blood sweat no tears


i have o negative blood
 i am very popular
 the universal donor 
did you know
 on any given day
 over 44,000 blood donations
 are needed
 every 2 seconds
 someone
 in the u.s. 
needs
 a blood transfusion
 thats a lot of blood
 any healthy individual
 can donate
 blood
 every 56 days
 and
 the blood type 
most 
often 
requested
 by hospitals
 is
 type O



  so
 i give whenever i can
 this past week 
i got a letter
 asking for platelets
 which it turns out
 is a slightly
 more involved
 donation
 taking over 3 hours
it includes
 taking
 your medical history
 having your temperature taken
 as well as
 a small finger prick of blood
 for confirming type


 then
 you get to recline
 on a comfy 'bed' 
hooked up to a machine
 which does most of the work
 you
 have to 
intermittently
 squeeze a rubber ball
 to keep the pressure
 at level
 the machine likes

  i was fine
 til the 45 min mark
 when
 my foot
 then
 leg
 began to cramp
 i was given tums
 because
 tums
 are high in calcium
 which apparently
 gets depleated
 during the process

 an aside here
 i had been told
 to eat foods
 high in calcium 
in the days
 prior to the donation
 um
 i didnt take it seriously
 i should have

 anyway
 it went smoothly
 except for that
 and 
after it was done
 i got a lot of snacks
instructions
 not to smoke
 to drink a lot of fluids
 a purple pressure arm band
 and
 so
 many
 thank you's
 it was embarrassing 


that was my saturday

sunday
i beautified
brunched with my friend cheryl
and
made a short video for my late friend wendy's memorial

and you?
how did you pass the weekend??
are you adjusting to the new sunshine filled extra hour???