Give Blood

All I did was try to do a good deed and this is what they did to me.... On Wednesday (it also happened to be my birthday!) I went to try and give blood. I say try because I wasn't hopeful of being able to donate after the debacle I had trying to donate last time. I was in first year at university and went with two of my flatmates. That time I ended up with absolutely enormous bruises on each arm and unable to move them very well. They didn't even get any blood from me!
Needless to say, that put me off donating blood for quite a long time. I decided to try again because in my job I see the value that donated blood has. I'm often sent down to the blood room to collect units of blood for patients that need it and I know that if that blood wasn't readily available then it would be an absolute disaster.
So I bit the bullet.
It started so well. The test drop sank! Hurrah! Already better than last time! They did have trouble getting a big enough vein to take the donation from and my arm ended up going blue but they did (eventually!) get the needle in. What is more it stayed in. Success........
Or not. Apparently, whilst my blood was flowing, it wasn't flowing fast enough. Grand. It seems that they have to get the blood in a certain amount of time...... or maybe it was just nearing home time..... (who knows!) but they stopped my donation. I gave half a bag.... Bummer! At least it can still be used for testing..... Bonus(!)

Then, to add the icing on the cake, I actually wouldn't stop bleeding. I had three different people sit with me and non of them could stop it. It didn't stop til later that night. If only they'd sent the bag home with me. I could have given them the donation!

I expected to bruise because of my experience last time (I wish I had photos of that because I wouldn't be able to do them justice. Pictures being worth a thousand words and all!) but I'd not really taken into account the fact that I work in a hospital and if you work in a hospital then you have to be bare below the elbows. That isn't good with a rather unsightly bruise and skin that is perpetually reacting to the plasters that are covering it!

That being said, I'm rather proud of my bruise. I'm also glad that I managed to give half a bag, even if it can't be used to give to people. Next time I'm not going to go straight from work because I was probably a little dehydrated which won't have helped the low flow. So, yes I am going to try one more time. It really is something that I feel I should do. I know that I can't tell others that they should or even think they should but it is a small thing to do that makes such a big difference to someone.
Hopefully next time the bruise will be worth it!