothing!!! it won't help anyone!!! WHAT?!
All in all, no one benefitted from my blood. I nearly passed out from the blood loss, and it scarred me from wanting to ever donate blood again. It was horrible.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't donate blood especially if you feel you should and you are well above the appropriate weight. But please, if you read nothing else, when donating blood, if you are bordering on the weight issue and are really nervous, it probably best to double check with a doctor before hand. Or else, you may end up having a bad reaction. Please let this be a lesson that you don't need to learn the hard way.
P.S Sorry for the super long post... but think of it as compensating for the times that I didn't post... =P |
