cybette's blog

Fainting Spell

Warning: if you're grossed out by mentions of blood and needles, don't read this entry!!

This morning, after only 3-4 hours of sleep, I reached work around 8-something. Then I remembered there's a blood drive at work starting at 9am. I haven't donated in a while, but those times I did in the past, I never had any problems and the experiences were actually quite pleasant. So I thought, donating blood will be a great way to start the day, coz I'll feel good by having done something good (is that a selfish thought??).

So I made my way down to the "bloodmobile" outside our buildings. Before drawing blood, I had to go through a long and intensive "interview". After getting my info (name, SSN, address etc.), the first question on the interview was: Are you feeling well today? I hesitated for a split second before saying "yes". I was tired, but I wasn't sick or anything. Plus in the past I had donated after staying up the night before studying/partying etc. But I forgot - that was in my late teens and early twenties.

Anyway, the rest of the questions were pretty straightforward - NO to drugs, AIDS, SARS, playing around with needles, having sex with men who had sex with men etc... YES to having traveled in Europe within the past couple of years. (And it was only last year when I went on my first trip to Europe!). So the lady spent some time getting all the info about where I've been in Europe and for how long (for some reason if you stayed for an extended period of time in Europe, that's considered high risk and they won't allow you to give blood. Wonder why...?)

Blood pressure, normal. Pulse, normal. Ok, time to get a big fat needle in my arm! That was the part I was most scared of, because they always had problems finding my vein and once a nurse "missed" and had to "poke around" to find it. It wasn't so much the pain but the visual image of it that was horrifying. But this nurse was good. Just to be sure, she marked my arm with a marker and inserted the needle where it belonged. Ah, the worst is over, I thought. Nothing to worry about from then on.

I gently squeezed the ... whatchamacallit that they gave me ... as blood flowed through the tubes and into a bag below me. It seemed to take a long time to fill it up (but still shorter than the interview!) but I was feeling ok. Finally the bag was full (bulging, in fact) and the nurse removed the needle. My bleeding didn't stop as quickly as the others so I worried a little, but not too much. At last they put a big band-aid on my arm and I could have some free drinks and cookies.

As I sat up to enjoy the drink, I felt a bit light headed. That's usual after losing that much blood. I was in a hurry to get back to work because this took longer than I planned, so I finished the drink in a hurry, grabbed the free T-shirt they gave out, and stepped out of the bloodmobile. It was really cool in the bloodmobile and really warm outside in comparison, so when things appeared hazy in front of me, I thought it was my glasses fogging up. Turns out it was me losing my consciousness! The next thing I remember, I was sitting on the ground. Luckily my coworker Roger was right next to me, I think he was holding me (or else I'd have fallen down rather than sat down). He said I had my eyes wide open the whole time so he didn't even realize I had fainted for that few seconds!

Anyway he helped me back into the bloodmobile again. They had me lie down with my legs elevated for about 10-15 minutes. I felt much better. Then Roger and I went back to our building. As I stood in the elevator, I began to feel the blood drain from my head and got dizzy again. I almost had to crawl to my cube. But after sitting down for a while, I was ok (or so I thought). Ready to start work! Arnold looked for me to tell me what we need to do today, and as he was talking, I started to see two of him... and he looked at me funny and said I better go take a rest. I didn't argue. Went to the bathroom to splash some cold water on my face and saw what Arnold saw - my face was really pale and my lips were WHITE (had no color in them)!

Long story short (oops, too late, it's already too long), I alternated between feeling kinda ok to wanting to pass out throughout the day. I didn't faint again, but sure felt like it many times. I couldn't get much work done (can't focus or think when your brain feels like cotton) so finally I decided to leave early... I had Bruce pick me up at 4:30pm since I didn't trust driving myself home. Was it because I didn't have enough sleep the past few nights (or rather weeks)? Or that I'm getting older and my health is not as good as it used to be (or as I thought)? Really can't take health for granted... this is definitely a case where I have to help myself first (by taking care of my own health) before I can help others (by donating blood).

Will this incident scare me off from doing this again? No. I will give blood again, but not before I know I can handle it. And I hope everyone will also take good care of your body and health... and consider blood donation sometime!

Better get some sleep... but still have school project to do. Want to finish it tonight. ARrrrrgh... need more hours in a day! I really need more sleep.....