Facing my fears

I donated blood for the first time ever today. Not by choice. I had to. I'm a little embarrassed about never donating before but I do have a serious needle phobia and really get myself worked up when I have to get a shot or have blood drawn. I have also worked at several blood drives and seen many, many people get really sick. It's kind of childish I know, but I can't help it. I know I should be giving regularly because I work in health care and I totally understand the need for blood donors and I have O- blood, the universal donor, which means I can give blood to anyone with any blood type. Yeah, they practically beg for my blood.

Anyway, last fall I found out that I have a blood condition called hemochromatosis. Basically, I have high iron. Yup, when the rest of women my age are suffering with anemia, I have too much iron. Go figure. The good thing and bad thing is that there is no medication needed, there is only one simple fix. Donate blood. Of course. The one thing I am super scared to do is the only treatment for my "condition." It makes sense though, donating blood will decrease my iron enough to be in the normal range. If I don't do this, the excess iron could start building up in my organs and cause some serious problems. So, that is why I donated blood today.

I have dreaded doing this for months and yesterday it was all I could think about. I was so nervous I was shaking and could barely sleep last night. I almost had a meltdown before I walked on to the blood mobile today but thankfully it was at Wake Tech where Kyle works and he came out and gave me a pep talk before I went in. I have to say that the techs that worked this particular blood mobile were the Red Cross' best. They were all absolutely wonderful, completely understanding, patient and gentle with me. They could clearly see that I was a nervous wreck and was on the verge of tears the whole time. They made sure I had plenty of soda the whole time, even while I was hooked up to the IV. I thought you only got the treats at the end, maybe they just made an exception for me, I don't know. I accidentally spilled some Coke on my shirt and they felt so bad, they gave me a Red Cross t-shirt. I noticed that no one else got a shirt so that made me feel really special. So long story short, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. The needle stick hurt when François (my phlebotomist) poked me but I felt nothing when he pulled it out. He told me at least 10 times that I could trust him and he was right. I stayed completely focused the whole time and I even had the guts at one point to look down at my arm and see the blood pouring out. Once the needle was out I thought I was all clear. I sat up and started eating my snack and after about 5 minutes of sitting, all of the sudden I felt kind of dizzy. I have passed out before so I knew I had better lay down right away. After about 3 or 4 minutes that feeling went away and I was totally fine. I was so impressed by the guys on this truck, they can really make or break your experience. I really wanted to give them all a hug when I left but I thought that might be a tad weird.

God is so good. I wouldn't need Him if life was easy so I know this was just one more chance (small as it may be) for me to depend on His strength to get me through. It's been about 6 hours now and I still feel fine. I did come home and sleep for two hours though. I was drained. I'm glad I got this first time behind me and that it wasn't too bad because from now on, I am going to have to be a regular on the blood mobile.