Giving Blood is Painless... ????

So, I gave blood last Thursday. I like to tryt o give blood every once in a while because even though it might cause a bit of discomfort, maybe it could help someone out somewhere. So, why not? Now, I tend to have small veins or something, because every time I try to give blood, the phlebotomists all hover around my arms trying to figure out which vein to use, then somewhat absently stick the needle in my arm and root around for a while, searching for the vein they thought they found. Gross. But worth it. I usually never bruise up or anything, so thats good.

Now, the last time I gave blood, not counting thursday, I searched in both of my arms and couldn't find a vein to use. That was pretty discouraging, s oI waited a while to try again. On Thursday, I was prepared -- I ate breakfast, and I drank about 48 ounces of water, most of that in the two hours before I went to give blood. (Stall number 3 in the bathroom is a nice stall... ) So i went to the bathroom right before I went in, and you have to do all the testing stuff and then the finger poke and whatnot, so by the time I got to the table, I had to use the restroom again. But I thought I would be able to hold it. It wouldn't take too long.....

The lady doing it puts the armband compressor thingy on my arm, and starts looking for a vein. Then she puts one on the other arm and starts looking there, too. Then she called over another phlebotomist and she was looking. Finally, they decided on my left arm, a vein that "wasn't as deep as the other one, and should work alright".... poke -- dig dig dig --- tape --- squeeze every four seconds.

Its all going well, minus the fact that my bladder is about to explode, when the lady said my bag was full -- yes!! -- and she just needed to fill the tubes.. well, apparently my blood didn't want to fill the tubes, because they just wouldn't fill. There were two people over there again, trying to get them to fill, and by this time, I felt like I was going to pass out not from loss of blood, but from having to pee. (I was sure that if I passed out, I wouldn't have to go to the bathroom anymore... my bladder would have quit trying to hold it and would have let loose right there.. ew).

So the tubes get filled, and the lady takes out the needle and puts the gauze on it, telling my to lift my arm up. So I do, and blood starts gushing down my arm. Oops, forgot to take the compressor thingy off your arm. Lay back down, you are fine... I think she was trying to read to me what not to do for so many hours, and all I could think about was that loving stall number 3. Josh was there when I got done, and I waddled past him to the bathrooms. He was probably laughing at me silently. I would have been had I not been in so much pain from having to pee. The best part of the whole experience was the cookies and the nice girl sitting at the cookie table who gave me lemonade and talked to me. It was fun. Oh, the bruise is pretty sweet also :)

So, I think that you should give blood if you can. The blood getting used to help was definitely worth the uncomfortable state I was in for 40 minutes of my life. Really. I just wanted to share the story with you :)