It was my first time voting. I know I should have already voted. I was definitely old enough even in the last presidential election, but I was just lazy and didn't care enough. But this time, I was so excited! I had done my research and I took an early lunch on my work from home day to go to my old elementary school to vote. I was a little nervous because I always get that way when I don't know how things work and am doing something new. I walked into my old, wonderful school, and I excitedly bounced my way down to the gym to vote. Hardly anyone else was there when I arrived. I showed them my ID and signed my name and then I voted. I checked carefully to make sure I had selected the right things, and then, I was done. It seemed shorter than I had expected, but I still loved it and was so happy. I got my "I Voted" sticker and happily went home. The day was beautiful, and I just wanted to bask in the day and in the fact that I can vote for the people who lead my community, my state, and my country.
At the end of the day, even though not everyone I voted for had won their election, I was just so happy with America and that I had voted and done my part. I am definitely proud to be an American. Probably more this week than I have ever been.
**This next part is about donating blood and might be gross to some people. You have been warned. :)
So, the next day, yesterday, I had signed up to donate blood through my stake's blood drive. I was really excited to donate and help out where I could. I have the type of blood that works for everyone, so it's good for me to donate. And I had heard that the blood banks were low. After work and a quick stop to say hi to my mom and sister, I drove down to the institute building where the blood drive was happening. I went to park in the institute parking lot, and the gates were down. I had no idea how to get into this lot that was usually open and there were two or three cars behind me. I sat there for a minute trying to figure out what to do, and then a really kind girl walking through the parking lot came over and scanned her card to make the gate open for me. However, it didn't work. So then, the guy in the truck behind me came out and scanned his card. The gate opened, and I didn't want to miss the opening, so I didn't even really have time to appropriately thank these kind people, and I drove through. I tried to watch as the guy in the truck pulled forward and felt so awful when his card then didn't work for him. He talked to the car behind him and backed out. Happily, when I was looking for a spot, I noticed that he was able to get in a different entrance to the lot. So, I went and parked. However, as I started walking toward the institute building, I noticed parking tickets on several of the cars in the parking lot. I got scared and decided that I couldn't park there and I left the parking lot in search for a new lot to park in.
As I pulled into a new spot where I really hoped I wouldn't get a ticket, I realized I was running late. I knew the blood drive only went until 8, my appointment was for 7:15, and it was about 7:20. I rushed into the institute building and went through the normal procedure for getting signed in and checked before the blood donating part. I had been a little worried about my iron level, but it was fine. I was nervous but also happy to donate blood. I had done it two other times with the only problems being that my blood came a bit slowly and I just felt a bit weak afterwards, but not enough to be problematic.
I went and sat in the chair for giving blood and talked with the person who was helping me. She was really sweet and reminded me of my lovely old roommate Sarah. So, she got my right arm ready to go. She found my vein and everything and waited for the iodine stuff (I think that's what it is) to dry. She pricked my arm, and it stung quite a bit, but it was fine. I can handle some pain. She said it was going a little slowly but that it was going. A couple minutes later, she was looking at it and called another girl over. I was a little worried but figured it wasn't a huge deal. The new worker adjusted the needle to try to get my blood to flow better. I guess it was going really slowly. After a while of trying, she said that my vein collapsed (which I'm assuming, and hoping, isn't a huge deal since they hardly said anything about it). She said that we could try my other arm if I wanted, and since I hadn't been there for that long and I really wanted to donate blood, I agreed to it. So, as I was waiting for my person helping me (I don't know what they're called so let's call her Stephanie) to wrap me up, apparently the thing holding the blood that had come out decided to leak, so Stephanie had to clean up as I held my arm in the air while pressing gauze against it.
Everything got cleaned up and my arm was wrapped up, and I moved to the other chair so they could work on my left arm. Things seemed to be going fairly smoothly (well, the tourniquet did snap, but that was no big deal), but Stephanie said I just was going very slowly, like really, really slowly. A guy in my ward had gotten there way after me--he sat down about when they started my left arm, and he finished or almost finished when Stephanie said, "you're almost halfway full!" At one point, Stephanie called over another guy. The guy tried adjusting my needle for a long time. I can't really say that it was all that fun. He also kept adjusting the tourniquet wrapped around my upper arm, which ended up getting rather tight. My hand was pretty much numb. And squeezing the squishy thing got really difficult. Another worker started talking to me too. I don't know if they thought I needed some big distraction or what. After some time, the guy said that my blood was clotting, and they couldn't get any more from me. I was sad because after all that, I couldn't even donate a full thing of blood.
At this point too, I was definitely the last blood donor there. It was me and the workers. I would have loved to just leave, but they were pretty insistent that I stay sitting there. After a while, I walked over to the snack table. I had some snacks and felt bad because some guy was trying to clean up, but I was still there. For some reason, giving blood makes me cold and shivery, so I sat down and ate and shivered. I probably was fine, but I wanted to play it safe, so I stayed for a while as workers cleaned up everything behind me. One of the workers came over and asked if I was ok. I said I thought so but that I was cold. So, he ran over and got me a blanket. It was really so nice. All of the workers were very kind. I felt bad for making them stay a bit longer than they probably would have, but they were kind about it. After a bit, I left and went home. Donating blood left me feeling nauseated and weak, but I was fine. I wish I knew where my toughness went. I used to feel fine after all things like that. I don't know what happened. But I suppose I'm just really happy I didn't pass out. I'm glad I didn't get a parking ticket either. It wasn't the worse thing ever. I wish I could have been a better donator, but I tried, and I will try again, just maybe not for a little while :) .
