Is It Naptime Yet

Jon and I both donated blood recently. I donated on Saturday, the 20th, and Jon donated yesterday, the 30th. I haven’t donated blood in a long time. I use to be on the calling list, but once you were eligible to donate again they would call like twice a day until you made an appointment. Life is busy and I have just a small window where I have feel strong enough to give blood so making and keeping an appointment can be hard and we’ve both asked to be on the ‘do not call to remind and make an appointment list’ to keep our own sanity from the ringing telephone.

Whenever I give blood I become keenly aware of how weak I am and I often get lightheaded and queasy on my way there. I think it’s more mental than physical but, I have passed out twice and nearly passed out one or two times, so I am always nervous. I’ve also been unable to donate due to low iron and low blood pressure at different times. I donate whole blood rather than plasma because I seem to always have a problem once they try to return fluids half way through the process and have only finished the process once out of four tries.  Jon had to do the plasma donation yesterday because of his weight. You have to weigh 130 pounds to donate whole blood and he only weighs 125.

I donated on Saturday because it’s been somewhere around a year and they were giving away two free movie tickets. I don’t get paid to donate blood, and I have done it when their have been no incentives, but incentives do make it a little more appealing and since we’re trying to save money where we can a free date is always welcomed.

Jon donated because they sent a postcard with the incentive of two free tickets to a local comedy magic show. I’m pretty sure my friend Alana’s husband works for that show so it was definitely something I thought would be fun. Then he got the voucher  and it shows it’s for two free tickets but we must spend a minimum of $9.99 per person on drinks. I feel it’s kinda a bust, but not all things come without small print. I have a feeling we’ll be drinking a lot of lemonade that afternoon, or very little overpriced lemonade.

I guess we’ll do anything for free/ bargain priced dates nowadays. I’m just happy I only had to give blood and not an organ. 😉