As a daily visitor to Stana’s blog and having been honored to have my photo shown in the Femulator spot a couple of times, I thought I would write a small article on another milestone for me.
I am a regular blood donor and have done this pretty much every three months for the past 40 years. Last week was my duly selected appointment time, so I arranged to work from home for the day. For a long time now, I had been toying with the idea as going as Jane, but had never had the courage to do so.
The night before I was sitting around watching television and had a great internal discussion with myself about doing the donation as Jane. In the end, a Jane trip won out. After that decision, it was what to wear. I wanted to look well-presented and be comfortable. After about half an hour, the decision on the plain white t-shirt and camel corduroy skirt won out – mainly due to needing to have a shorter sleeve that wasn’t elasticated for the donation.
Morning rolled around, so I arose and got dressed. Had my breakfast and nearly chickened out because I was so, so nervous and stressed about it. I dithered around and then basically ran out of time to clean up and change back into my boy mode, so I was committed – into the car and off to the donation center.
After arriving there, I sat in the car outside for a few minutes to settle my nerves. I almost backed out, but I didn’t. So jump out of the car, grab my handbag and go into the center. There were a couple of people there, but it was not too busy. I handed over my donor card for scanning and they usually ask for full name, DOB and address. The receptionist looked at me and just asked for my DOB and address, which I thought was nice. With that confirmed she printed off the health questionnaire for me to fill in.
Once I had filled the form, it was back to the reception and my form went to a nurse as per usual. Off into a little office we go to go over the health and travel questions. Of course she asked for my full name, etc. The nurse never blinked an eye at my male name and just carried on with the process.
Next came the hemoglobin check to make sure there is enough iron in the blood. As I am on blood pressure medicine, they have to take my blood pressure before I donate to make sure that it is not outside of the acceptable range. As you can imagine it was quite high with my nerves and at the top of the limit. The nurse asked me if I was feeling all right or anything that would cause the pressure to be high. I said to her that I was a bit stressed and nervous about being dressed the way I was. Her reply, “OK, that makes sense. As long as you feel OK that’s fine,” and she carried on.
From there it was out to the area where the donations for blood and plasma are carried out. And again, after being seated as per the process the nurse there asks for full name, DOB, etc., just to make sure I am who I say I am. There were a couple of other people there donating plasma, a few nurses and no strange looks or comments. On with the donation process...
While there being drained, the nurses, other donors and I were just chatting away as you do (all women). Discussing what was being shown on the breakfast TV, weather, what we were all planning to do on the weekend, etc. It was just a natural free-flowing conversation between women as they tend to do. I asked one of the nurses if she would take my picture, which she was glad to do. Joked a bit about photo-bombing me and being in the pictures too.
Once the donation was complete, I sat in the rest area with an orange juice and some biscuits and chatted with the receptionist. From there, I went back to my car and let out a huge sigh of relief that it had gone so well and being dressed as Jane was an absolute non-issue. Feeling absolutely happy, I headed back home via my local café for a coffee and then to work for the rest of the day.
I did find it a little difficult getting into my work with the smile on my face and warm happy feeling, but I managed to do so. I did pop out to my local garden center for a light lunch (a girl has to watch her figure) and sitting amongst the other patrons was no issue or funny looks.
That is another tick of the old bucket list of things to do and places to go dressed. I am sure I will do it again.
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| Wearing Shein |
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| John Barrowman femulating in La Cage Aux Folles on the British stage. |
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