It was a bad weekend. Oh, not really, in all honesty it was a phenomenal weekend. Was my eating on point? Nah. Were my activities on point? YES. Saturday I did something I’ve been waiting a while for, I gave blood. Ever since 9/11 I have tried to give blood regularly with my mom. There have been some set-backs but eventually I always come back.

56 days prior to Saturday I tried to give blood but clotted horribly. I actually gave a full bag but when they went to get my tubes (that they have to have in order to use the blood) I clotted. They switched to the other arm to get the tubes and… I clotted again making the bag of blood unusable. I thought I was clotting because I had a shot of alcohol or two the night before I gave. I set up an appointment to give platelets at that time. Platelets take a long time to give (2 hours) but are desperately needed, plus they give you your red cells back so it doesn’t take near as long to recuperate. I showed up for my appointment, got stabbed and then prepared myself for the next couple of hours it takes to give platelets.

While I was watching my movie, the machine kept beeping and beeping. The girls kept coming over and resetting it until one of the girls picked up my line and showed the other girl, “Look at this, there’s a foot-long clot in the line.” They unhooked me from the machine, assured me that they would probably be able to use the 1/4 of a bag I was able to give and sent me on my way… down more red blood because they were unable to put clotted blood back into me.

I’m tellin’ ya, that foot-long clot terrified me. I attributed it to a blood pressure med that I was taking that was a diuretic. I didn’t take the med before I went in and after my appointment I just quit taking that med immediately. After I quit that, because my entire family has high blood pressure, mom wanted me to go see the doctor to make sure it was ok that I quit taking the blood pressure meds. My NP told me that my blood pressure wasn’t bad and to let her know if I began feeling badly again.

Forward to this past Saturday at the blood donation center: I went in and did my pre-giving paperwork, iron-test and blood pressure. She took my blood pressure and she said, “I’m not sure what you’re doing but your blood pressure is EXCELLENT.” HELL YES. I’ve been waiting since before my 2nd to last wrist surgery to hear someone tell me that.

I got hooked up to my bag, got poked and had no issues! Well, when the guy pulled the needle out I was bleeding everywhere because I drank so much water before I went in- I was good and juicy. I got done giving and I felt fine. No dizziness. No light-headedness, and I made it through the day with zero issues. Well, I did get tired walking through Kohls which postponed my hike I was planning, but hey, I am me after all. I usually struggle with giving blood.

Sunday I went to the park and hiked for an hour. I didn’t even want to leave. I felt good. I felt like I had a good work out and it was absolutely gorgeous out. That said, I did go home and do a bunch of laundry after that.

Now the eating though. I’m not sure why, but on the days that I give blood I feel like I should be able to eat whatever I want. I’m compulsive and forgiving and I don’t think it should be like that. I’m just guessing this is because I find comfort in food and because I do usually struggle with giving blood, I feel like I should get a reward for doing it.

In a couple of weeks I’m going to try to go back and give platelets again. For one, when I give whole blood I get winded so easily for the week after and I see that my heart rate rises. If I give platelets, they will put the red cells back in my body and the red cells are the ones that transport oxygen. That means I have less of a recovery time AND will help out more people.

Anyway, that’s why I had a fantastic weekend and a bad weekend (eating). I don’t forgive myself for eating whatever I want on Saturday and Sunday but I will move on and try to learn from it. Next time I donate I will be more conscious of what I have always done and try to be prepared with healthier foods.