Two arms, one quart. Oh, and a book.
MiniPlu, who is terrified of needles, has nonetheless debated donating blood, because she knows (from me) that it's important and the price in discomfort is pretty small in comparison to saving someone's life. Her high school did have a blood drive last month, but she didn't want to try it without me, so she waited and agreed to come along when I scheduled a donation through an annual drive at our church - which was today. I had her drink lots of fluids yesterday and eat some beef in the evening (leftover dinner of beef stew once she returned from a friend's Christmas party), and off we went for our 11:30a appointment. Although she was nervous, she confessed to not stressing nearly as much as she might otherwise have done, because she didn't think she would pass inspection - she figured she'd fail the iron levels or ... something (she's otherwise a perfect candidate - no meds or odd medical history, no sexual history, no lengthy overseas travel, etc). Honestly, I wasn't too sure, either, as I frequently fail the iron test, myself.
But we both passed! (I literally did this when I passed the iron test: \o/ lol!) Because I was still in the interview process when MiniPlu went to the donating tables, I couldn't hold her hand or anything, and I felt bad about that. But she held it together despite her oh shit, I really have to do this now terror, and the lady tending her was apparently reassuring and kind. And although she started first, my donation went faster - I guess I have better veins? - so we finished at almost the same time. I was so stinkin' proud of her, I can't even tell you. And my advice paid off: the super-hydrating and keeping her knees bent during her donation - both pointers I was given after my first difficult donation, when it took me an hour to be able to sit up, much less stand up - meant she had absolutely zero issues, aside from feeling a little wrung out (normal).
So, MiniPlu has now successfully given blood, and because it went smoothly, there's a chance she MIGHT be coaxed into doing it again. Maybe. We'll see. It was my first donation in two years (in fact, the last successful one was at this same event, at my church). I failed the iron levels at a couple of subsequent Red Cross donations elsewhere, and a blood drive at our local hospital turned me down for having an auto-immune disorder, which was really annoying as nobody ELSE seems to care. :-P And when I was in my flare-up, I didn't even bother trying to donate.
Big day for both of us. Even if MiniPlu didn't do it for the most altruistic reasons (she jokingly said it was to give her better street cred with God after all the shit-talking she does to her friends about annoying classmates at school, lol, and also so she could brag a little and say, "hey, I did it!") I don't really care, because the end result is the same: she helped save someone's life today. And did I mention I was super-proud of her for doing this, despite her feelings about needles?
On an unrelated note: I finished reading The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee. So, on the surface I liked the idea: 18th-century British young man (Monty) goes on his Grand Tour with his younger sister Felicity and his best friend Percy. Monty is unabashedly bisexual and has a history of bonking anything that moves (much to his father's violently vehement displeasure), but he's secretly in love with Percy, who has a different onus: he's biracial. His father got him off a woman working his Barbados plantation, and lived just long enough to return to England with his biracial baby boy and then died, leaving him to be raised by his white relatives. Also, Percy turns out to have been hiding the fact that he's developed epilepsy which, in those days, was considered a sign of insanity and/or demon possession. Meanwhile, Felicity is completely sensible, longs to be a doctor (which in those days was Not a Thing young ladies did) and appears to be possibly Ace.
So, anyway, it sounded like it has possibilities, and I've heard a lot of pretty positive things about it, but the fact that Monty is an entirely useless, empty-headed, possibly alcoholic chap didn't make him very likeable to me. He has lead a privileged life and has no idea how to do much of anything for himself, has zero interest in anything intellectual, has trouble thinking beyond himself, is used to drowning his sorrows in drink and gambling and sex and although he wants to try to do better, doesn't have any idea how to do that. I sort of understand in that he's always wanted nothing to do with the expectation he learn to rule his father's estate, and because his father has frequently emotionally AND physically abused him, he has plenty of reasons for and practice with emotional escape. Nor does he want to stay on an estate that will forever be emotionally haunted by the bitter spectre of his father. Still, it was hard to see Monty want to avoid Percy - the guy he loves, mind - once he learns about the epilepsy because he has no idea how to handle it. He never had any idea what Percy and Felicity were talking about, when they talked about music or medicine or philosophy or ANYTHING, really. And although we learn that Percy does, indeed, love him back, I have to wonder why, when Monty's been such a mess. I appreciate that Monty is, indeed, trying to do better by the end of the book, and he does have some pretty creative strategies - like tricking the French Navy and the thief-takers. But still. Mostly he was an annoying mess. So, I liked the book, but I didn't love it, except for a few scenes here and there. Has anyone read Felicity's book, The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy? How was it?
But we both passed! (I literally did this when I passed the iron test: \o/ lol!) Because I was still in the interview process when MiniPlu went to the donating tables, I couldn't hold her hand or anything, and I felt bad about that. But she held it together despite her oh shit, I really have to do this now terror, and the lady tending her was apparently reassuring and kind. And although she started first, my donation went faster - I guess I have better veins? - so we finished at almost the same time. I was so stinkin' proud of her, I can't even tell you. And my advice paid off: the super-hydrating and keeping her knees bent during her donation - both pointers I was given after my first difficult donation, when it took me an hour to be able to sit up, much less stand up - meant she had absolutely zero issues, aside from feeling a little wrung out (normal).
So, MiniPlu has now successfully given blood, and because it went smoothly, there's a chance she MIGHT be coaxed into doing it again. Maybe. We'll see. It was my first donation in two years (in fact, the last successful one was at this same event, at my church). I failed the iron levels at a couple of subsequent Red Cross donations elsewhere, and a blood drive at our local hospital turned me down for having an auto-immune disorder, which was really annoying as nobody ELSE seems to care. :-P And when I was in my flare-up, I didn't even bother trying to donate.
Big day for both of us. Even if MiniPlu didn't do it for the most altruistic reasons (she jokingly said it was to give her better street cred with God after all the shit-talking she does to her friends about annoying classmates at school, lol, and also so she could brag a little and say, "hey, I did it!") I don't really care, because the end result is the same: she helped save someone's life today. And did I mention I was super-proud of her for doing this, despite her feelings about needles?
On an unrelated note: I finished reading The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee. So, on the surface I liked the idea: 18th-century British young man (Monty) goes on his Grand Tour with his younger sister Felicity and his best friend Percy. Monty is unabashedly bisexual and has a history of bonking anything that moves (much to his father's violently vehement displeasure), but he's secretly in love with Percy, who has a different onus: he's biracial. His father got him off a woman working his Barbados plantation, and lived just long enough to return to England with his biracial baby boy and then died, leaving him to be raised by his white relatives. Also, Percy turns out to have been hiding the fact that he's developed epilepsy which, in those days, was considered a sign of insanity and/or demon possession. Meanwhile, Felicity is completely sensible, longs to be a doctor (which in those days was Not a Thing young ladies did) and appears to be possibly Ace.
So, anyway, it sounded like it has possibilities, and I've heard a lot of pretty positive things about it, but the fact that Monty is an entirely useless, empty-headed, possibly alcoholic chap didn't make him very likeable to me. He has lead a privileged life and has no idea how to do much of anything for himself, has zero interest in anything intellectual, has trouble thinking beyond himself, is used to drowning his sorrows in drink and gambling and sex and although he wants to try to do better, doesn't have any idea how to do that. I sort of understand in that he's always wanted nothing to do with the expectation he learn to rule his father's estate, and because his father has frequently emotionally AND physically abused him, he has plenty of reasons for and practice with emotional escape. Nor does he want to stay on an estate that will forever be emotionally haunted by the bitter spectre of his father. Still, it was hard to see Monty want to avoid Percy - the guy he loves, mind - once he learns about the epilepsy because he has no idea how to handle it. He never had any idea what Percy and Felicity were talking about, when they talked about music or medicine or philosophy or ANYTHING, really. And although we learn that Percy does, indeed, love him back, I have to wonder why, when Monty's been such a mess. I appreciate that Monty is, indeed, trying to do better by the end of the book, and he does have some pretty creative strategies - like tricking the French Navy and the thief-takers. But still. Mostly he was an annoying mess. So, I liked the book, but I didn't love it, except for a few scenes here and there. Has anyone read Felicity's book, The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy? How was it?