Third Time's Not the Charm for Blood Donation

 

This evening I went to give blood, and once again they rejected me. This time it was for the same old reason I always used to get - my iron levels are too low. I had been feeling all healthy and invincible and bulletproof when they were over 13, but that was from taking supplements on top of my multivitamin, which already has 100% of my supposed daily need for iron. Then again, my neighbor says her son, who is a guy in his 20's, has to take iron because he's so active - he's a long-distance runner. So maybe I'm just burning more iron than the average person, because I walk over five miles every day. So I asked the doctor, and she said I could take the supplements on top of the multivitamin. But will they ever accept my blood, or will they think of some new reason to reject it? That's the question...

This evening Travalon and I went down to the dock to watch the sunset. At first it wasn't the most impressive one, but then after the sun went down, it illuminated a cloud that looked like a burning feather. I took this first photo with Travalon's camera. (He took the rest.)

If you look carefully, there's a helicopter in this photo, at the right edge of the upper "evil eye" cloud.

These clouds really looked like flames in the sky.

Here is a sailboat coming in for the night.

Sailboats already in for the night.

And remember this little bird?

I put a plea on MyFace to the Hive Mind to help me identify it, and someone suggested it was a fledgling yellow-headed blackbird. Someone else suggested I join a MyFace group dedicated to birdwatching, so I did, and they confirmed that this is what it is. Ever since we discovered Patrick Marsh and learned it has the largest flock of yellow-headed blackbirds east of the Mississippi, I have wanted to see one in the worst way. And now technically I can say that I have, although it's not as striking as a jet-black adult with a bright yellow head. Still, it is quite pretty. Travalon actually spotted this bird first; usually I am the one who sees the birds first, and then I point them out to him so he can photograph them. Maybe the adults were not too far away from their fledgling, but alas, we never saw them.

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Blood Pressure Shenanigans

 

Back when I worked at the hospital, they used to have blood drives on site all the time, so I donated regularly. At least half the time they didn't want my blood due to anemia, so when I no longer worked at the hospital and had to actually travel somewhere to give blood, I kind of stopped doing it. It's a real pain to take time off of work and travel halfway across town just to be rejected. Lately the Red Cross has been reminding me that they really need my Type O+ blood, so I tried a few weeks ago. My iron was amazingly high, like it's never been before, but then they saw rashes on the insides of my elbows that I hadn't even noticed, probably from gardening in the heat, and so they rejected me. They said technically I could try the next day, but wait until the rashes cleared up.

Now the rashes are gone, so I went in yesterday. My iron levels were still really good, but they couldn't get my blood pressure. Finally on like the fourth try they said it was 140/100, but that it was so high from them poking at me so much. They waited ten minutes and then it was 150/110, but they said not to worry about it, it was from them poking at me. Here's the thing: I have a blood pressure cuff at home, and it used to give me believable readings, but lately it had been telling me things like 150/110, so I just figured it no longer worked right, being a teenager at this point. But... what if my blood pressure really was 150/110?? So I emailed the doctor, and she said come in right away, so today I went in, with my own cuff, and first the nurse took my blood pressure (which was fine), and then she had me take it with my cuff (which was like 140/95). So my cuff is kaput, and they recommended getting a better kind if I wanted to check at home. Who knows what happened at the Red Cross? The traffic was horrible getting there, but then it was horrible getting to the doctor's office today too. Maybe I need to quit driving if I want to have a healthy blood pressure.

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They Didn't Want My Blood Today

Today I was in a research study where they had to take 13 tubes of my blood. 13 tubes, y’all! I’m not superstitious, but it did strike me that this was a lot of blood. Then we had a blood drive at work, and I had signed up to give blood, but first I asked if it was safe to give after having 100 mL already taken. They debated about it and finally decided that no, it would not be a good idea, so they deferred me. Here’s the thing, though – before they decided, they did the worst part of any blood donation: the finger prick. If you have given blood, you know the dreaded finger prick well, and since I am often borderline anemic, they sometimes subject me to it twice. This time seemed particularly painful, and when I took my bandage off, there was a bruise. Check it out.

And check out my lack of love line. For those who don't believe in palm reading, I'd like to point out that my lack of love line does actually match my lack of love life.

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