Giving blood

[magid]

I managed to give blood today, in a drive at the Hyatt, downtown. I'd woken up early enough to walk there; I started noticing the heat around 7 A.M.. I had time enough to cool down, though, since when they took my temperature, it was 97.4. The blood pressure was decent, too (126/62), which I'm particularly glad about. And the hematocrit, which had been my downfall last time, just made it in time to be considered good enough (without whirling it through a machine).

They were slow. I don't know what it is about blood drives, but they're always slow. I try for early appointments, to avoid this as much as possible, but it didn't seem to help this time. There was a wait for the intake interview, then the zillions of questions and little tests (temp, pulse, bp, hematocrit). I was walked over to a donation table immediately, but waited there for ages before they actually stuck me. The phlebotomist was a nice lady, but didn't impress me much; the needle wasn't as well situated as it might have been. Also, she insisted on using my right arm when I said I wanted to use my left, and had only ever given out of my left (it much easier to have my right arm un-lumpy-bandaged later). She insisted that she had to use the right, and no, she couldn't switch sides if she couldn't get a vein. I found this strange, and later my coworker said the same person had switched arms when she couldn't find a vein. Gr. She did wrap my arm (in purple stuff, not pastel pink or blue), but put it right around the elbow (not crossing to avoid the joint), and rather tightly.

On the plus side, there were excellent snacks. The hotel staff were solicitous, offering to bring drinks, fruit, or pastry in addition to the packaged stuff on the tables. The fruit was lovely; I got lots of berries :-). They'd even brought in newspapers for while people waited. I entered the raffle for tickets to a concert at Fenway next month. It was pleasant.

Only later did I read the fliers put on the table mentioning the chair massages and free T-shirts, neither of which were offered to us. Huh. I'd been happy with the fresh fruit until I saw that....

Comments

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

I have never read review of a blood donation before! good for you for doing it despite the annoyance. I'd like to but I'm fearful of passing out later at work or on pubtrans.

[magid.livejournal.com]

The annoyances were too far along to bother walking out (and really, I don't want to, since I still want the blood donated).

I went with a coworker, and we joked about reviewing all the downtown locations that host blood drives, comparing snacks, ambience, and other perks.

Have you ever given blood? They do make you stay for at least 15 minutes after finishing to make sure you're ok; people tend to not have issues later (well, unless they do stuff they're not supposed to do the first day, like lift weights and do heavy exercise.). I'm lucky, in that I don't have problems with lightheadedness and such.

[fairdice.livejournal.com]

What a pain! I've very rarely gotten someone that annoying, and they've always been willing to use my left arm even though the right one is more attractive.

I've never seen a chair massage or fruit — I must be going to the wrong drives! If you feel bad not having gotten a free t-shirt, though, you're welcome to one or two of mine. (Well, I'm keeping the one that reads "Starve a mosquito, give blood this summer!" But you can have your pick of the rest.)

[magid.livejournal.com]

I've never had anyone not use the arm I'd given them before. (As an added bonus, she drew two line segments in purple on the inside of my elbow. No one's ever done that before either. It gave me the impression that she's new...)

I've heard rumors of chair massage before, but never expected fruit. Definitely go for the hotel drives! And it's not that I'm in dire need of T-shirts, but if some people are getting them, all the donors at the drive should get them.
(I like your T-shirt slogan. Unfortunately, I already gave to the mosquitos Sunday, too...)