It Happened Again

I passed out again yesterday. This was the first time I passed out from giving blood. I was at the health fair at my office, doing a blood draw, and the first poke didn’t work, so the phlebotomist asked if she could try again. I was already feeling kind of nervous, and thinking maybe I should decline … but I was already there and wanted to get it over with. The second poke was successful, but right after she finished … I blacked out.

Once again, I started dreaming. When I came to, I was being wheeled (in a desk chair) into a hallway next to the room where the health fair was happening. A bunch of the health fair people were crowded around me. I was confused as to why I wasn’t waking up in my own bed … and then I realized what happened.

“Did I faint?” “Yes.” “Did I fall out of the chair?” “No.” “Well that’s good.”

The situation was a bit traumatic – your body literally gives up, so fainting is never fun. But this time around, I had a lot of friendly co-workers to help me out. A nice lady from HR, the head of security (who told me he is/was an EMT), and a couple of co-workers from my team who I requested they go get. One co-worker escorted me in the ladies room. Another co-worker rode with me in a cab to go home. The head of security pushed me around in a wheelchair, and held a garbage can for me while I “refunded” my apple juice in the middle of the lobby. I was both embarassed and thankful, but they told me this is not the worst they’ve seen. We have a big office.

And then I spent the rest of the day sleeping, taking breaks to eat something or watch TV, then back to bed. After about 16 hours of sleep, I feel back to normal today.

And thus went fainting episode #6 (over 20 years).