Donation

My appointment had been forgotten until shortly before it was scheduled. So rushing  to brush my teeth, fix my hair and drive across town I decided breakfast  could wait until afterward. 

A blood donation was generally scheduled every eight weeks. United Blood Services would schedule the next appointment from the present one. It was always a breeze. Sign in, wait five minutes, go to the back to answer questions, donate blood, walk back to the front, drink a juice or water while sitting a few minutes then leave.

This was a morning like any other morning, except I had skipped breakfast. Everything went as usual until I walked to the front to sit down. They took the blood and scheduled my next appointment.  But as I was nearing the sitting area I started feeling lightheaded and told a young man sitting there, "I feel weird." 

When I woke up everything was a blur, a nurse was holding my head with one ice pack on the back of my neck, one on my chest, a blood pressure cuff on my arm, the little clip thing on my finger and my feet in a chair. When I asked the nurse what had happened she told me that I had fainted. She said the young man caught me before I hit the floor. 

The nurse kept me sitting like that for several minutes before she told the other nurses, "We've  got it now." while looking at the gauges that were checking my vitals. Then she asked me if they could call someone to pick me up, as I would not be allowed to drive myself home. I told her that I would call my friend while reaching for my purse. 

My purse wasn't on the table beside me so I looked toward the floor and to my horror, it looked like the water pipes had burst. The floor was flooded. I hesitated a second then looked up at the nurse and asked, "Did I do that?" And you guessed it, I did... She was supposedly trying to make me feel better when she said some people do much worse. I found that hard to believe. 

Angela, my friend is always ready to help, and things were no different this time. She came to pick me up and even brought a trash bag for me to sit on. 

Needless to say my next appointment was cancelled, and the next one, and the next one. It was probably six or eight months before I could build up the nerve to walk back in there again. People were out of luck if I was their only hope of survival. We all have our limits of what we will give to help others...