A Near Passer-Outer!

So, apparently, me giving blood equals near passing-out business.

Today, I thought I'd be a hero and give some blood. I mean, it's for a good cause and all. So, before my first class, I met Ladybug at the blood-donation-station. After answering all the pertinent questions and verifying the amount of iron (not copper!) in my blood, I allowed the friendly nurse to stab my right arm in search of a good vein.

It didn't take her long to find one. And now the blood is pouring out of my arm, through a clear tube, and into one of the waiting three to four bags for collection of my blood.

And I'm doing fine. The nurse checks on me every few minutes and things are going swell. She comes over to take a look at my progress and says, "Almost finished."

"Good," I reply. "'Cause I don't feel so great."

Things start going black. I close my eyes, hoping to shake the blackness off. I reopen my eyes. There are five or six nurses around me, all doing different things. One is wrapping my arm. Another is calling my name, instructing me to breathe in my nose and out my mouth. There's one behind me, taking my jacket off of me and sticking ice packs on my neck and back. Another is waiting with a bag in case I decided to puke my guts up (which, unfortunately, I did). And still another is telling me to look at her and not close my eyes.

It was hard to hear what was going on around me. There was this loud roaring sound in my ears. And I couldn't get enough air, it seemed.

It was a really scary experience at the time it was happening. Of course, now, I'm just embarrassed and mortified.

I had to stay there for a while. I couldn't leave until I ate something. And then, they had a nurse walk me to my class.

It was not fun.

So, my good deed of donating blood nearly caused me to pass out. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.