11. Donate Blood

I made it this long without getting around to doing this, but I have had family members need blood for surgery or recovery (and I can't say I won't need it in the future) so I wanted to get in the habit of donating blood myself (since I can!).

But you have to start somewhere!

Ariel works at the Smithsonian so when I mentioned that this was on my list she had suggested that I could come with her the next time the Smithsonian had a drive, so we signed up a couple of months ahead of time and then the morning of the appointment we drove down. After walking around the National Museum of American History (a couple of times!) we located the entrance and got checked in.

I had been really good and ate breakfast early, drank enough water, and was ready to not pass out! After the screening I passed my blood pressure and hemoglobin tests which means I was medically cleared to donate! The very nice tech got me settled on a bed with a bottle of water and a cool t-shirt and then got my blood draw going. Little bit of burning from the needle for a minute or so and after that it was just fine. About half way through I started feeling a little weird... not light headed, just feeling like my arms and legs were a little tired, so I did the little feet paddling maneuvers they tell you about and I was fine for the rest of it.

I was done in just a few minutes and they showed me the pint of blood i had donated (if you are squeamish, skip the pic). And then I went to go have my juice and crackers and wait 15 minutes to make sure I wasn't going to pass out and crash the car on the way to work.

My bones made all of that.

I got an apple juice box as a reward. Because I’m a big kid and didn’t pass out.

Another one checked off the list, and hopefully I'll get to donate a couple more times before the end of this year!