Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Navel gazing with a needle in my arm

Funny thing happened today at work. First of all, because of the big snow storm, barely anyone showed up at work. Secondly, a blood donor clinic had been scheduled in our cafeteria, and they weren't very busy. I had tried giving blood in the past, and always ended up feeling faint, and I was told to try again after having a child.

So today it felt like the perfect situation to try again. I went down, filled out the paperwork, spent a fair amount of time waiting, talking to the nurses etc. I actually had to convince them to let me try again, since the last time I attempted to give blood (13 years ago) they put a big note on my file about fainting. Anyway, in the end they gave me another chance.

I was halfway through the big bag of blood, in a record breaking 2 minutes (it used to take me quite a while to fill the bag), when the familiar light-headed feeling started creeping in. I let the nurse know, they immediately sprung into action, flipping my seat head down, cold compresses, a fan, the whole shebang. And thus, I have been banned from giving blood ever again...

On the one hand I am glad I tried again, now I know I am just not made to give blood. On the other hand I feel bad for causing all this trouble, really uncomfortable with all the hoopla made about me (I didn't even faint!), and a little bit embarrassed about the whole episode. Quite a few coworkers must have seen me there surrounded by nurses and compresses etc. Luckily I've lived down my share of embarrassing moments at work, so I am not overly concerned :)

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

Technical difficulties

Le sigh! I truly had good intentions for more posting (and still do in fact). Was interrupted by BR getting sick (two days of fever and misery followed by a week of antibiotics), but more importantly by technical adjustments. DH spent the weekend re-imaging my laptop, and then did it again on his day off yesterday. My poor laptop needed it in a bad way - it had become so sluggish it was bordering on unuseable. It's quite unbelievable how much faster and quieter it is working now! So I have no more technical excuses for the radio silence. My daily updates to BR's blog should take a fraction of the time they used to, leaving me more time for other posting/reading and miscellaneous activities.

But now it's bedtime, so any profound thoughts I had to share will have until later. Goodnight!