Until recently I was too afraid to donate blood, I’m not proud of this because I think donating blood is a great way to contribute to your community.  Everything changed last Tuesday when I was walking to class and passed a blood donation event.  Before thinking I asked if they had any openings and signed up to donate the next day.  I don’t know what exactly changed but I was ready to face my fear.

I was instructed to drink a lot of water and sleep for a full 8 hours.  I slept a little longer than I usually do but that was only about 7 and half hours so I didn’t quite reach the recommendation but I did drink a lot of water.  I even cooked a steak the night before because they do a preliminary blood test to check if there’s sufficient amount of iron in your system.

When I arrived in the afternoon, I shakily went through the steps nervous to sit while a needle idles in my arm.  The doctor asked routine questions then stuck my middle finger and squeezed out the blood for the preliminary blood test.  According to the doctor I barely reached the required amount.  After that I figured there was no way to be rejected and I was meant to donate blood, but I was wrong. 

As I pulled off my sweater and squirmed in the chair the doctor examined my arm, her expression worried me as she moved to my other arm and then asked for another opinion.  “I’m sorry but your veins are too small,” they said.   I didn’t realize the size of my veins could be my downfall!  Don’t get me wrong there was a small part of me relieved to escape the needle but a bigger part of me still wanted to help. 

I asked if there was anything I could do next time to help my chances of a vein becoming more prominent.  I was instructed to drink more water.  Apparently for all the extra water I thought I was consuming I should have been drinking twice that much!  With this experience under my belt I want to face my fear even more than I did before and this Friday I found another blood drive in the Smith Center for Undergraduate Education (CUE) and I intend to drink way too much water and finally donate blood.

If you’re interested in donating blood too or just want more information, please visit www.redcrossblood.org.