sourceAfter 9 years of building up the courage I donated my first unit of blood last night.
It took 6 friends, 5 other 'donatees' and 1 to hold my hand, 2 hours and 30 minutes out of my day, an amusing questionnaire, 2 glasses of 7up, a purple snack, a bag of cheese and onion Taytos, 2 plasters and an IBTS employee who thought that I was strange for bringing a friend with me to talk about shoes while they were inserting and removing the needle.
And I thought that I would feel better afterwards. Everyone said that I would get a warm, fuzzy feeling from doing something good, and to think of all the babies, motorcyclists and sick people that I would be helping. But I feel nothing - well not true, my arm feels a little heavy and I have a square bruise on my right arm - but I don't feel like I have done anything extraordinary at all.
Please tell me some of your stories from the first time you donated blood. Did you feel all warm and fuzzy?
It may hit you soon. I'm not sure if warm & fuzzy is what I feel. But I definitely feel good--that I made a small difference.
ReplyDeleteThe first time I donated, I learned things about myself & others. That my blood flows quickly & easily. That my veins are easy to find. That my blood type is not special. That I need to watch my weight. That the nurses indulge you with snacks. That all sorts of people donate blood. What did you notice?
Also, why did you want to donate? Having accomplished it, was it worthwhile?
Donated blood a long time ago :) haha well actually in 1st year of college which was a year ago. Well worthwile as my dad always does it whenever he can and I was waiting until I was 18 so i could give blood.
ReplyDelete1ST time went off without a hitch, was actually fine after it. No bruise or anything like that and felt proud of myself.
2nd time I got this HUGE bruise for about 3 weeks after. It did disappear thankfully :)
But yeah, that warm fuzzy feeling is bull, I just wlways feel like I've done good and helped someone and that's good in itself
Well done Mags, :)
I donated blood for the first time last October and felt like crap the following day because I'm so small and they took a lot of blood from me. I even had an extra pale glow that day. I'll donate blood again during the summer when I'm not so stressed about college work.
ReplyDeleteI don't get super warm and fuzzy. I mean, I always thought of it as the responsible thing to do. Kind of like recycling. I mean, it's good, and I'm proud that I throw my bottles in the recycling bin instead of the trash, but I'm not overcome with emotion about it. It's just the right thing to do. Like you said, it's not particularly extraordinary.
ReplyDeleteI do feel like ass afterward physically, though. And the past few years I haven't been able to give because of my iron levels being low.
I donated blood over 2 years ago for the first time. I felt fine directly afterwards, other than a bit of a sore arm. Turns out I had a rare blood type so have done so several times since. Unfortunately, apparently I need all my blood to stay illness free. Everytime i've donated, a few weeks later i've ended up quite sick. Could just be an unfortunate coincidence. But I guess we'll see. My grandfather needed an awful lot of blood when he was sick, I just think of him everytime i'm asked to donate. I get almost 6 texts from them the week they're here. My blood can be given to anyone. So there's definitely a guilt factor there. I'll continue to donate every few months if I can.
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad to know that I'm not the only one to not feel all that special about donating blood.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to say Sam that my reasons for donating are a little selfish. If you donate blood here in Ireland you don't have to pay for blood products if you need them later in life. Both my dad and my brother are unable to donate so I feel like I should be doing my bit on behalf of my family too. And it really was time to try to get over my phobia of needles.
I would definitely donate again. I know that I have helped in a little way but I still claim that the whole process was a bit of an anticlimax for me.
I never felt warm & fuzzy, as others have said it's just the responsible thing to do..
ReplyDeleteI don't think anyone really enjoys needles but you can definitely work them up in your mind. It gets easier.
tbh I feel really energetic after giving blood for some reason; my heart has less work to do maybe ;) But DEFINITELY do not have a shower. I totally forgot about that one time and I nearly blacked out; low blood pressure & dilated blood vessels due to hot water = bad thing, apparently :P