Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Adventure Day 39 – Not my best day ever

The second last day of my adventure would not contribute to my list really at all but I do feel it’s worth telling you about. It was a result of some of the things I struggle with; it sort of gave me a ‘slap in the face’ and in the end reminded me that I am surrounded by people who care. So I’ll share it with you anyway…

I didn’t have a lot going on that morning because later in the day I had an appointment to donate plasma. I was loving the fact I was back into my routine of giving and it felt so good to be able to do it again. I made sure to eat a healthy, protein filled breakfast of cottage cheese and fibre one, followed by a couple of tall glasses of water and a tuna sandwich for lunch (lots of protein). My appointment to donate was for 12:35pm so I was trying to make sure I was on schedule.

However my blogging and e-mail checking, then remembering that the dogs needed an outing before I left, interfered with my punctuality. I didn’t think anything much of leaving a bit later than planned until I hit construction. That’s when the fists came out (along with some choice words). After stewing through about 10 minutes of traffic without even getting as far as a block, I raged right and tried to get to the street I was headed to another way. After sneaking through a bunch of unfamiliar streets I made it, only to encounter another bout of my favourite thing – construction. EEK!! Road rage would definitely be a good term for what I was feeling.

When I arrived 10 minutes late and apologizing for my tardiness the lady at the counter was calm and cool saying ‘Oh no problem!’ and me thinking ‘Yeah, I have work to go to right after this, there better not be a delay.’ (Like I have a right to say that after being late). I sat down and awaited my turn to fill out all the regular papers and answer all of the bizarre questions they would ask. (For example: Was your grandmother born in Africa? My response: Take a 3 second look at me and answer that yourself. Have you recently played with monkey feces? My response: If I was that kind of girl do you think I’d be here right now? Where do they come up with this stuff?)

Anyway, I was already thinking ahead to when they would take my blood pressure and hoping it’d be ok. I figured I would be because I tend to have low blood pressure but today I was a bit high strung. I immediately took my place on the scale (had to get it over with since we hadn’t been getting along lately), then observed something miraculous. My BP was 112 over 78 – nice! It was meant to be. I then re-answered all of the strange questions they asked (verbally this time – seriously how do they do it without laughing their heads off?!) Next came the final step, my protein and iron tests. A breeze … I thought.

I ate my wonderful breakfast and I had yet to fail their test. I had come close the first time but I had gotten onto a diet plan rich in good foods so I was confident. Until the lady peered over at me with a peculiar look. She tested it two more times. I failed the test. By one point. No donation for me today. The lady asked if I’d had my period recently – no, any diet changes – yes. And that’s when it happened I felt like I got smacked opened handed across my face. I was found out! My ‘diet plan’ had been abandoned for the past several weeks as I tried another new weigh loss method. This time it hurt, really bad.

I was visibly upset and in disbelief but the lady was really great with me. She said I could come back in 56 days to donate again. 56 DAYS!!!!! What?! I was in shock now, and was just realizing what I’d done to my body. I know it’s only plasma donation. I know it’s not that big a deal. But it was the one thing I felt proud about regarding my body, that I kept it in good enough working order to donate something useful to someone. I got in the car and I cried. I got home and I ate. I was so bummed out.

Then I realized I still had to go to work. Yikes! I am not one to call in and cancel a shift or not go, for any reason really. I am always there when I say I will be – always. This day though I thought (for the first time) of calling in and finding a replacement. I felt deflated and worn out, I wasn’t sure if I could do my job at all. It’s not the kind of job you can get through without some measure of sanity, strength and patience – none of which I felt like I owned this day. After a brief debate I decided I’d go because that’s how I work and so off I went, praying for grace.

When I arrived it was Bro and Muscles working and would be for the next hour. I was relieved because it was just them, no guys to support – one was at camp for another hour and the other would soon be home from a visit. We just hung out and I sort of mentioned my day thus far but tried to slough it off. I was pretty quiet (not my usual at work self), as I had been the day before at the staff meeting. Muscles made a few comments of concern about the melancholy Eva that had appeared, but again I tried to play dumb. My shift went well overall and fortunately it was an easier than usual night – I was so thankful.

At the end of the night when it was just me and the two guys, Sista showed up for some paper work. At this time Muscles and Bro had come back with another male staff to do something footfall related in the office downstairs. By the end of my shift at 11pm everyone was chatting and laughing up stairs and it was decided that we should go out for drinks. All but the extra guy staff separately drove to a restaurant with drinks only to find out that it was closing. Off we went all the way across town to an actual bar (and grill but it was open for hours longer). We found a table and shot the breeze (it sounds weird when you say it that way). It was so late and I was so tired but just sitting around with some friends talking about work (what else would we talk about) just felt good. It’s nice to have people that understand what you deal with everyday.

My day ended at 1am but so much better than it had started out. I left the bar knowing that I had people that cared (as there were many comments about my current status at that time). I later found out that Bro was a bit worried because I ‘looked like a basket case’ and that ‘Eva looked like she’d been crying’ when I came into work. I thought I had disguised myself well. You know those times you see people that don’t really know you after you’ve just had a bad experience and you can totally convince them its allergies or a headache or something. I haven’t known my new family very long and they already see through that stuff and care too. I am so grateful for this.

I curled into bed at 1:15 in the morning wanting so bad to avoid day 40 but knew that in 5 hours the alarm would be calling my name to complete my journey … and I would answer.

3 comments:

Zoe said...

Oh, soo sorry to hear about this bad day! I failed the iron test once too (not for plasma, just a regular donation), and it Really does suck!

I'm glad the day got better as it went on though...

Anonymous said...

money feces? :)

Eva said...

fixed it!