That was me today, except probably not as excited as that girl, you could probably flip her face upside down and it would be closer to how I was feeling. Yesterday in Relief Society they had handed out a sign-up sheet for people to give blood and for those to volunteer. It's not that I have never wanted to help by donating blood (I did try once when I was a senior in high school....I went to the library and filled out all the paperwork to do it, then I sat and waited, and waited. I started to get really hot and feel kind of light-headed. They ran out of time and were not able to finish everyone, I can't say that I was too disappointed :D), it's just that the needles and the blood kind of freaked me out. So instead of signing up to donate I would go and volunteer. I got there today and there was only one person donating blood, I was assigned to be at the snack table. Since there was not many people there I started texting friends trying to convince them to come and donate, one of them was Erin, she told me that she was already planning on coming in later and that I should do it with her.When Erin arrived, I talked to her for a bit and then decided that I should work to overcome my fears and so I went and signed up. First glitch, I didn't have any photo ID, solution: use Erin's ID to go and print off a copy of my BYU ID (btw Erin, I still have your ID and I owe you $.07 :D). I sit down and start to read the information, some of it was soothing but some of it just made it worse. I got called to go back behind the screens, the lady takes me behind like two or three others before she gets to the one where I get to sit down (I tried sitting down in the wrong where some other girl was sitting). Next glitch, she asked me my Social Security Number and I blanked, solution: just leave it blank. I then had to fill out some questionare thing about all drugs that I have taken, and whether or not I have had sex for drugs, money, or jewelry. The lady then came back and took my blood sample, temperature and a couple of other things. It seemed like every little while they would ask me what my name was again (I'm glad that I didn't blank on that part :D).
I was then told to go and sit down in a chair. I was kind of stupid and sat watching Erin for awhile while she was getting ready to have her blood drawn. But then it was my turn. I was really nervous, but the lady was very nice and told me when to look away. It actually didn't hurt really that much. I was almost done when she asked me how I was feeling, my response-not so good, I was feeling rather queasy and thought that I was going to be sick. The lady quickly grabbed two ice packs, one for under my neck and another for on top and then gave me a bag to throw up into, I contined to lay down for like 10 minutes and then they brought me a water bottle, then I was allowed to sit up for like another 10 minutes, then finally I moved to the snack area for another 15-20 minutes before I went home.
I was quite surprised of how simple it was and that it didn't hurt that much, it's just that I always over-analyze things and over stress/worry over them so that I make myself sick, which is what I am pretty sure that I did today. I am not sure that I am hankering to do this everyday, but I think that it will be something that I will go and do again.
