Giving Blood

Yesterday I gave blood for the Beat Bama Blood Drive.  The last two years we have dominated and we always do the blood drive the week before they do. (WHOOP WHOOP!) They passed out the cutest stickers that read: "I bleed Orange and Blue!" (so true!)

Anyways, giving blood is my favorite way to give back at this point in my life.  I don't have much money to give but I can take the time out of my day to help 3 people in a quick 30-45 minutes (depending on if I pass out or not).

People always ask, how can you give blood or why do you like it so much?  Honestly, I think it was much more of a thrill when I was in high school and I was able to miss class to give blood or that I thought I was a badass for getting a huge needle stuck in my arm.  Now that I'm growing up and realizing how insane liking to give blood is, I start to get really queazy when I give blood.  This is normally how my appointments go:

I walk up to the registration table just fine and read the tips/facts book (just skim really because that is when the butterflies kick in).  After "reading" the tips/facts book, I rush to sit in the lab chairs.  The quicker I can answer the questions and get my finger pricked, which isn't that bad now (compared to a huge needle in your arm).  I never get worried about my iron because I think my blood is only made of iron (it's ridiculous how heavy it is).  But I always get worried about the questions.  I have no idea why because I haven't been on medication, or been paid for sex, or lived over seas.  But when they ask about going out of the country I start recalling every place I've been (which isn't much) but I don't want to lie so I get so nervous.

After the intimidating questions, they lady always says "Okay, are you ready?" and I take a deep breath and say "Yup."  Walking over to the table I start thinking about how my veins roll, I always get light headed, I can't get sick, I really need a drink, I don't know if I can do this.  Once they scan all those millions of barcodes they have to scan she says squeeze the stress ball.  I squeeze once and she says okay you can stop squeezing I can see your vein without any problems.  Which means I never get the purple marker (which is a plus because that thing never comes off) and her face turns into an excited child.  Before she gets too excited though I make sure to tell them "Yeah, my veins roll.  So you should be careful."  But of course they always miss.  The first 1-3 minutes isn't that bad but then I begin to lose feeling in my fingers and my face goes white and I start to breath really heavily.  Right before I feel sick I think about all the people I am helping with this tiny bag of blood.  It definitely helps me get through the last 10 minutes (I'm an extremely slow donor.)  Once the lady has asked twice now, "Are you sure you're okay?" I finally tell her, "No, I think I should lay down."  This always makes me nervous because the needle is still in my arm and laying down makes it move.  This time I did it with success and handled it like a pro!

The best part about the SGA blood drives is that (1) You get pizza! (2) This time they had corn nuggets! (3) There is almost always a t-shirt involved! (WINNING!)  But this volunteer project isn't for my great night of sleep I get afterwards or the t-shirt.  It's about the people it helps and how it will change their life.  I explain my experience because it has nothing on the trauma the people who receive the blood have gone through.  One of the thoughts I always have is I would love to know where my blood is going and how it is helping people.  I wish the Red Cross would put a tracker on all those crazy barcodes so we could see how it is helping people.

If you have never given blood before I have probably scared you away, but I encourage you to go and give (if you can and meet all the crazy questions they ask).  Do something for someone this month. It will make you feel better about yourself and it will most definitely make the people you help feel better as well!  There is two more weeks until Thanksgiving and I cannot wait to be around the people I love the most.  Be thankful for what you have!  There are some people who don't have anything!

God Bless,

Kayla