Tag Archive for 'donating blood'

I suppose that there are only a couple of exciting things to report from the last few days. On Friday I donated blood for the second time, and it was not nearly so pleasant an experience. The loss of blood volume meant that, after standing outside for the dedication of the Newton tree, I quite nearly passed out while standing in line for a sandwich. I actually had to be helped to a table and ended up going to health services after the incident. This was the second time this semester that I'd nearly passed out--with the same symptoms both times but different triggers. It turns out that I just need to stay aware of my blood pressure. The signs don't point to this being a problem I'll have to face frequently (especially with high blood pressure running in my family) but it's something I should keep in mind when standing in lines, apparently. As if that excitement weren't enough, my nurses seem to have been incompetent, leaving me with a triangular red bruise nearly 2 cm a side set against a purplish background. It's pretty hideous looking, although it doesn't actually hurt. The interesting thing is that the bruise is nowhere near where they drew the blood. It also looks like I'm developing an allergic reaction there, which worries me... Today was the big presentation to people from NASA. Everything went pretty smoothly. There were questions we couldn't answer, but most of those were squarely outside of the scope that we defined for the project, so we were safe. Now I get to dedicate the next two days of my life to making this report as perfect as possible. Because I want that A, dammit. Today also marked my last day of undergraduate classes. From here, there's just one final, a couple of project reports, (some more research), and possibly one graduate homework and then my undergraduate career will be over. What a thought. As a kid, you never imagine that you'll ever get done with these things. Of course, I remember a time when sixth-graders were like unto gods. And, now, I tend to look at college freshmen and think, "Oh, look at the little freshman! I wish they knew how nice they had it!" Goes to show how things change, I guess.