The long struggle

I love to give blood. I don't particularly know why. I feel as though I do it for selfish reasons. I want to because I want to. The problem is that I have issues keeping my iron high enough. It is a ridiculous struggle trying to donate. People ask me all the time why I bother. I rant about my dislike for raisins and longing for ice cream. They usually have a simple response of don't donate. I must though. I just don't have a good reason. I sometimes say I donate to save lives, but since that isn't quite the right I always feel I am just short of lying. Now all I do is counter the question with why not. Why not? Why not donate if I can? It's a simple thing. A great way to keep my blood pressure down.*

I'm back in my long haul for getting my iron up. I went in and was somewhere around 12.3 when I needed a hemoglobin read of 12.5. I went back two days later after eating ice cream and eggs and tested at a 11.1. Good job me. So we pushed my appointment back a week. Me thinking, I got this no problem I didn't work all that hard. I never consistently took my iron supplements. My diet was a bit better but a few caffeinated items got through the gate. The timing was all wrong though. Two days before I was to donate the reason why women have trouble gave me trouble. I tested at 11.0 and wasn't surprised.

Now it is time for me to get this done. Properly show up to donate. I have three weeks to prepare. By then I'll be ready to scream, "TAKE MY BLOOD ALREADY." So now, supplements, no dairy, no eggs, and I have to figure out a way to get my vitamin C. Orange juice being out of the question with my self-imposed allergy. I find myself missing it for practical reasons. Three weeks. If I cannot get my act together in that time, I am pathetic. I have go to focus.


*No it isn't. While that was once a method doctors used to treat high blood pressure, bleeding the patient isn't a viable method for much anything anymore.