First Time Donating Blood

I was hoping to get this written up on Tuesday (the actual day of the donation) but would you believe me if I told you I was feeling a bit tired?

This story is going to start off a little depressing but I promise it has a happy ending.

So, I always wondered “Why don’t more people donate blood”? Obviously people are scared of needles, and people won’t do anything unless they get a benefit themselves, but still. Why aren’t more people donating blood? Well, after my first experience, I really can’t blame anyone.

For starters, booking an appointment is a miserable experience. Almost all donations near me are running from 10 AM to 4PM??? Brother, I work for a living. On the off chance I could find one or two that lasted until 6PM, the spots were all taken. And all of the donations are during the week, almost nothing on Saturday or Sunday, how are working people supposed to donate? I had to book 2 weeks out in order to get a time that was after work. It’s not like I’m going to take a 3 hour lunch to donate blood and come back to work exhausted.

So, I booked for 5:15 PM, the location is 35 minutes from my work, I normally leave work at 5, but I asked my boss for permission to leave 25 min early, that gives me 45 minutes to get to the donation center. Welp, that was a bad plan. It took me 1 hour to get to the place. 1 full hour because the traffic was so absurdly trafficky. I show up, I’m feeling like crap because I’m already 15 minutes late, I don’t realize until I’m outside that the donation is taking place in a hotel? Whatever, I can’t find parking, I just park in the parking garage, I guess I’ll have to pay for that . I’m out of breath, I’m running, my anxiety is going up because I just drove an hour for nothing, they’re going to turn me away because I’m going to be 30 minutes late because I can’t find where the donation is taking place. I’m running around the outside of the hotel trying to find an entrance. I finally find an entrance and I have to wait patiently while the receptionist is checking in a hotel guest. And I feel like an idiot waiting there until the guy leaves so I can ask where I’m supposed to go. She tells me it’s on the second floor. Only after she tells me that do I see all of the signs all over the place with arrows telling me exactly where to go. Why is it even on the second floor? People who donate are going to pass out going down the stairs. I rush up the stairs, I go inside and it is drab. It’s like I’m at the DMV, people are in line waiting, no one is talking, everyone is just keeping their head downs, they have music in the background. The music actually slaps. Billy Joel’s Piano Man from the terrible album Piano Man. Stevie Nicks’ Edge of Seventeen from the not bad album Bella Donna.

I get to the computer, I put in my information, and the computer tells me I’m too late, I missed my appointment. I’m here, and I’m full of blood, so I swallow my pride and turn to a worker and sheepishly tell them I’m late for my appointment and the computer won’t accept me. The lady told me she has to check with Tina, so I sit there awkwardly, everyone waiting to donate heard me state out loud that I’m late and I may or may not be turned away. I am at the mercy of Tina. Finally the worker comes back and luckily Tina the destroyer was feeling gracious today. I check in, I put in all my info and everyone is happy. Well, not everyone.

I was sitting in the seat, maybe 10 minutes, and someone got up and stormed out because they have been waiting for 2 hours, or so they claim. That’s fine, more blood for me. But really, I do feel bad for that guy. After a while it finally comes down to me and only one other person left waiting, they call me up, and the lady beside me throws a fit because she was there before me and before the previous person they called up. They got that all sorted out but I feel like she was giving me the stink eye the whole time.

So, to recap the first half, I was super late, super anxious, I feel like the workers hate me, the lady beside me hates me, and I just want to get this over with. I thought the atmosphere would be a little more cheery but it felt like a waiting room at the morgue. That bunk was bleak. Finally, I get on the table, a nice grandma type worker was in charge of me, I asked them to try my left arm, obviously they didn’t find a vein because they never can, then they checked my right arm and the lady told me the vein was a 9/10 which is nice but please stab my left arm for once.

Now, I am not nervous around needles, and I don’t have a problem with blood, but when she stabbed me I’m pretty sure it hurt more than it was supposed to, and I saw that blood moving way too quick through the tube, after the grandma type character was done, she stood up, turned to another worker and proudly proclaimed, “that blood is flying out of him”. Imma be honest, that did not make me feel good. She later reassured me it’s because I have good veins but seeing me fill my bag in half the time of other people made me sick. I am a bit of a hypochondriac. After I finished donating the blood, I felt normal, like really normal. And that scared me. I was worried that I was not okay, and I would forget that I donated blood and accidentally start line dancing and pass out. So I started hypnotizing myself to feel sick, so I wouldn’t overexert myself. And would you believe it, I started feeling super nauseous. I’m pretty sure it was all in my head but it took me a while to get out of there.

I was the last people to get their blood taken, which means while they were packing everything up, I have 5 workers circling around me while I was donating blood, offering me juice and cookies. It was actually really sweet, everyone in that room was a grandma type pokemon. They second half was pretty cool, everyone was nice, people were being friendly and making jokes. I think once everyone was out of the room, the staff were just chilling and having fun. I left, didn’t feel too bad, I did feel pretty sleepy like 30 min after I left but I ate food, drank plenty of fluid and got plenty of sleep. You were supposed to collect some voucher to scan, so if you parked in the parking garage they won’t charge you. I was too shy to ask, so I just had to pay the five dollars. Looking forward to leaking into a bag again.

If you are reading this, I hope you are doing good, and if you are not reading this, I hope you are doing better.

If you enjoyed my post, prove you’re human and leave a comment. Let me know what you want to read next. Likes and views are always cool but if you can prove you are not a bot that would make my day. I’m getting kinda tired of this posting thing. I know it has only been 4 posts but I wish a real human were here. Maybe I’ll post some more low quality nonsense just to get a couple more likes. Each post makes less likes than the last, and I know it is all bots but still, not great for morale. Great way to end a post, end on a down note and reiterate your self consciousness.