So, ESU had a blood drive recently and I signed up to give blood today. I had never had the chance to participate in a blood drive before so I was pretty excited for it! I went in, had to read a whole bunch of matierls, briefly panicked that my trip to Europe would deter me from being able to donate, got a cool 'first-time donor' pin, got a sticker with my name on it that said I donated blood, got a free t-shirt and a number.... Then I sat and waited.... They had all the waiting seats facing the opposite direction of where the donating chairs were. It was in the ballroom, so it's a ginormous open room. You would be sitting there patientily, waiting to be asked multiple questions about where you've been, who you've been with, and if you've sold yourself recently - all the while, people were fainting or chatting away or listening to iPods or eating cookies while pints upon pints of blood were being bumped out. Kind of disturbing. However, I was still excited to do this!
They finally called my number and this delightful Red Cross nurse named Patty set me up. She was a chatty cathy telling me all about where her work takes her in Kansas (VERY thrilling!) and about the people she works with. Then I had to answer a whole bunch of questions. They got kind of suspicious of me for being in Europe in the past three years, but calmed down and decided I was decontaminated when I told them it had been over 12 months ago. Interrupting thought - That's sad. I need to travel again. It sure doesn't feel like a year....
Then Patty checked out both my arms, marked both of them, and decided the left was best. I know these people do this about a bajillion times a day, but they are SOOOOO much better at finding veins than the nurses in the ElDorado Emergency Room. After she got the needle in me, she was telling me about how it's sometimes more difficult for people who have veins closer to the side of their arm rather than in the middle (like me) and that she was going to have to hold the needle in rather than tape it. So we were talking a little bit about the process, she told me it would only take about 5 minutes, we were watching the bag fill up. This sounds morbid, no? I thought it would creep me out a little bit, but I actually brought out the inner teenage boy in me and found it kind of cool!
Then about 2 minutes in, I started to get a little dizzy.... I just told myself, "Come on, Bri. Push through. Take a couple of deep breaths. You can do this." Then the black dots started closing in and I told Patty I was feeling lightheaded..... She was in the middle of saying, "Just take some deep....." And then the tunnel rapidly closed in on me....
Just as quickly as I passed out, I came too. But it was weird.... A whole bunch of scenes kept flashing. In one, I'm pretty sure there was my family, in another there was Marah, in another I was in a train station... They were very vivid, but within a minute of me coming too, I lost most of the images. The last one was of three doctors standing over me and it took me a few seconds to realize it was not my imagination, there were, in fact, real nurses asking me my name and where I was at.... It was creepy, but really badass....
They made me lay there for forever. I thought I was going to puke. Surprisingly, if you get dizzy, all you have to do is take a deep breath then cough. Repeat that a couple of times and you're golden. It was a double edged sword for me.... I thought fainting was super cool. It was the only time I've been 100% out of control of my body. Yet, at the same time, I didn't get to donate any blood. They have to pull the needle from you once you faint. Seems pretty obvious. But now I feel like I can't wear the t-shirt. I didn't wear my sticker all day...
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