Conquering my fear of needles twice in one day may not have been the smartest idea, but I did it, and I must say that I am very proud of myself.
Trisha agreed to go with me for moral support because there was no way I could do this on my own. About an hour after donating blood I was sitting in the waiting area of West Coast Piercing and Ink Den in Guilford patiently waiting my turn to be stabbed with a needle. After signing all the necessary papers and reading the after care procedures it was my turn. I was lead in to the back room where I was sterilized and prepped, my belly button was cleaned with an alcohol solution and I got to pick out the jewel that I wanted to be pierced with. I lay down on the table and felt the cold clamp position and grip tightly where I was going to be pierced, after marking the exact spot with a pen I was told to take a deep breath in and hold it, then slowly release it. While exhaling I felt the slight pinch of the needle, which was left in my stomach while the guiding pin and the jewel were prepared. The needle was removed and was replaced with the guiding pin, followed by the jewel itself. I was told to stay down for a few seconds and then slowly sit up. Feeling okay I stood up and took a look. I was a bit shocked to see my new piercing sparkling at me in the mirror, but I was smiling anyways. While waiting to pay I started feeling light-headed again and had to go and lie back down in order to prevent myself from fainting. I was given a lollipop and was told to take some deep breaths, which helped me feel better after a couple of minutes. The piercing site is still quite sore, and I have to clean it two to three times a day to make sure it doesn't get infected.
It was a long day, but completely worth it.
There will be a picture posted when the redness has gone down a bit.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
8. Donate blood
Even though I am horribly afraid of needles, I wanted to donate blood. There are quite a few people I know who have needed blood in the past and they got it from blood donors, so I thought that I should do my part to help and donate as well.
On August 19th I went with my friend Trisha Caspersen to donate, unfortunately both of us could not get in at the same time so when Trisha goes to donate I will be going with her for moral support.
The donation process began with one of the nurses taking down some of my information, like my name, phone number and address. She then took a small needle and pricked my finger to get some blood, after squeezing the puncture site for a couple seconds she used an eyedropper to collect the blood and drop it in to a chemical solution. The solution is used to make sure that there is enough iron in your blood for you to be able to donate. If the blood drops to the bottom of the container within 15 seconds you are good to go. My blood dropped quite quickly, and I was given a questionnaire to fill out, that had to be done completely in private. After filling out the forms, I was lead into another room, where I was interviewed by a nurse about my previous sexual partners and my blood pressure, pulse and temperature were checked. Since everything was normal I was given the green light to go donate. I was given a big reclining chair to sit in and another nurse came to try and find a vein. After checking both arms, twice, she found a suitable spot on my right arm and began preparing to put the needle in. It didn't actually feel like much, there was a pinch and I felt a slight tingling going up my arm, but it passed quickly and before I knew I the nurse was already collecting my blood in to the vials that she had prepared. About five minutes later, one of the nurses noticed that my blood was pumping quite slowly, so I was given a warming blanket to warm me up, and it worked within seconds. Once I was all done, I was told to stay seated and put pressure on my arm where the needle had been. I was feeling alright, but I was light-headed all of a sudden, one of the nurses came rushing over saying that I had gone quite pale and she asked if I was feeling okay. After explaining I was light-headed, my chair was flipped up, so I was almost upside down, and there were three more nurses scattering around me pressing cold compresses to my wrists, forehead, neck and joints, I was given a juice box a couple minutes after and was told to drink it slowly. Trisha thought the whole thing was absolutely hilarious and was laughing in her chair beside me while I was drinking my juice. Ten minutes later I was ready to go, and I was told to sit in the waiting area and have one more juice box and some cookies before I left.
The experience wasn't completely traumatizing, and now that I have done it I feel that I have done my part in helping someone who needs it. I think I will donate blood again, just maybe not too soon.
On August 19th I went with my friend Trisha Caspersen to donate, unfortunately both of us could not get in at the same time so when Trisha goes to donate I will be going with her for moral support.
The donation process began with one of the nurses taking down some of my information, like my name, phone number and address. She then took a small needle and pricked my finger to get some blood, after squeezing the puncture site for a couple seconds she used an eyedropper to collect the blood and drop it in to a chemical solution. The solution is used to make sure that there is enough iron in your blood for you to be able to donate. If the blood drops to the bottom of the container within 15 seconds you are good to go. My blood dropped quite quickly, and I was given a questionnaire to fill out, that had to be done completely in private. After filling out the forms, I was lead into another room, where I was interviewed by a nurse about my previous sexual partners and my blood pressure, pulse and temperature were checked. Since everything was normal I was given the green light to go donate. I was given a big reclining chair to sit in and another nurse came to try and find a vein. After checking both arms, twice, she found a suitable spot on my right arm and began preparing to put the needle in. It didn't actually feel like much, there was a pinch and I felt a slight tingling going up my arm, but it passed quickly and before I knew I the nurse was already collecting my blood in to the vials that she had prepared. About five minutes later, one of the nurses noticed that my blood was pumping quite slowly, so I was given a warming blanket to warm me up, and it worked within seconds. Once I was all done, I was told to stay seated and put pressure on my arm where the needle had been. I was feeling alright, but I was light-headed all of a sudden, one of the nurses came rushing over saying that I had gone quite pale and she asked if I was feeling okay. After explaining I was light-headed, my chair was flipped up, so I was almost upside down, and there were three more nurses scattering around me pressing cold compresses to my wrists, forehead, neck and joints, I was given a juice box a couple minutes after and was told to drink it slowly. Trisha thought the whole thing was absolutely hilarious and was laughing in her chair beside me while I was drinking my juice. Ten minutes later I was ready to go, and I was told to sit in the waiting area and have one more juice box and some cookies before I left.
The experience wasn't completely traumatizing, and now that I have done it I feel that I have done my part in helping someone who needs it. I think I will donate blood again, just maybe not too soon.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
26. Bellydance
I have always wanted to try bellydancing because I thought it looked really cool. A friend of mine, Trisha Caspersen, had a video that taught a couple of moves and what was said to be "a very easy beginner's routine". That was not the case. After five minutes I had already broken a sweat and was completely exhausted. I somehow managed to complete the 90 minute video and somewhat mastered the "easy" routine. When I woke up this morning I was sore from head to toe, I could barely even move because some of the moves from the video involved moving in ways I didn't even think were possible. I must admit though, although it was very difficult, bellydancing is a lot of fun. I borrowed the video from Trisha and have promised myself that I will work on the routine once a day until I believe that I have completely mastered it. It is a fantastic workout as well, because you are using muscles that you normally would not use and well as building stamina by working on cardio at the same time. I wanted to take bellydance classes, but I think that the video will do the job for now.
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