The Movie Was Too Short, But Cold Water Is Good For Getting Out Blood

It's not that we weren't warned.  The weather man predicted rain.  But come now, rain in Sacramento in late June?? nah.  I didn't really pay attention.  I thought maybe in the foothills.  Or, perhaps some brief light showers in the afternoon.  I did not pack my rain gear.

Solid, drenching rain all afternoon and on into the night.  Including when I biked from work to the BloodSource and three hours later biked home.  As they prepared to set me up to donate platelets, one of the (I think they are mostly all nurses?) asked me if I was drenched.  I confessed that I was a little. She offered me a dry shirt.  I declined at first, but she pretty much insisted that I put on a dry shirt lest I become too chilled during the procedure.  To donate platelets, blood is taken out, put through a machine which removes the platelets, and cycled back to you.  The blood is cooled during the process and many people get chilled a bit and need a blanket.  I have not noticed the cooling factor. But I did put on the Tshirt.

The donation went well.  I had taken Cary Grant's "I was a Male War Bride" which ended a few minutes before the procedure did.  So when they bandaged my arm, I pretty much immediately got up, grabbed my bicycle bag and camel back that I always wear on my bike ride, and headed for the ladies room where I dropped my bags in the corner and proceeded to my business.  And noticed drops of blood on the floor.  I thought some poor woman had been caught off guard and not realized she had left a mess.  Until I glanced at my donation arm which was covered with blood from the donation site down.  The bandage was saturated.  I wiped away the blood and more flowed out.  I tried to straighten my clothes, abandoned my bags, and sought help leaving behind a blood splattered bathroom and possibly a trail. 

What happened apparently is that while usually my movie runs a bit longer than the donation and I sit there finishing the movie for a few minutes before getting up, this time I got up quickly and picked up my heavier than medically recommended bags which blew my still clogging clot.  I felt pretty much ok.  I stayed in the chair for a bit after they rebandaged me just to be sure and to reassure them.

I was not happy that one of the workers went to get my bags out of the ladies for me because, as I feared, she thought they were too heavy for me to handle after donating.  But she just helped me on with my camel pack and I picked up my bike bag with the other hand. 

One of the gals tried to clean up my bloody skirt with peroxide while I sat sipping some hot cocoa. (They treat you so nice at the BloodSource)  She couldn't get it all out.  But I had a plan: Bike home in the rain.  Lots of cool water.  Except I donate on the leeward side.  I was pretty drenched all over except not so much on the left side.  That's ok, I put my clothes to soak when I got home and it looks like they will be ok.

It was raining pretty good, but I enjoyed the ride home surprisingly well.  It was definitely cool, but I was not cold.  I found the situation slightly amusing.  And I was going home where I could get dry clothes and cocoa.  : )

My Benjamin is in Lasson Volcanic National Park with the older young men tonight and the rest of the week.  Rain / snow / thunder showers today, tonight, and tomorrow. Temperatures in the 30s overnight. They should get sunshine Thursday and Friday.  They are probably having character building experiences.  I am trying not to worry much.  He is, after all, an Eagle Scout.  He likes it cool.  And he relishes experiences that make a mother cringe.  He will probably come home full of hair-raising stories and tickled to death with himself.  I won't really rest easy until he does.

But I will go to bed and hopefully to sleep.  Good night.

Thankful for roof and bed! and cocoa and for being able to donate and for a bunch of other things!