Tuesday, July 18, 2006

We Did It!

Here's Mom ready to give platelets. She doesn't have her needle in yet. There were two different kinds of machines. She got one that only had one needle go into one arm. She said there was an alternation between pulling the blood out and pushing it back in. Weird. I had the other machine which required two needles, one in each arm. I had blood coming out of one arm and going back into the other.

The experience wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. And the needle didn't hurt too much either. I might actually go back to do it again. Here we are at the end snacking on their cookies. We also got a free meal at Wahoos and since Mom won't use hers in Big Bear she gave me her meal so that Jake and I can go out for free one night. How cool is that?


One last thing to mention, we got to watch a movie which really makes you forget about the needles and keeps you entertained. I made a mistake though. I didn't know I had to pick out a movie so I was already being prepared when they realized I didn't have one. What can I say, I'm new. So I told the lady I liked comedies and she brought back five comedies and one suspense for me to choose from. I saw Jennifer Aniston on the cover of Derailed (the suspense) and decided to watch it. BAD CHOICE. I do not like movies where bad things happen and it seemed like the bad things never stopped happening. A quick overview: guy has sick daughter and loses big account at work, meets married woman and they go to hotel to sleep together, guy breaks in with gun, beats guy up and rapes girl (don't go to police because married and can't let spouses know), guy gets blackmailed for $20,000 (all of savings to help pay for sick daughter), guy get blackmailed again and won't pay so the bad guy pretends to be his friend and goes to his house and meets wife and daughter.

Obviously not my kind of movie. At this point I wanted to stop watching the movie but I had needles in both of my arms, so I wiggled out of my ear phones so that I didn't have to listen and got the attention of a nurse to turn the movie off. I think she thought I was crazy when I asked to stop the horrible movie, but I didn't care, I couldn't take it anymore. I've now learned my lesson. Next time I'll definitely get a comedy.

:)

11 comments:

Sarah said...

wow - that sounds doable - you just kinda lay there for a bit? and i suppose these people are professionals with the needles so it feels fine. and yeah, i'm with you - i do not enjoy bad thing movies. not one bit.

Wendy said...

That doesn't sound too bad and it is awesome that you took time out to help someone you don't know.

I am with you also on the movie thing. I am not good at reminding myself that the stuff is not real so I don't like movies like that or scary movies. Freaks me out. Did you and mom have the same room? Could you talk?

Pam said...

We were a bit far from each other and had head phones on for the movie, so it didn't really work out to visit. But we got to talk afterwards so it was fun.

Lonnie said...

if you would have finished the movie you would have found out that Jennifer Aniston and that creepy guy were married and they were just hustling people for money and screwing peopld over who would cheet on their spouse. You are right the movie wasn't that great but I was happy to find out that she wasn't really raped.

Pam said...

Wow, that is such a crazy turn of events. I never thought it would end like that.

Anonymous said...

Well Pam thanks for posting the first picture but in the second one I look like they pumped about 30 gallons of extra fluid into me by mistake. Next time I do the photography......
Love you Mom

Sarah said...

hmmmm that almost makes me want to watch the movie now.

Chris Steele said...

I'm glad that at least the needle part went well, but I'm sorry about the movie. My brother used to give at UCLA, and they'd take twice as much out of him, because he could handle it. Did they give you an electric blanket and warm water bottles to hold? My favorite part was feeling so pampered.

Pam said...

I'm not sure what part of Big Bear they live in.

As for the platelet donation, I had regular blankets but they heated up bean bags for my hands. :)

Pam said...

Cliff,

Do you have a blog? If so, you should add your site to your profile page so that I can view it. :)

Anonymous said...

I know. I saw that movie with my team. I wanted to walk out of the movie, but what does that look like...me walking out on a team event...Ugh. Good thing you did there though...donating platelets :)