1. Donate blood (Sept 23^rd Accomplished)

Now I know this doesn’t sound like such a big deal. A lot of people give blood and do it often. Not too life accomplishing or goal worthy. But for me it was just this; A goal on my bucket list and something that I thought of as terrifying.

I don’t know why I wanted to do this so badly but I did know that it scared me. In my books doing something that scares you, getting over that fear, is something to strive for. So donating blood was put in as the first thing on my list.

Why did it scare me so much? A lot of reasons I guess. I had given blood once before years ago in high school and I don’t remember having any trepidation about it. But I do remember getting very sick afterwards. There was an adventure of blacking out and throwing up on multiple occasions that day at school. Fun. After that I was sick for months. Nothing serious but life wasn’t too great. Even with that I don’t think it was the reason I was so afraid of donating blood. A big reason was needles. Who isn’t scared of needles, and this one is big and stays in your arm for a while.

When I sat down to make the list this was something I knew I wanted to try it again. Firstly to get over my fear but also to help people. I know giving blood is important and saves lives. In my own little way this will help and in the end I know if I was ever hurt and needed it someone did it for me. It was a karma thing I guess in my head.

So one fateful Thursday I headed down to the King and University blood clinic. There was a lot of bulking but Mike kept me in line and going to the clinic. It’s strange how easy it is to say you’re going to do something and how hard it is to follow through. That’s why I love Mike so much. He gives me the gumption, the motivation to follow through.

There is some prep you should do before just heading to give blood, and from my last experience I wasn’t taking any chances. If you want to give blood you have to take care of you. For instance no gym on blood day. Most importantly food is key. You have to make sure you have a good big meal before you go. One that is high in iron and protein is the best way. We had a huge steak stir-fry with heaps of pro iron veggies and I indulged in some sugar as well.

The clinic was pretty empty so I didn’t have to worry about not having an appointment. After filling out a bunch of questions mostly regarding sexual matters or using drugs, needles or having AIDS (One surprisingly asked if I had ever handled monkeys or their excretions. What?! Haha), the nurse took a blood sample. Lucky me I had a good iron count and everything was good for me to donate. Was I a baby for thinking the prick on my finger hurt? Man I am not prepared for this needle.

Now it was time, no more questions, no more delaying. I sat down on the big reclining chair and prepared to meet my fate. I was so nervous. Mike sat with me and held my hand. Again, I was so glad he was there with me. The nurse sanitized my arm with some sort of new wipe stuff, it took forever to dry. This dragged out the anticipation more so by the time she was ready to put in the real needle I was shaking so much. My legs were visibly shaking. She told me she was ready and I looked away as she put in the biggest needle into the crook of my arm.

Ow. Ok so it only lasted a couple of seconds but it was a strange feeling it staying in my arm. It kind of pulled / pinched a little but I think that was the tape and needle at a bad angle. Earlier the nurse explained to me what they do with the blood afterwards. There are three bags attached to your main blood bag that gets filled up. When they take the donated blood they divide up the different platelets n such and put them into the three different bags. So when you donate your blood goes to three different people.

My bag filled up in about five minutes. I was fine the whole time, I can’t believe it went so fast. So relieved she took the needle out and put a Band-Aid on. I was so happy and so proud to have accomplished that. I was so scared and I did it anyway and it turned out to be ok. It just lets me know when I’m afraid to do something I just need to guts to get it done. In the end I’ll feel better about doing it or getting it over with. There is kind of a moment of clarity where you understand everything better.

So I had some cookies and juice to make sure I wasn’t going to pass out afterwards. With a big smile I went home to relax and enjoy the rest of my day. Not once after did I feel dizzy or sick. Very happy about that! I just left with such an elated feeling of accomplishment. Can’t wait for the next goal…