O Happy Day

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Today is the 12th anniversary of my motorcycle accident. Ayup, right about now they were trying to figure out what to do with me in order to preserve my mortal existence. I have written before on this blog about my desire to donate blood because of the amount of blood that was required to keep me alive in the hospital so many years ago. Between a low iron count, thin veins, and slow flowing blood, I have only been able to donate blood one time over the years since the accident. I have tried countless times, but it has almost always ended in disappointment. Not today.

For some reason it was set in my heart that I would try to donate blood today on the anniversary of the accident. I ate food rich in iron this morning and I went to the bloodbank after running a couple of errands early in the morning. My iron was really low on the first test, but they warmed up my thumb and I registered two points above the required number on the second test. When they set me up to actually donate it was noticed that my veins are small. The needles used to extract blood for donation are very large in diameter, so the lady dealing with me felt that a donation was not possible. I was feeling really disappointed, but she called over another phlebotomist with a little more experience and she said that it could be done with some careful poking. The needle went in and I was able to give them a full pint. My arm didn't even bruise at the donation site. (That's me in the photo)

I can't properly descibe how happy I was to donate blood today. I benefited so greatly from the generosity and concern of countless donors so long ago, and it brings me great joy to know that someone in need will benefit from my blood in the coming days. They gave me a nifty sweatshirt as a gift and I headed home.

Today was victorious and I'm thankful. There's so much more to life than whining about injuries, and I'm truly happy. 

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