My arm? It wouldn't stop gushing

I learned something yesterday. Missing a pint of blood? Yeah that can mess you up a little bit.

We were having a blood drive at work. I've donated blood in the past and I've always felt good about doing it. It's way for me to help others who need it and giving blood? It's usually been a fairly pain-free process for me. I drink lots of water the day of the donation and the blood just flows from my veins.

At first I hesitated to sign-up for the blood drive though. Remember how I spent most of December curled up in a fetal position with a nasty headache? And all the crazy tests I went through. And I wasn't even sure if the blood people would want my blood considering I've been jacked up on steroids for the last month as part of my treatment regimen.

But I signed up.

Yesterday was the big day. So I drank lots of water, answered the questions and tried to donate. Apparently steroids are not on the blood people's banned list of medications and I must have had enough iron in my system. I was given the OK to donate. So I hoped in the chair, stuck out my right arm (which loves being poked by needles and having blood sucked out of it) and got ready to donate.

In 5 minutes the blood bag was full and the blood people were telling me to hold my arm above my head. I did it while reading about what I wasn't supposed to do after donation. Next thing I knew I was getting a band-aid and told to fill out a survey.

I did. And then I glanced down.

My band-aid? It was soaked red. And my vein? Apparently it was gushing blood. It loved donating so much that it didn't want to quit and instead wanted to give more blood to people who needed it.

But I was kind of attached to that blood. And the blood people wanted me to keep it too. So I put more pressure on my arm and then the blood center man, who also gets the duties of driving the Blood Mobile, came over and started putting the heavy duty brown bandage on my arm after he applied a new band-aid. And let me tell you, that blood man wrapped my elbow tight. I could barely move it, much less bend it.

After I stopped bleeding, I had my cookie and juice and went back upstairs to work. But then I had a few more minor problems. Mainly my head hurt and I was tired. So I decided to head home a bit early.

Maybe I should have kept my blood. Nah. Donating made me feel good and the achy head and tiredness went away by this morning. Donating was a good thing, something I hope to start doing a little more often.