To Donate or Not toDonate🩸?… That is the Question !

This week my kindness journey took a strange twist that I felt I needed to share with you, my readers.  For the past 45 years (my whole life) I have avoided donating blood🩸.  I don’t know what it is exactly that intimidates me about the act of blood 🩸donation, but I have always avoided it.   Needles💉 don’t necessarily bother me, I have had multiple IV’s in my life and I have several tattoos.  I take pride in myself for having a fairly high pain tolerance.  Maybe it is just a fear of the unknown. 

After seeing so many advertisements about the drop in blood 🩸donations due to the Covid-19 crisis I decided to make my very first blood 🩸donation appointment for Saturday, April 18, 2020.  A good friend offered to drive me because we weren’t sure how my body would react to the blood 🩸donation and he knew I was nervous about the process.  Once we arrived, we were informed that he had to wait in the car🚗, and I was alone without my cheerleader📣.  

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t normally need a cheerleader📣 to try new things, but this time I really needed one.  I started the check in process, I had answered the long questionnaire on line before arriving so that things could go smoothly.  Or so I thought! The check in nurse👩‍⚕️ took my vitals (temperature and blood pressure).  She informed me that my heart rate ❤was too high, and I would need to sit quietly for 10 minutes before being rechecked.  After the first 10 minutes was over, she rechecked me and my heart rate ❤was still too high.  The nurse 👩‍⚕️ explained that she knew I was nervous and that she would call their doctor🩺 to get permission to proceed.  The doctor 🩺advised her to have me sit for another 10 minutes and drink a full bottle of cold water, if my heart rate❤ did not fall into normal range, I would be deferred from donating blood🩸 that day. 

After the second 10 minutes and a whole bottle of cold water, my heart rate ❤was still high, and I wasn’t allowed to donate blood🩸.  The nurse👩‍⚕️ was very nice and explained what would happened next in the process had I been allowed to continue.  She even pricked my finger and checked my hemoglobin to evaluate if it fell in the normal range.  It was normal, so had I not been so nervous I would have been allowed to donate. 

I cannot even explain how disappointed I was to not be able to participate in this simple act of blood 🩸 donation.  I was disappointed in my body for letting me down, I was disappointed in myself for waiting so long to get up the courage to try to donate blood🩸.  Most of all I was disappointed that I let down some one who might have a need for a pint of blood🩸 that I could have provided.  This won’t discourage me though, I will try again and hopefully next time I will be able to do my part. 

Until next time, my friends!

K.