aaaand she's out on the floor. again.

I walked into work this afternoon.
My boss told me that there wasn't a whole lot to do...so I could have the day off if I wanted.
I was thrilled. Two whole extra hours?
What was I going to do with all that time?
I decided to go to the Wilk and get something to eat...maybe work on some homework...and then. And THEN, as I was walking through the Twilight Zone, I saw a sign advertising the blood drive that was going on right then.

Perfect. Seriously. Although I'm not a huge fan of needles, as long as I look away, I think donating blood is an awesome way to do some service for the community. It usually only takes about an hour or so and it saves lives. How often do you get the chance to make that kind of anonymous impact for so little of your time and energy?

I walked through the door, signed in, and before I knew it, I was sitting in a chair. I've given blood at least five or six times before so none of this was really a big deal anymore. Back in high school, when I gave blood for the first time, I definitely felt way hard-core. Looking back, I'm not so sure that the nurses were thinking the same thing. Here at BYU, I definitely know they're not thinking about how brave and great I am while I await the needle.

The donation process went smoothly. After I'd finished, I walked over to the canteen (where they have chairs, snacks, drinks, etc), and drank some orange juice. Then I started feeling super nauseated and I decided I was going to walk to the bathroom. Dumb idea? You bet.

I passed out about half way down the hall. I remember walking down the hall and my vision started getting blurry. I also remember thinking Uh-oh. I just have to make it to the bathroom. (There's a room off the bathroom with couches and stuff). And then I remember hitting the wall and then the floor. Some girl ran over and I could hear her asking me if I was all right. I opened my eyes, mumbled something about how I'd just given blood, and asked her if she could help me up and walk me over to the couches in the ladies room.

Apparently I got up and started walking with her help, but passed out again about fifteen seconds later. I woke up on the floor of the hallway in the Wilkinson Center. I wasn't quite sure what happened, but man, I was so embarrassed. The girl who had helped me was sitting next to me and she told me there were some people coming to help. The nurses from the blood-donating organization ran over and then the building supervisor arrived. Because I'd passed out in the hallway, they had to call the EMT's and take a couple statements about what had happened. I was vaguely aware of the girl telling them how she'd come across me and I remember apologizing profusely for all the trouble.

I was still feeling pretty light-headed, rather nauseous, and slightly incoherent, but I knew I wasn't a fan of this entire lying on the floor with my feet propped up and being taken care of by five different nurses and EMT's. I don't think I've ever attracted so much attention in my life. Too bad that that's where I stayed for the next twenty minutes. To top it off, I realized half-way through that I was standing up a friend of mine whom I'd agreed to meet up with. But by the end of all the ice treatments, feet propped up-ness, juice-drinking, blood pressure and pulse taking, and other various blood tests, they decided it would be okay to help me walk over to a couch where I wasn't nearly so conspicuous. And about ten minutes after that, they said it would be all right if I wanted to leave.

Despite being rather embarrassed, I am so grateful for all the help they gave me. They were so incredibly kind and caring. Shout-out to the girl who first helped me: You're awesome. And thanks so much for helping out a total stranger. I still don't even know your name, but your concern for someone you didn't even know says a lot about you.

I love that there are people like that in the world. It just makes me smile. It's almost enough to make this thoroughly embarrassing experience worth it. Okay, maybe not.

But to all the anonymous people, nurses, EMT's who help out equally anonymous people...thanks. You're appreciated.

P.S. The friend I stood up wasn't even upset. Although he did threaten to tell everybody I was a faker begging for attention if I passed out again.