On the way home from work today I passed by the Dollar General in East Limestone, and the mobile blood donor bus was parked there. The famous red wind sock man was dancing in the parking lot next to it. I really wanted to stop and donate blood, but I can't. Not until next April.
I've never donated blood before. That's not something that I'm proud of. I didn't know how my mitral valve prolapse would react to donating blood, and I never made any attempt to find out. I found out the hard way just how important blood donation is. I lay in the hospital bed after giving birth back in March, shaking uncontrollably because I'd lost so much blood. Walking from the bed to the bathroom in my hospital room and back took everything I had in me. I even had to hold on to someone, or something, the whole way there and back. Then I'd lay there for awhile shaking with my heart racing. After a day of my blood levels staying just above the point where transfusions are ordered, I ended up receiving two units of blood.
Exactly a week later, I'd be back in the hospital receiving two more units of blood. I learned just how important blood donors are to the medical world. As advanced as our medical system is, there is still no substitute for human blood. Sadly, it seems there is always a shortage in our area - probably because of people like me who don't donate. Those four units of blood in the spring changed that. As soon as my one year post transfusion waiting period is up next April, I plan on donating blood for the first time. It's the only way I know how to thank the anonymous donors who gave me the blood I needed.
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