My darling friend, Regina, regularly donates platelets at the United Blood Services near our office. As regularly as is allowed, in any case. She invited me to go with her so I did. She made the appointment, described her personal experiences, and forwarded me the e-mail message from United Blood Services that outlines what you should and shouldn't do when donating.
I was supposed to run on Wednesday. I got sidetracked with cleaning my living room and putting up Christmas decorations and told myself I'd run on Thursday. That would, after all, put me back on the same schedule as my husband. This was the point that I should have looked at my calendar to see what else was coming up during the week but alas, I did not.
I woke up on Thursday...the day I was to donate...with a very stiff neck. I did some gentle neck exercises and thought about what my day had in store. I still had a couple of hours before the appointment and thought about taking some aspirin or ibuprofen for my neck. The appointment! No aspirin allowed. And just to be safe I decided against the ibuprofen.
I thought I'd go down and have some coffee and see if moving around helped. But then I remembered you're supposed to go light on caffeine. So no coffee...because I rarely "go light" on things I love once I start. Grr!! My neck was hurting and I had my no-coffee crankiness going on. Naturally I decided a quick run would be the answer. I came up with the idea because running really does tend to ease the stress I carry in my neck and shoulders. (See how great running is for you?! And I'm saving tons on massage fees!) This of course would make me short on time but I told myself I would just do a quick 2 miles.
Two miles in felt too good to just stop so I decided I could do the 5K if I didn't dry my hair. So I did 5K, felt pretty good, rushed through getting ready and dashed out the door. On the way I remembered that I was supposed to have a low fat, balanced breakfast. A Fiber One bar counts, right?
Is anyone even a little bit surprised that halfway through the donation procedure I got a bit lightheaded? I don't blame United Blood Services...they were unbelievably kind and attentive. I blame me. If I had simply followed my own running schedule I would have had time for a healthy meal. Lesson learned. My little episode shouldn't deter anyone from donating. In fact, you've now got all the tools you need to have a successful visit. And how great I feel knowing I've helped others totally outweighs the momentary discomfort.
www.jerianne.rnohomes.com
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