1/28/15. The post where I remember (again) that it is not all about me.

1/28/15: a terrible night's sleep.  Not so much because of my foot.  Just one of those nights where you stare at the ceiling worrying about unimportant things that seem very important in the dark.  On the bright side, my foot has been feeling incrementally better and by today, it's back down to a manageable 4-5 range.  I'm hoping that it will continue to improve.  And the weather was beautiful again today.  I only got to enjoy it in the car on my way to and from work, but I made the most of it.

Speaking of work, here is a little dramatization of how I spend most of my workday:

Person A: I want to do a stupid thing.

Me: Don't do the stupid thing.

Person A: Are you sure?

Me: Yes.

Person A: Okay, I won't do the stupid thing.  

30 minutes later...

Person A: I did the stupid thing.  Can you fix it?

Me:  (beats head against desk)

This afternoon, I got some scary news about an acquaintance.  While we don't see each other often, we've known each other for quite some time.  (I am terrible at estimating time/ages, but I know it's been more than ten years and less than 20.)  She has recently had a recurrence of leukemia and has been having frequent blood transfusions while her doctors try to find a suitable bone marrow donor.  Today, they had to postpone her transfusion because there was not a single pint of blood available in the state that is a match for her.  Her blood type is O Negative, but there are also several other antigens that have to exactly match, so it is difficult to find blood.  While she lives in my city, she is receiving medical treatment elsewhere, and the hospital is setting up testing drives to try to find potential blood donors with the correct blood type. Currently, the testing drives are all in the city where she is receiving treatment, but they are also setting up a drive here in our city.

Guess who else's blood type is O Negative? Yep. I used to donate to a local blood bank periodically, but my last experience several years ago resulted in me passing out in the car (which fortunately was turned off and sitting in a parking lot at the time) and being uninvited to donate in the future.  This situation is a little different, though.  I won't know if my blood is a close enough match until they test me, but if it is, I'll make it work.