"The Gift of Life"

On Tuesday (12/16/14), I donated blood for the fourth time this year.

I'd never before donated blood but having read an article about Anne's and my son Kyle's attorney, Albro Lundy, a long time blood donor, who called it "The Gift of Life," I was moved by his words and began to donate.

However, on Tuesday night at about 11:20 pm, roughly eight hours after the donation, I got out of bed to use the bathroom.

While in the bathroom, I got light headed and dizzy and then nauseous and almost passed out. I likely would have passed out had I not instinctually gotten down quickly on all fours on the floor.

There I remined for a few moments until the symptoms passed.

I carefully stood up and looked in the mirror and saw beads of sweat on my forehead.

Then I went back to bed, but as I got in bed, the room seemed to spin, much as it did on occasion when I had Vertigo last year.

As it stopped, as occasionally happens, I saw sparkles of light overhead. I believe these are angelic beings and as I looked at the sparkles, I knew what to do.

Lying flat on my back, I raised my knees and practiced my deep breathing. After 5 or 10 minutes, I felt much better but I continued for about half an hour.

In the morning I spoke with Anne's and my son Clayton, an emergency room physician, and he explained how these symptoms were caused by my blood donation.

In summary, I did not drink enough water after my blood donation, which was the primary cause. But also as a vegetarian, eating iron rich beans, etc. would have been beneficial to me.

Clayton pointed out that I have "a 69 year old heart," but also added that these problem can happen to "a 20 year old heart" after a blood donation.

He urged me in the future after making a blood donation, to drink even more water than I did, And if ever these symptoms appear again, immediately lie down flat on my back, elevate my knees and breathe, until the symptoms pass.

Clayton is in charge of the emergency room (ER) at St. Francis Medical Center in the Los Angeles area, and he said when trauma patients are rushed into the ER, they can require as much as 20 or 30 units of blood.

Each of us as a donor contributes one unit of blood (about 12% of the blood our bodies contain) and those donations are vitally important.

Clayton believes that eventually blood will be artificially created, but for now blood donations are the only choice we have.

I believe these donations are "The Gift of Life" and I hope more people will donate.

Dick