Carter Bloodcare came to Legacy to hold a blood drive and I thought, “Why not?”, since I was finally old enough to apply for it . My dad had done it before, so I thought that the people would be good and couldn’t possibly be that bad. It would be a good experience to give blood to someone who needs it desperately. This was going to be easy.
Yeah, it wasn’t easy. Showing up for school, I was a complete zombie because of lack of sleep the previous night thinking about the blood drive. I kept wondering, “What if they tell me if I have some disease I have never heard of before?” or “If I have a disease, what if it’s fatal?” or something else that wasn’t going to help the situation. I decided not to wuss out on a life changing opportunity. This could be one thing that I’ll do over and over again.
I waited for an eternity for me to get my pass and when the time came, I was practically shaking. I held the pass in my hand the entire class period, looking at it every five minutes, waiting for it to be 9:00 a.m. Finally, the bell rang and I was on my way to give blood for the first time.
Carter Blood had a waiting/testing room set up in the PAC. There were blood collectors all over the place. The area contained chairs that layed all the way back, machines that took plasma from your blood and small private viewing desks. These viewing desk are just tables with little cardboard blockers that use when you take tests and your teacher doesn’t want there to be any coping. I walked in and one of the nice nurses their to help collect blood told me to sign in and to go to the back of the room for my viewing. After I did what I was told, I went and took a seat at the private desk where a nice, older woman there told me what the process was going to consist of. It was kind of hard trying to understand her because she had a thick spanish accent.
After she finished, she handed me a packet and I asked her what it was for. She told me, “You read, take quiz after.” Great. I finished flipping through the packet, which basically just told me that if I did drugs or had STDs, I might as well just leave now. I told her I finished and she turned her computer screen towards me and I answered more questions such as “Have you ever taken drugs that require a needle that has not been prescribed by a doctor?” and every other question you can think of that might give you some disease.
Once the quiz was over, the lady then stood up and led me outside. I knew that I was gonna be giving blood from, you know, my arms, so I decided not to bring my jacket with me. God that was the worse decision of my life. It was freezing outside with the wind blowing and all. I had the sniffles in just seconds. I get to the bus and I’m thinking “It’s gonna be all nice and warm and cozy in here.” Wrong. The A/C was cranked up all the way. It was like stepping from inside the fridge into the arctic. The whole purpose for it was to keep the blood cold I guess.
There was a new lady who came and took my blood. She was extremely nice and friendly, but there was one part that kinda bothered. When it came for her to put the needle in my arm, she kept playing with it in front of my face, and I haven’t said it yet but I am deathly, and I mean deathly, afraid of needles. I proceeded to ask her nicely, “Can you quit playing with that thing and just shove it in my arm already?” She had felt so bad about it she covered my eyes when she put it in.
Giving the blood was a different experience than what I thought. I was thinking a pint of blood was a lot, but what I thought a pint of blood was nothing compared to what an actual pint is. The entire time I’m thinking “Whoa, that is a lot of blood.” The cold was finally starting to get to me real bad. My entire leg was shivering and I couldn’t stop them. If my knees shaking could make noise, they would’ve sounded like maracas. The whole process felt like hours but when I was done giving my last drop, the whole thing took only like 45 minutes.
After that, I was done. I just had to sit in the bus for 10-15 minutes just to make sure that I didn’t pass out. So out of the ordeal, I got a free shirt, powerade and cookies when it was over. Then I was on my way to Pre-Ap English 2 on the third floor. Everything was going perfect before I almost blacked out going up the stairs.
