Back in the days when I went through a bottle of hairspray a week...
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I, on a whim, decided to donate blood for the first time. I got a little light-headed that first time, but soon learned I could avoid the light-headedness completely by making sure I was well-hydrated next time. I gave blood several more times through high school and college and eventually got a special pin for making it to a gallon of blood donated.
My pin is long lost, but it looked something like this...
Then I started having babies and didn't donate blood again for a long time....until Spencer got sick and needed dozens and dozens of transfusions during his treatment. That was when I decided to try to do it more regularly again. It's been a struggle in my post-baby years to make sure my iron levels are high enough, but if I am diligent in taking my iron pills and not donating too often, I have been able to swing donating occasionally the last several years. Glen, however, was blacklisted from donating by Red Cross rules about living in the UK for too long in the 1990's and he hasn't been able to donate since before his mission more than 30 years ago.
I no longer have to worry about my iron levels (thanks to my new state of uteruslessness)
AND
Glen recently received a letter from the Red Cross stating that they'd recently lifted their ban on people who'd lived in the UK, so....
.JPG)
I, on a whim, decided to donate blood for the first time. I got a little light-headed that first time, but soon learned I could avoid the light-headedness completely by making sure I was well-hydrated next time. I gave blood several more times through high school and college and eventually got a special pin for making it to a gallon of blood donated.
My pin is long lost, but it looked something like this...
Then I started having babies and didn't donate blood again for a long time....until Spencer got sick and needed dozens and dozens of transfusions during his treatment. That was when I decided to try to do it more regularly again. It's been a struggle in my post-baby years to make sure my iron levels are high enough, but if I am diligent in taking my iron pills and not donating too often, I have been able to swing donating occasionally the last several years. Glen, however, was blacklisted from donating by Red Cross rules about living in the UK for too long in the 1990's and he hasn't been able to donate since before his mission more than 30 years ago.
I no longer have to worry about my iron levels (thanks to my new state of uteruslessness)
AND
Glen recently received a letter from the Red Cross stating that they'd recently lifted their ban on people who'd lived in the UK, so....
we just signed up and donated together for the first time ever!
Here's to an exciting new stage of life of donating blood together! 😉
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