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[Content note: Blood donation, mention of institutionalized homophobia]
I dunno if blood donation requires a content note, but I figured: Better safe than sorry. Anyway!
Had an appointment to donate today. I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but quarterly is totally working for me 100% better (50% better? 66% better? I'd have to do the math, but considerably better) than bimonthly. For the first time in ages, I was confident enough to schedule my next appointment before getting my iron level checked, and it totally paid off! I didn't have to remind anyone that I still needed to register for next time while I was eating cookies, nor did I have to reschedule for a mere two weeks away because I'd missed iron count. I believe I may be raving about going quarterly for a while now.
Oh! I completely forgot to mention it while I was there, or at all until now, but the question about whether I'd ever had sex with a penis-owner who had also had sex with a penis-owner was no longer in the questionnaire! I mean, I can still totally skip over every single question asking if I'd had sex in the last twelve months, let alone ever, but the fact that that particular question is no longer a potential deferral issue is totally awesome. (The fact that it was in the questionnaire in the first place was def. bullshit, especially in this day and age, but I suppose that's one reason it's gone.)
I also attended with my very first e-reader! Half-Price Books had a half-off-your-most-expensive-item coupon that was good yesterday, and they had an old Kindle whose sticker price was ~$45 USD. As a result of cleaning off my bookshelves somewhat, I ended up with $29 USD for what I turned in and even had a couple of bucks left over after deciding to get the Kindle ♥ I mention my e-reader because I now finally had something I could do with one hand while the other was busy squeezing a stress ball on-and-off to help pump blood more quickly. The clinic has a television they keep going, but honestly, the show they had on just didn't interest me. Being able to read something was pretty fantastic.
One of the best things? Today I donated my 24th pint at this particular clinic, bringing my total donations up to three gallons! I am super proud. In addition to the t-shirt the clinic gives away to all gallon donors (galloneers?), they were giving a different t-shirt to every donor as part of a summer campaign, which meant I left the clinic with two t-shirts instead of one, as well as a "I donated 3 gallons!" window decal and pin. I haven't put the window decal up, but the pin is adorning my hat band in a little cluster with my 1 gallon and 2 gallon pins ♥
The donation itself took a little longer than usual, but considering all that I left with, as well as the chocolate-with-M&Ms cookies available after? Soooo worth it. Totes looking forward to the first Monday in October (my next appointment time).
I dunno if blood donation requires a content note, but I figured: Better safe than sorry. Anyway!
Had an appointment to donate today. I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but quarterly is totally working for me 100% better (50% better? 66% better? I'd have to do the math, but considerably better) than bimonthly. For the first time in ages, I was confident enough to schedule my next appointment before getting my iron level checked, and it totally paid off! I didn't have to remind anyone that I still needed to register for next time while I was eating cookies, nor did I have to reschedule for a mere two weeks away because I'd missed iron count. I believe I may be raving about going quarterly for a while now.
Oh! I completely forgot to mention it while I was there, or at all until now, but the question about whether I'd ever had sex with a penis-owner who had also had sex with a penis-owner was no longer in the questionnaire! I mean, I can still totally skip over every single question asking if I'd had sex in the last twelve months, let alone ever, but the fact that that particular question is no longer a potential deferral issue is totally awesome. (The fact that it was in the questionnaire in the first place was def. bullshit, especially in this day and age, but I suppose that's one reason it's gone.)
I also attended with my very first e-reader! Half-Price Books had a half-off-your-most-expensive-item coupon that was good yesterday, and they had an old Kindle whose sticker price was ~$45 USD. As a result of cleaning off my bookshelves somewhat, I ended up with $29 USD for what I turned in and even had a couple of bucks left over after deciding to get the Kindle ♥ I mention my e-reader because I now finally had something I could do with one hand while the other was busy squeezing a stress ball on-and-off to help pump blood more quickly. The clinic has a television they keep going, but honestly, the show they had on just didn't interest me. Being able to read something was pretty fantastic.
One of the best things? Today I donated my 24th pint at this particular clinic, bringing my total donations up to three gallons! I am super proud. In addition to the t-shirt the clinic gives away to all gallon donors (galloneers?), they were giving a different t-shirt to every donor as part of a summer campaign, which meant I left the clinic with two t-shirts instead of one, as well as a "I donated 3 gallons!" window decal and pin. I haven't put the window decal up, but the pin is adorning my hat band in a little cluster with my 1 gallon and 2 gallon pins ♥
The donation itself took a little longer than usual, but considering all that I left with, as well as the chocolate-with-M&Ms cookies available after? Soooo worth it. Totes looking forward to the first Monday in October (my next appointment time).
