give blood, be a hero, traumatize your child...

ever since my 2 nephews had their medical problems when they were born and needed blood transfusions, i have felt a need to "give" back. i am eternally grateful for the medical teams that saved/helped them and the blood donations that they received. i figure the least that i can do is to help save someone else.

when i was in high school i gave blood and ended up with the nurse holding the trash can and my (then) boyfriend holding my hair out of the line of fire. i had decided to never give blood again. well, that was until as i explained before. in january was the first time i had given since high school. everything went pretty well until about half way through when my eyes started going out of focus and i started feeling hot. then i got cold and clammy. they elevated my legs and gave me a wet rag to use and i made it through just fine.

yesterday, i decided i would try again. i didn't really feel well but thought "what the heck, if i get sick...i get sick. no big deal!" so i went. brandon and the boys went with me 1) because i don't trust myself driving home (just in case) 2) we were headed out to do errands and go to a birthday party. so, i get all my paperwork done, give blood without any funny feelings. i was proud of myself! if you have ever given blood before you know that you have to sit in the canteen area for 15 mins. to make sure that you are okay and eat your cookies and drink your juice. well that is what i was doing (brandon and the boys were sitting with me) all was fine and brandon wanted me to leave early. my stomach did feel a little uneasy so i said "let's just wait." meanwhile, the last donor came and sat down in the middle row on the end (i was on the back row in the middle). there were a few other people left there that were just chatting away. i looked at my watch, it was 12:47. i could leave at 12:51 (i know big deal 4 mins. go ahead and leave but leaving just didn't seem right). here comes the traumatic part...remember the last donor...well i happened to glance at him after looking at my watch. i thought he was stretching his neck from side to side then his back arches, eyes roll back in his head, mouth falls open and eye lids don't shut!!! he started sliding out of his chair so i jumped up (a little too fast and got light-headed) to see if he was okay-things still not registering...big guy like him this should be a piece of cake. meanwhile, he is turning green and everything is still open....FREAKY!!!! so i yelled for help, the people in the front row turned around, they were clueless until i yelled. (that man was lucky i was behind him. who knows how long the poor guy would have sat there like that! j/k) so all the workers run over, put him on the floor, elevate his legs and start talking to him. no one knew the guys name so they had to dig up his paper work...his name was jared. they started talking to him, patting his face, rubbing his arms....NOTHING....everything still open!! we started pulling back the chairs to make more room so that they can put screens around him to give him some privacy (or in case things got bad, i don't know which). just before the screens went up one guy started pounding...yes, pounding...on his chest right over his HEART!! jared finally comes to...looks around completely confused... they start asking him questions and the rest of us turn to leave.

one of the guys from the front row looks at me and asks "is he okay?" i said "yeah" (thinking he was talking about jared). he said "no, him" and points to caleb. with everything happening so fast i totally forgot that caleb had just witnessed EVERYTHING!!! he was totally freaked out...actually i don't know if freaked out is the right phrase...traumatized. i walked over to him and he walked away from me, wouldn't talk or look at anyone for about 30 mins. i felt so bad!!

there i was...trying to do something good and end up screwing up my kid (not really, he was fine later)! note to self, don't take the kids or make brandon keep them in the car!!!