Special Donations?

I do not think Special Donations are so special. Yesterday I gave my first autologous donation for my surgery (aka. a "special donation") through the Red Cross. They'll ship all of my donations to St. Louis where my hospital will collect it in preparation for my surgery. I am supposed to give 3 pints (units) total. I've just given 1 and I am not looking forward to the next 2. The funny thing is that my worry was completely focused on the giving blood part, rather than the aftermath of the giving. I was very comfortable during the donation, and it all went quite smoothly. After having the needle removed, they kept me lying down for 5 minutes before walking me over to a chair. I felt fine...until 30 seconds later. Next thing I knew, my stomach was NOT feeling fine, and my body was tingly and burning up. Thankfully I was quite vocal when I first starting feeling funny, and the nurses ran over to walk me back to a recliner. I barely made it. I don't recall ever having been that close to passing out. Once in the recliner they put cold compresses on me and every time I closed my eyes they made me open them. After a few minutes I was stabilized, but then I starting twiching. My whole body! And I couldn't stop. Apparantly I was cold, though I didn't feel so until 15 minutes later. Eventually I had about 4 layers of blankets on me. Needless to say, I did not move from that recliner until 2 hours later.

So, all in all, I do not think these donations are so special, and I'm certainly not looking forward to doing this 2 more times.

T-Minus One Month and Counting

One month to go. Working now on the details and tying up loose ends.
This includes chasing down all of my pre-operative test results and having them "resent" to St. Louis. Turns out St. Louis received nothing from my 4 separate pre-of tests. Seems fishy if you ask me. No big deal though, all are sent now expect for one. Also trying to schedule my "special donations" for surgery with the Red Cross. What an ordeal! You have to leave messages all over the country and wait for them to (cross your fingers) call you back. Also, Christmas is throwing a loop in that schedule. Hopefully I can get everything done in town before Christmas (must start eating a lot of meat) or I'll have to try to schedule an appointment in VA. Also dealing with my insurance and disability right now. Hard to keep track of everything and everyone. Dealt with booking hotels too. Right now my husband and I are headed to St. Louis a day or two early so that we have a full day just to relax, be tourists, basically do whatever we want to do. Have booked a couple of nights at a sweet B&B across from a park close to DT St. Louis. Am looking forward to that!