Giving blood

[tarotgal]

Just came back from giving blood. As usual, it was a slow process. They had this electronic scale & monitor attached this time and it would start beeping if I went too slowly. Yikes! It beeped ALL the time for me. They kept coming over and looking worried and telling me to squeeze harder and squeeze more. I've NEVER squeezed anything so hard in all my life. Not those 5-10 second short squeezes but every 2-3 second and holding it for 5 seconds. LOL Then when it was done she picked up the blood and said "Wow, 14 minutes!" as though that was really long and I was thinking "Wow, under 20 minutes is fantastic for me!" They never believe me when I say it's hard to find a place in my left arm for the needle... or that I take a long time. But I've always finished and all, and everything went fine this time (I even ate and drank a LOT before going in preparation). But, yes, all is well. Apart from my hand which HURTS from all that hard squeezing! But, yep, felt good about it. Hope it helps someone!

Comments

[ladykorana.livejournal.com]

I've given up on giving blood. I've been declined three separate times now just because the nurses couldn't find any veins they were comfortable with attempting to use. The other time that one of them actually went for it, I was there sooooo long on that table, sqeezing all the time, while a nurse kept repositioning the needle in my arm to keep the blood flowing, it was a nightmare!! I'm usually fine with needles, but by the time they were through with me, I had broken out into a cold sweat, my arm and hand muscles were sore from all the squeezing, and the elbow region was aching and stinging miserably. After all that, they only managed to get half a pint from me before they took pity on me and released me.

Kudos to you that you still donate! As for me, I just take up a bed during blood drives that could be used to get blood from 3 different people in the time it took them to get half a pint from me. I really wish I were a better donation candidate. I really wish I could donate more and I feel guilty that I no longer try, but I'm just not up for all the pain, and the waste of their resources.

[smokeycat-430.livejournal.com]

I have the same problem giving blood. The person will find the vein and mark it then try to put the needle in and nothing will happen. They try to reposition it, moving it all around, in and out a bit, still nothing. Once, five people were called over to try to get something out. Nothing. They didn't want to take the needle all the way out and put it back in cause they said it would cause bruising. Hmm...A little too late for that! Poking me and moving it back and forth...Felt weird. Eventually after what seemed like forever but couldn't have been more than 30, they decided to take it out and asked if I wanted to try the other arm. I declined. I still got cookies and stickers, oh, and an ice pack for a huge bruise that had formed. Grrr...It happens in both my arms, too. Maybe I don't have any blood. It's all an illusion. Maybe that's why I get cold easily, I'm a cold-no-blooded reptilian type person.

When I was little I had blood taken once and remember being fascinated watching in go in the tube and into the container but now...It's sometimes not worth the trouble.