NinjaChick, you might surprise yourself and find the actual experience is less of a problem than your anticipation of it.
I have a real problem observing even minor medical procedures. I nearly passed out when my (now) wife and I went for our pre-marriage bloodtests. (I was fine with mine, but I made the mistake of actually looking when they drew her blood.) Ditto the first few times I watched the pediatrician give one of my kids an injection. If I’m channel-surfing and happen to pass by one of those shows (Discovery? The Learning Channel?) that show actual operations, I can pretty much freak out in the time it takes to flip to another channel.
But I’ve given blood a couple of dozen times, with no problems whatsoever. I simply look away whenever they’re actually doing anything. I usually bring a paperback book (small enough to hold in the hand of my unoccupied arm) to distract me both during the procedure and to minimize the temptation, while sitting and awaiting my turn on the couch, to look around the room at other people doing their donations.
I have problems with my liver (nothing major, but my ALT’s - or is it ATL’s - are too high) due to some medication I took as an adolescent. Due to that, I’m not allowed to give blood to any donation site. Conceivably, I could donate for myself if I were going in for surgery, or to a family member - possibly - but that’s about it.
All right, I took the next step today, which for me, was calling and asking questions. DIdn’t make an appointment yet, but I will make an appointment sometime this week.
I asked about if I’d allowed to bring a close friend with me for moral support - no luck, and the guy I had in mind can’t donate (recent tattoo.) However, I’m pretty sure I convinced another friend (who donates regularly) to go at the same time as I am. The nice folks on the phone (who were, btw, truly kind and helpful) more or less promised we’d be given adjacent cots. That’s good.
I also asked about how quickly I can get out of there (and whoa, I just realized that I said I was driving. That’s kinda backwards - I’m am getting a ride.:smack: ) The answer: no, they techincally can’t force me to stay and eat free cookies, but seeing as it’s my first time donating, and I’m going to be very stressed out, it would be strongly, strongly recommended, and I’ll probably get hassled if I try to walk out without at least taking something to eat, and especially to drink. So I’ll probably end up staying for at least a few minutes. My concern is that I’ll get further freaked out the longer I stay there, which could probably create problems that wouldn’t otherwise occur. (Note to self: panicking about ‘what if I have a panic attack?’ is not productive.)
So, now I just need to get up the guts to actually make the appointment…I’ll let you all know when I do. Again, thanks for all the support.