High fives all around!

Guess who successfully gave an entire donation of blood today?! If you said either Erica OR Bradley, you'd be right the eff on.

No pictures this time, but a quick story:

When I was in the screening booth, I mentioned that I always have trouble giving blood. The nurse looked me in the ey and said, "This time it's going to work out."

I've never met this nurse before, and she said it so certainly. She took my iron, which was higher than it's ever been before (46). My pulse was fine. My temperature-- normally low-- was fine. My blood pressure was fine. So far so good.

Then I went over to the donation station and the nurse there was busy, so Mystery Nurse came over to help me. She asked me which arm I wanted, and for once I was thinking and asked her to check before we tried and failed. She found a small vein in my left arm but found a better candidate in my right, so she set me up.

Annnnnnd, BOOM.

Needle in.

First try.

Painless.

Whaaaaaat?! Another nurse monitored me for the rest of the time and only had to adjust my arm once. I gave a full donation in record (for me) time. No bruise! Hardly a mark at all!

I practically floated out of that office.

Bradley naturally rocked his donation too. I always hope that I don't downplay his donation just because it comes easier for him. As always, I am incredibly proud of him and his philanthropy.

This was our last donation for the year. I need to go back and count up how many times we gave this year. Also, we're not stopping just because the Year of Philanthropy is coming to a close-- our next donation is in January. I'm sure at least that part of this blog will continue past the end of the year. ;)