I saved lives yesterday!!! It was awesome. I have given blood 3 times in the past two years. --I passed out two of the three.--Yesterday I was doing great! I gave a pint and my blood is healthy and all that jazz, but as I was approaching the end of my experience I felt my stomach tighten and I knew it was about to end badly. I told the student beside me, who was there in case anything awful happened, that I wasn't feeling great and just about that time I felt my head spin. I said again "Yeah, I am really not doing too great." and then came the tunnel.-- I'm not sure if any of you have passed out before, but the movies show it quite accurately. You feel bad and start spinning and this blurry tunnel overtakes your view and closes in until you are unconscious. It is quite surreal. Then you wake up to this blurry dark tunnel betting clearer and brighter and everyone is calling your name making sure you are alright.-- After I experienced this blurred tunnel vision I knew I was about to go and the last thing I remember was "Help!" then everything went black. It was me that called for help. I barely remembered doing it, but I wanted to make sure I would be okay.
I was only out for a second or two, but when I woke up my feet were in the air and I slowly blinked my way into full consciousness. Everyone kept telling me how white I was and how there was no color in my lips or my face. One of the volunteers brought me some juice and they sat me up slowly. After a couple minutes I felt well enough to get up and walk across the room. I sat down on a mat on the floor for 15 minutes as policy and ate a chocolate covered wafer bar. Lunch was almost over so I had someone walk me to the cafeteria so I could eat. Andrew took over from there and he and I got lunch together. After I finished eating I wanted to go and lay down so I had him walk me back to the auxiliary gym where the drive was being held. I layed back down on the mat on the floor and had some more juice. After 20 minutes or so I went back to my last class of the day.
The first time I gave blood was the first time I had ever passed out. It is a very interesting feeling. The second time I gave blood everything went smoothly and I didn't feel the slightest bit abnormal during or afterward. When I went in yesterday to give blood I made a plan in case I were to pass out. I told myself that the second I started feeling anything abnormal I was going to say something. I didn't want anything to go wrong, but I knew what I was going to do if it did. I don't think that I am done giving blood yet, even though so many people say the risk of passing out isn't worth it, but I might not pass out next time.
Currently my risk of passing out is 67%. If I donate successfully again without passing out, that percent drops to 50; a third time it drops to 40% and a fourth time it drops to 33%. If I had stopped giving blood after passing out the first time, the odds of me passing out would have remained at 100% likely. I will probably wait another year to give blood again, though.
Don't eat yellow snow; Say "Hi" to animals; Laugh at corny jokes-because you KNOW they are funny! Smile when you are sad; think about other people more than yourself; re-evaluate your life.
Till Next Time,
Jasmine The Awesome.
