The Blood Drive

Today was my school's blood drive.
Yeah, Red Cross!

I was actually really excited, like, all week. I've always wanted to give blood and now I'm finally 16. I really like the idea of giving blood, ya know - saving lives, taking names, missing Ancient World History class. Plus, you get free snacks.

Anyway, I've been excited the past few days, but I was a little nervous my iron being low. I think you get iron from eating meat and green leafy things. Well, I'm thinking about becoming a vegetarian so I haven't really been all that big on meat lately. And, I'm not going to lie, I'm not a fan of vegetables.

So I got called out of Ancient World History (which was actually really fun; we were watching some movie with Heath Ledger about jousting - good times) by my friend Katie who told me she had come to suck my blood, which I thought was pretty funny. Our gym had been transformed into what looked like a makeshift hospital in one of those apocalyptic moves (minus rubble and dying people).

I signed in and proved that I'm me. Afterward, a nurse took me into a sectioned off area to test my iron and ask me questions. I get the idea of privacy, but those little cubicles only rose about to my shoulders and I was talking to my friends through the cracks between the mats. She tested my iron in this really cool, little red machine thing. It was really cool. I like science machines.

My iron needed to be 12.5 and mine was a solid 12.9. Success!

I had to then answer all these questions (I'll spare you the details) that were slightly hilarious and took all of about two minutes. Then - time for some donation.

I climbed up on the little plastic bed and looked around. My friend (I won't mention his name) was freaking out behind me about getting his blood taken. My other friend was already about half way through her bag. We waved at each other. My nurse was a nice lady named April who is interested in some form of Scotland dancing. She wiped off my arm and rubbed two coats of iodine over my vein.

Let me just take a moment to say, I have a really great vein. I'm not trying to brag or anything, but it's really big and blue and the nurse complemented me on it.

She inserted the needle, which looked really big and dangerous, but it didn't hurt at all. And then suddenly I was giving blood. The process was actually really interesting to watch. One thing I noticed, though, was that my blood was fast.  It only took a little over six minutes for me to fill the entire bag. I beat three of my friends who had been there before me.

I was acting  a little spacey, but the nurse just told me to drink plenty of water and eat some snacks. I headed over to the table which was filled with snacks and had many of the seniors from my high school sitting around it. I sat down and they gave me some cookies.

But, I decided then that I wanted to take a nap.

My teacher, Mrs. M, came over and insisted that I get back onto the plastic bed thing. I kept trying to fall asleep, but that is a big no-no. The seniors from my school came over to watch over me. I remember them trying to get me to laugh and eat, but I don't think I was that great of a patient. I accidentally kicked one of them. 

I started to feel really spacey and all of the sudden I wasn't seeing all that well, even with my glasses on. I knew they were talking to me and trying to make me feel better, but I couldn't really focus on everything they were saying.

This went on for maybe fifteen minutes, with my progressively closing my eyes longer and longer. And then, one of the nurses came over and made me roll over and alas - my fingers were a lovely shade of blue. The nurses sectioned me off on one side because I might have been freaking out the people waiting to get their blood taken .

Let me make it clear, they sometimes turn a light blue because I have poor circulation, but man, they looked like smurf fingers. I don't know why, but after that I started crying for no reason. I wasn't sad or scared (my fingers were going back to normal as the nurse rubbed them) but I just started crying.

And this went on for a long time. Every two or three minutes I would just start to cry. I want to make something really clear - everyone was being so nice to me. All of the senior boys were trying to make jokes and the girls were acting like nurses. My friend Kenzie was doing a really good job of getting me to drink water. I was not about eating anything or drinking water, but she managed to make me. I always had a cold compress for my head and the girls even put my hair up because I was too hot. It was beautiful, by the way. :)

I think my crying was a little weird, though. One moment I was laughing and the next I was crying, then I was trying to sleep, and then crying again. The nurses took my blood pressure which was a little high, but health-wise I was fine (except for the obvious problem with crying).

After that, they sat my bed up, wrapped my still light blue fingers in a thick blanket, and then people just talked to me. Mrs. M read me this book called 1001 Awesome Things by Neil Pasricha. Olivia made up a story about me and cats in a van with Germans. Kenzie and Annie told me it was okay every time I cried. And the boys were just being funny - Jake kept popping his head over the divider in random places. My coach came over and kept making jokes, which many of them I was crying through, but it was a great thought. 

Overall, everyone was truly very nice and awesome to me. I don't know what was wrong, but I'm feeling a lot better now. I took a nap once I got home and the last time I cried was about 5 minutes ago while I was eating some food (before that I hadn't cried since my nap). 

I don't think my experience was normal. I watched so many people give blood and leave and be totally fine. My teacher was grading papers while hers was getting drawn and then went back to class. I don't know what my problem was. 

I think it was hormones, or maybe my blood came out too fast, or I was too small or something. Either way, it was weird and a little concerning. But, I was taken care of by some pretty great people from the Red Cross and my school.

And I got to save some lives, so it was completely worth it. 

Have a great night and give some blood in the future.