just got back from donating blood. let me share my experience.
walked by the trailer like 4 times til i finally decided, "im going to give blood!" jk i had already decided that like a week ago, but i kept forgeting my id in my room so i had to go and get it. well i stepped up into the trailer and was greated by a funny guy nurse person. i signed in, answered all those "have you...." questions and then got my finger pricked to test my iron, (which, fyi, my iron is good!) and then i got the blood pressure taken, my temperature taken(it was just a lil stip of paper, i didnt even know how they were reading it...) then i got sent down to the next available seat, but i first had to jump over the area that some blood had spilt on the floor, actually it was alot of blood...but yeah, so i went and the lady tried to find my vein in my left arm, it took a minute, but the vein was too small. so she tried to find one in my right arm...theni had to move chairs because she found one in my right arm and i was in the left arm seat....
so she began to hook me up, apparently my vein was sideways...? whatever that means... and so she was like "its ok, i can do it" so i trusted her. i looked out the window as she began the process of sticking me with the needle, (except i looked when she rubbed the iodine on me, that wasnt bad at all, its just iodine!) ok well so im lookin out the window and shes tellin me to squeeze the ball, she sticks me and i can feel the needle moving around under my skin, she was having trouble finding the vein again WITH THE NEEDLE IN MY ARM!!!! and so then she found it and it was workin well. at least i thought it was, there was some discomfort in my arm...dont know if that has anything to do with it but im just saying....
so she comes back over and starts messing with it again, and then she proceeds to tell me that my blood has stopped pumping out of my arm..at this point she says to me "just to warn you this arm will have a bruise"(great, anyone remember what happened after i went to the emergency room last year? that bruise lasted forever!!!)..no more blood flow. so she is trying to figure out why my arm is so retarded, (bless her heart, i felt so bad that my arm was trouble) and so she has another nurse come over and look at it. they have me squeeze the ball some, and they tighten and loosen that strap thing thats on my arm and then they conclude that they must stop what is happening. supposedly whenever i would squeeze it would flow and then stop, and then flow and then stop....a process that is apparently not supposed to happen..... who knew!
and so she cleans it up and removes everything and im like(in my head) "does this mean i cant ever give blood, will what you have taken from me be any help to anyone, what just happened"
another nurse comes up and bandages me and says that he is going to ace bandage my arm a little tight because of the bruise, and he says that it should hurt except for maybe a few days, but if it still hurts to call him and we will see what has happened or something like that,
the nurse that stuck me came and explained everything, she said that my vein where she stuck it was too close to my valve and that the valve was preventing it from working. and she said that she wouldnt be sticking me anymore today because my left arm has too small a vein and my right arm she had already stuck once, but that i could donate in the future, she showed me where on my arm i should tell the next nurse to stick me. but she assured that my right arm does have two good veins, but one was by a valve(the one she stuck) and the other isnt, she just had a 50/50 of getting it right and got it wrong.
All in all, it was a learning experience, and i got to have juice (orange pinapple) it was tasty, and i now know that i have weird veins and am the "weird stick of the month"
ill post pics of my bruise as it progresses, if it is anything like the one that i had got from the emerency room then these will be awesome pics!
oh and my arm is sore, cant really bend it, so thats fun...hahah
walked by the trailer like 4 times til i finally decided, "im going to give blood!" jk i had already decided that like a week ago, but i kept forgeting my id in my room so i had to go and get it. well i stepped up into the trailer and was greated by a funny guy nurse person. i signed in, answered all those "have you...." questions and then got my finger pricked to test my iron, (which, fyi, my iron is good!) and then i got the blood pressure taken, my temperature taken(it was just a lil stip of paper, i didnt even know how they were reading it...) then i got sent down to the next available seat, but i first had to jump over the area that some blood had spilt on the floor, actually it was alot of blood...but yeah, so i went and the lady tried to find my vein in my left arm, it took a minute, but the vein was too small. so she tried to find one in my right arm...theni had to move chairs because she found one in my right arm and i was in the left arm seat....
so she began to hook me up, apparently my vein was sideways...? whatever that means... and so she was like "its ok, i can do it" so i trusted her. i looked out the window as she began the process of sticking me with the needle, (except i looked when she rubbed the iodine on me, that wasnt bad at all, its just iodine!) ok well so im lookin out the window and shes tellin me to squeeze the ball, she sticks me and i can feel the needle moving around under my skin, she was having trouble finding the vein again WITH THE NEEDLE IN MY ARM!!!! and so then she found it and it was workin well. at least i thought it was, there was some discomfort in my arm...dont know if that has anything to do with it but im just saying....
so she comes back over and starts messing with it again, and then she proceeds to tell me that my blood has stopped pumping out of my arm..at this point she says to me "just to warn you this arm will have a bruise"(great, anyone remember what happened after i went to the emergency room last year? that bruise lasted forever!!!)..no more blood flow. so she is trying to figure out why my arm is so retarded, (bless her heart, i felt so bad that my arm was trouble) and so she has another nurse come over and look at it. they have me squeeze the ball some, and they tighten and loosen that strap thing thats on my arm and then they conclude that they must stop what is happening. supposedly whenever i would squeeze it would flow and then stop, and then flow and then stop....a process that is apparently not supposed to happen..... who knew!
and so she cleans it up and removes everything and im like(in my head) "does this mean i cant ever give blood, will what you have taken from me be any help to anyone, what just happened"
another nurse comes up and bandages me and says that he is going to ace bandage my arm a little tight because of the bruise, and he says that it should hurt except for maybe a few days, but if it still hurts to call him and we will see what has happened or something like that,
the nurse that stuck me came and explained everything, she said that my vein where she stuck it was too close to my valve and that the valve was preventing it from working. and she said that she wouldnt be sticking me anymore today because my left arm has too small a vein and my right arm she had already stuck once, but that i could donate in the future, she showed me where on my arm i should tell the next nurse to stick me. but she assured that my right arm does have two good veins, but one was by a valve(the one she stuck) and the other isnt, she just had a 50/50 of getting it right and got it wrong.
All in all, it was a learning experience, and i got to have juice (orange pinapple) it was tasty, and i now know that i have weird veins and am the "weird stick of the month"
ill post pics of my bruise as it progresses, if it is anything like the one that i had got from the emerency room then these will be awesome pics!
oh and my arm is sore, cant really bend it, so thats fun...hahah
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