WARNING - these pictures may not be for the faint of heart. Consider yourself warned for the next few weeks for that matter :).
The details of the surgery are beginning to come together, although we don't have a confirmed date yet. Part of what we've learned through the phone calls is that families are given the opportunity to give their own blood for their child's surgery. So we said yes to that right away. It took several days for it to be arranged for our local Red Cross to draw the blood, label it and transfer it to Atlanta. It takes up to two weeks to prepare it after it's drawn so we had to do it quickly.
Amazingly, God put Jeff and I together as the same blood type and we were both a match for Ellie. Jeff is a veteran donor and was all set to go but at the last minute we learned he could not give because of his cold.
So I went as my first time ever donating blood. I was amazed at the screening process. The questions you answer about your travel habits, where you have been, what medicines you take and tons of other personal questions were quite thorough. Be assured if you get blood from a blood bank you are in good hands!
My physical including a finger prick showed I was a candidate to give. I watched two other walk-ins come in and share with the whole room they continue to get turned away for low iron. I really thought that might happen to me but it was very high.
I was prepped, had a giant television in front of me and a crossword puzzle to keep me distracted.
Once we got started it moved right along!
Thanks to my sister for watching the other kids while I went - taking them would not have been wise since they were all a little concerned that it was going to hurt me and look "scary". Plus, I would have had a hard time getting them away from the snack table afterwords. I did manage to save them a few cookies to bring home though:).
