I had a great and active weekend. On March 2nd I volunteered with an organization called Corazon De Vida. (
http://www.corazondevida.org) They financially assist numerous orphanages in Baja California and by visiting a different home each month. I had never gotten this involved into an organization before. It was a great experience and was nice to see where my money is actually going. Many times it's hard to donate to charities because people that need the funds may not get them. Or there's question as to what happens to said funds.
CDV also opened my eyes to how things work in Mexico. These orphanages aren't just for orphan kids; they also take in kids that were abandoned by their parents. If that wasn't enough, they take in kids that were taken away from their homes by the government due to abuse. The sad thing is that is all the government does. They intervene and take the child away, but once they are placed in any of these orphanages they don't provide any financial assistance. My heart was touched deeply because of CDV and the people that take care of these kids in these homes. If not for any of them who knows where these kids would be. They wouldn't have the roof over their heads, food, clean clothes, electricity, running water and a safe haven. The orphanages rely on organizations like CDV to help provide these things. The directors of these homes work hard to do whatever they can to get money to take care of these kids. I just couldn't believe all they have to do because the government does nothing to provide anything for them. I can go on and on about this. In the end it's a beautiful thing to see that there are people in this world that care enough to do what they do. In this case take care of countless kids that someone else failed to do. It is both heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time.
One last thing I wanted to share that is so random. When watching the dvd of CDV I was like WTF is Willow doing there??? LOL. No joke, Alyson Hannigan was on the dvd. Not as a speaker, but they showed footage of her and her husband visiting one of the orphanages. I had no idea Alyson knew about this organization, let alone alone volunteered to visit a home. So Miss Thang was across the border too at some point.
This post turned out longer then I had anticipated. I donated a double unit of platelets today, but not before getting my ass kicked. My bad luck with the Red Cross continues. Maybe I'm trying too hard to meet my goal that I'm getting so many set backs. My body is bitching!
Since I am still doing double needle this time around when getting poked in the wrist it sucked!!! OMG was it painful!!!
I couldn't move my fingers. We discovered it wasn't going to work because as soon as they started the procedure a hematoma formed. So they stopped and bandaged me up. Then I got poked a third time but higher up my arm and everything was great. Oh wait did I say great? Everything was until I got too hot. Once my body temperature gets too hot I start feeling nausea. They removed blankets and turned off the heating pad, but it was too late. I had to hurl. Good thing I never eat before donating cos I don't like the idea of getting rid of food like that. Not just that but with them watching me. No thank you! So all I did was hurl Tums so it wasn't bad. They put cold towels on my head and neck and a few minutes later I was fine. I went ahead with the procedure. Unfortunately though I had to stop altogether at one point because my arm was hurting. Sure enough I was getting another hematoma. That was my fault though because I had bent my arm after I hurled and I know I must have shifted the needle.
Today was hell!!! I am happy that I donated enough platelets to make it a worthy product in the end. Sadly though now I've been deferred from donating until April 20 something. Are you kidding me??? Once again I lost red blood cells since they couldn't return them in my body. I am so freakin bummed. Believe me this ain't over I have a trick up my sleeve. If it works out then I will be back here if not then I'll be saying what I have to say elsewhere. The Ranting or Crappy Feelings thread.
So far this year I've donated platelets 5 times. Blood 0 since I've been deferred. This sucks!!! I should totally be at 9 platelet donations and at 1 blood.