Addiction Recovery Story #30, Dahlia: You Want My Blood and I Want Your Cookies

I donated platelets at the Paramus donor center again yesterday, and young Alice came out to play. She can be a Cookie Monster. This is #30 in my flower-titled story series started 1/31/21.

Dahlia stunner from HERE. I have grrown Dahlias from tubers or plants, not seeds. More power to you if you raise up huge beauty from baby seeds.

I wrote on February 28 about #resisting cookies at the “recovery table” in the blood donor center. That was “Addiction Story #18, Marigold: Nabisco in My Rearview Mirror.”

I’ve been donating platelets throughout the pandemic and recently stepped it up to once a month.

But in March, I did not walk away from the treats.

I am honest about my slips. My angel in the recovery program suggested I bring a nice snack in order to sidestep the cookies, so yesterday, I walked in with baby carrots and hummus in my Lilly Pulitzer tote.

I arrived by 10:30 and left by 1:10. It takes at least 90 minutes to donate platelets (vs. whole blood). You also have to build in time for the laptop, to fill in the long screening questionnaire on each visit; the medical check (blood pressure, iron count, temperature, weight); and prep (swabbing the skin, finding a good vein) before the needle is slipped into your arm.

It gets tedious. But I’ll take tedious to save lives. There’s a TV over the lounge chair, as at the dentist or…