My Blood Donation Story

Back in high school, when I turned 16, one of the first things I wanted to do was donate blood. There were blood donating events every few months in my school, so it wouldn't have been a problem for me to get access. The only thing stopping me was my mom; she didn't let me. I was an athlete, and she didn't want me fainting during practice. I was really disappointed because I'm always all about helping out others and I'd always see my friends skipping class to donate blood, and of course, get free food, and I felt like I was missing out on something that I should at least attempt and experience.

I came to Penn State, and I've noticed there frequently has been blood donations going on, but I always just passed by the tables. But when the whole PSU vs MSU thing started, that's when I felt my cue was. Of course I donated blood because I've always wanted to; hey, it's college, that means independence right? Trying new things? Which means my mom actually doesn't know that I donated blood... but another few reasons why I wanted to donate blood was because of free t-shirts, free pizza, and I wanted to be a part of something to beat MSU. You see, my older brother's a Michigan State student.

The first week went by and I didn't/couldn't donate. I went the whole week making up excuses; I had to workout that day or go to dance practice. But there was a day when my friend and I were going to donate, but we just never did because we had to study. Then I told myself, next week, I'm gonna do it. Sunday night I made an appointment to donate and Monday came. I asked my friend if he could come with me because I was super nervous for some reason. I'm not scared of needles nor blood. My friend said he would come with me.

On the way to the HUB to donate, I was telling him how scared I was and he told me things would be okay. I was still a little nervous.

I have this habit of dancing to my ipod in the middle of the street, which is exactly what I did.
My friend and I are both dancers, so he joined in as well.
We ended up having a mini jam session in the lawn next to Thomas.
After that, I wasn't nervous at all.

Got to the HUB, checked-in, read the packet, got my free tshirt [yessssss it's so pretty], went in, waited, got called, sat down with the doctor, he snapped some type of needle on my arm and took a drop of my blood which hurt like a beast, and he actually told me that that was the worst part of the whole process, answered 50 questions, waited, he escorted me to my little bed.

I lied down and put my headphones on, and I asked my friend if I could hold his hand.
Few minutes went by, the doctor put the needle in, it hurt but the pain went away.
I was lying there and got bored quickly, so of course I started dancing..but you can't really dance while you're lying down..so I was wiggling..more like.
A few minutes after that, my friend decided to pull out his camera and start taking pictures of me donating blood.
Then my doctor asked if we'd like him to take a picture of us, and we thought, why not.
My friend gave the doctor his camera, and what was supposed to be just one picture turned out to a whole photo shoot.
I was lying there, having my blood sucked out of me, while the doctor was saying "work it for the camera."
Definitely made me less freaked out about the whole blood donating thing.
Then my friend and I played a game..and that helped time pass by too.
About 10 minutes later, it was over.
I just wanted the needle to be pulled out because that's the only thing I hate about needles; it hurts.

My doctor told me I shouldn't work out nor dance for the rest of the day..and I thought he was crazy.

He escorted me to the food tables, which was very rewarding, I must say.
Those cookies were SOOO GOOODDD!!! and the volunteers kept asking me if I was okay and if I wanted anything else to eat.
I felt special.
I looked at the club list they gave me, and I saw 2 names from the people in my club - RAM Squad
I put down my name and put a smiley next to it, and my friend called me a weirdo.

Overall, it was an awesome experience and I'm glad I finally got to do it!

Thanks to the awesome doctor I had, and the volunteers for being so friendly. All the help made everything so much easier for me :]