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No Zumba for Me Today

Posted on May 30, 2012 by under Health.    

2012-05-30 09.44.08.jpg 2012-05-30 09.54.18.jpg

They did a special blood drive at work today in honor of Preston Crane. I’d never donated blood before, so I really didn’t know what to expect. Every time I’d tried to donate blood in the past there was some kind of issue and they wouldn’t take my blood. I believe the first time I weighed less than 100 lbs. Another time I tried to donate blood, they wouldn’t take it because we’d just returned from our honeymoon and we happened to stop in Mexico.

I’ve been fighting with my weight the last few years so being underweight was no longer an issue. Just didn’t have opportunity or a good enough reason to do it. This last time, Joni asked me. I really had no reason to say no. Except Brian was very worried because I have pretty low blood pressure and your blood pressure tends to drop when you donate blood.

When I went down to the Wellness Center, which had been taken over by the Red Cross for the day, they had me read an informational booklet, asked me some questions, and had me answer some questions on the computer. Willie also took a blood sample from my finger to check my iron levels (15.1) because they won’t take your blood if you don’t have enough iron. Then he took my blood pressure, which happened to be higher than normal this morning: 100/60. I think it’s because Brian forgot to put the coffee pot in the coffeemaker and made a mess in the kitchen this morning. LOL.

Willie was fantastic. He managed to find a good vein (something that is a challenge for almost every nurse I come in contact with) and got it on the first stick. It took only seven minutes to fill the bag, which I thought was pretty good. I felt good until I suddenly felt lightheaded. It happened pretty quickly, but after the episode I had at YaYa’s last year I knew what to expect at least. I told them what I was feeling and immediately the top of the bed went down so I could be horizontal and then the bottom part went up so my legs could be propped up. They had also had me move my legs like I was riding a bike to get my blood flow going.

After a small cup of water and a little can of OJ, I got off the bed so they could move on to the next person. I was still feeling pretty weird though, so I stuck around. My office is at the far end of the building and I didn’t want to go up there until I was sure that I could make it. Within a few minutes of sitting around in the chair I felt weird again, so I went to the women’s locker room to lay down on the bench. Jodi, our wellness specialist, came to the locker room to check on me just to make sure I was okay. She also brought me a towel for me to rest my head on. She took my blood pressure which was around 87/58 or so at this time.

After I ate a small bag of raisins and drank another cup of water, I felt well enough to go back upstairs. Jodi was nice enough to walk with me to make sure I didn’t faint along the way. I felt pretty sleepy for a while after donating blood, but I guess that’s natural when your blood pressure drops. I was able to work upon returning to my desk. Isaac came to my office and talked to me about some stuff. I think some of the issues we’re dealing with at work helped to raise my blood pressure back up. LOL. I actually felt pretty normal by 11 AM. When you have abnormally low blood pressure like me, work stress can actually be good for you. Ha ha ha ha.

Anyway, Willie said no workout today. Isaac said he was able to run in the afternoon the last time he donated blood in the morning. I was convinced that I could still workout. I mean, I could take it pretty easy in Zumba if I wanted to. Brian was adamant about not working out, though. So yeah, no Zumba for me today. We should be back in business tomorrow, though. I’m ready to do some serious sweating!

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