(no subject)
Giving blood can be a scary experience, or so I've discovered. I'd never done it until this evening, and while the whole arterial draining bit was weird it wasn't particularly *squick*.. it was the 'recovery' period that got me.
I lay on the bed for my proscribed first-timers 10 minutes, then went to the sitting room for my tea and biscuits, picked up a mag, pondered whether it was ok to drive yet, and promptly fainted. Not too bad in itself, since I woke up slumped on the sofa arm but otherwise clear-headed - there was a different song on the radio, but the tea-making watchman obviously hadn't thought I was in any danger cos he didn't say or do a thing. Then again, he didn't do much when I started yelling "EXCUSE ME!" (how English..) due to my sudden and complete loss of vision, closely followed by my hearing (hence the yelling - well I didn't know, did I?).
Thankfully the nurses sorted me out and I recovered properly under their watchful eye, but when I came to leave I thought I'd make a half-apology to the tea-fella for making a scene.. and he just hmphed. Phhhhhbt to you too, Mr Crabby.. Again, how English - I feel the need to say sorry for causing a fuss, and he seems to feel the need to ignore my actions because that might be detrimental to my perceived stiff upper lip.
All's well now though, but my lesson learned is that if they offer you tea after giving blood, ask for water instead. Apparently hot drinks are bad when you already have low blood pressure.. so why do they serve tea & coffee?
On the wonderful upside, I had a Club biscuit for the first time in *ages*. If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit, join our - mm.. ok, the advert stayed with me. Maybe I'll reminisce with a finger of Fudge (that's just enough) tomorrow :)
I lay on the bed for my proscribed first-timers 10 minutes, then went to the sitting room for my tea and biscuits, picked up a mag, pondered whether it was ok to drive yet, and promptly fainted. Not too bad in itself, since I woke up slumped on the sofa arm but otherwise clear-headed - there was a different song on the radio, but the tea-making watchman obviously hadn't thought I was in any danger cos he didn't say or do a thing. Then again, he didn't do much when I started yelling "EXCUSE ME!" (how English..) due to my sudden and complete loss of vision, closely followed by my hearing (hence the yelling - well I didn't know, did I?).
Thankfully the nurses sorted me out and I recovered properly under their watchful eye, but when I came to leave I thought I'd make a half-apology to the tea-fella for making a scene.. and he just hmphed. Phhhhhbt to you too, Mr Crabby.. Again, how English - I feel the need to say sorry for causing a fuss, and he seems to feel the need to ignore my actions because that might be detrimental to my perceived stiff upper lip.
All's well now though, but my lesson learned is that if they offer you tea after giving blood, ask for water instead. Apparently hot drinks are bad when you already have low blood pressure.. so why do they serve tea & coffee?
On the wonderful upside, I had a Club biscuit for the first time in *ages*. If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit, join our - mm.. ok, the advert stayed with me. Maybe I'll reminisce with a finger of Fudge (that's just enough) tomorrow :)