{"id":2321,"date":"2017-12-16T02:06:35","date_gmt":"2017-12-16T02:06:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/?p=2321"},"modified":"2017-12-16T02:06:35","modified_gmt":"2017-12-16T02:06:35","slug":"denied-deferred-and-defeated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/2017\/12\/16\/denied-deferred-and-defeated\/","title":{"rendered":"denied, deferred, and defeated"},"content":{"rendered":"

I got a call a couple weeks ago from the Red Cross. \u00a0I was due to give blood again and they wanted to know if I would participate in a special blood drive. \u00a0I said sure, then asked what it was about. \u00a0They were hosting two special days – the 25th of December and the 1st of January.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wait, what?<\/span><\/p>\n

I was a little incredulous – seemed like a terrible idea to me – and asked if I could donate on another day. \u00a0I think they associate was disappointed, but suggested the 12th. \u00a0It was a Tuesday at 5 and I figured I\u2019d have time to eat a snack before I went to donate.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Tuesday I went through the Rapid Pass (health history) questions online while I was still at work, then headed out at my usual time. \u00a0I stopped at the McDonald\u2019s near the the blood drive center and got a snack – which was a mistakes for several reasons. \u00a0The biggest one was that the restroom smelled like a zoo and the floor was sticky. \u00a0I washed my hands – a lot – then arrived at the appointment with time to spare – then had to check in at the security desk.<\/span><\/p>\n

Really? \u00a0You get a lot of break-ins? \u00a0You know vampires aren\u2019t real, right?<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, I got checked in at the main desk and waited to be called back. \u00a0I had my coat off and my sleeves rolled up, my Rapid Pass was printed, donor card at the ready, and food in my belly so I wouldn\u2019t pass out afterwards.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was in the zone.<\/span><\/p>\n

They scanned my barcodes, then pricked my finger to check my iron. \u00a0It was fine, but they did a poor job on the band-aid and I started to bleed through it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then they checked my blood pressure and we suddenly had a problem. \u00a0It was too high.<\/span><\/p>\n

She asked if I\u2019d been running around today and well, yes, of course. \u00a0That\u2019s my only speed – full. I even sleep fast. <\/span><\/p>\n

She had me sit quietly for a bit to settle down and I tried to relax. \u00a0Someone else came in to check it again – and swap out my band-aid.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the pressure was still too high. She asked if I\u2019d been eating salty foods and I had. Since it was too high to donate, I got a 1 day deferral. \u00a0I was welcome to come back and try again – but for that day, I was done.<\/span><\/p>\n

I got my paperwork, put my coat back on, and sighed out at the security desk.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was dark by this point, the streets were covered in snow, and I was in downtown Akron at rush hour trying to drive up a hill with everyone else in the city. \u00a0The 10 minute drive took me almost an hour and I spent all of that deeply bummed out.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve given a lot of blood over the years – over 9 gallons – and I rarely have any trouble with my iron or the time it takes or getting faint. I\u2019ve done whole blood and double reds and I know just what to expect and what to do.<\/span><\/p>\n

But, this time, I failed. \u00a0I hadn\u2019t taken good enough care of myself and now – I couldn\u2019t help someone else.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because it\u2019s not just about the number of pints or the free cookies – it\u2019s a chance to really help someone else in a powerful way. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And I couldn\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n

I know how to fix this – get back to the pool, start eating better, cut back on salt – but at the time I just felt really defeated. <\/span><\/p>\n

I finally got home and just sat on the couch for awhile until it was time to take a shower and go to bed. I stayed bummed out for several days, though I\u2019m a little better now.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just felt a little defeated about the whole thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

And I’ll try again, but… not for a while.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I got a call a couple weeks ago from the Red Cross. \u00a0I was due to give blood again and they wanted to know if I would participate in a special blood drive. \u00a0I said sure, then asked what it was about. \u00a0They were hosting two special days – the 25th of December and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_bluesky_dont_syndicate":"","_bluesky_syndication_accounts":"","_bluesky_syndication_text":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2321"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2322,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321\/revisions\/2322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}