Sweat and Blood

The Blood Battle.

This week.

at USU.

But I'm not here to try and talk to you about the joys of donating or to try and get you to willfully rid yourself of that warm, red stuff in your veins.

I just want to tell you that I feel like I almost died in my Chemistry class today because of it.

I've donated before. Quite a few times, actually. I've tried to donate as frequently as possible since I turned 17 (you're welcome, society), so it's not like it's completely new to me. But every single time I've donated in the past, I've been perfectly fine. I repeat, perfectly fine.

This time Melanie and I prepared by drinking loads and loads of water the day of and the day before. I drank so much I was basically almost wetting myself every 30 minutes.

Melanie and I waited on the couches, very slowly moving up in line. We attempted to watch the Brian Regan that the school put on for us, but I think you had to be sitting within 6.2 inches of the speakers to hear the tv. After finally getting to the back where they checked my hemoglobin levels and information, I was all set up to donate.

I think drinking loads of water did the exact opposite of what it was supposed to for me. Instead of making my blood run faster, I think it just thickened my blood to molasses. Not to mention my heart can't part with it's precious erythrocytes, so it tries to hold every last cell inside me, even if it means me sitting for 19 minutes waiting for a freaking pint to trickle full.

I'll get to the point. Mel and I went back to our dorm. I ate food, she ate food. I then went to my Organic Chemistry class. There were about 200 students crammed into a cramped, poorly ventilated room. POORLY VENTILATED. I managed to slip into a small, empty desk and start taking notes. I could feel the lack of fresh air in the room, and I could also feel the room getting warmer and warmer. At almost exactly half an hour into the class, I suddenly felt extremely dizzy. My sight narrowed with a black ring appearing around the outside of my vision. My sight even went a little blurry. I felt like passing out was mere moments away, and along with that, I could feel my stomach ready to regurgitate the Nutter Butters, juice, peanut butter and jelly, pretzels and applesauce I had eaten throughout the day.

I closed my eyes. I propped my head on my hand. It was a little better, but every time I'd sneak a little light into my retinas I'd get insanely dizzy again. Just when I thought things couldn't get worse, this strange, indescribable feeling overcame my entire body. I can't say it was a burning sensation. I can't say it was tingly. I just can't describe it. But was a constant, strange feeling everywhere, and suddenly I was really cold. The feeling persisted, then I got really really hot. I just waited and held all the oxygen in my lungs as I nearly charred to a crisp from the inside out. The feeling abruptly halted, and all extreme warmth that I had been feeling ceased immediately. I waited for a second. I opened my eyes. I didn't feel dizzy anymore. Good, good. I felt good.

Except for the fact that I had cold sweat everywhere. And I mean everywhere. My forehead was dripping with sweat. My arms were drenched. This sounds nasty, but it even soaked through my shirt. This was all in a matter of a minute or two! I tried to inconspicuously wipe loads of icy sweat off my skin, but I really don't think you can be subtle when you're trying to hide gallons of perspiration. Nope, I don't think so.

The end of class was a welcome time. I drank some water and slowly headed back to my apartment, weakly walking down the stairs, afraid of actually passing out while in foot transit. As soon as I got to my dorm, I took a nice long nap. So nice. Except when I woke up a few hours later and stood up, my vision went completely black. I waited while my roommate told me I looked quite pale. Great.

But I feel good now! And I'll donate again. And so should you.