I’ve tried a couple times before. It didn’t go so well. Back in college, they couldn’t find the vein after numerous punctures and moving the needle around. I ended up with a sore, bruised arm for a week. I tried again maybe 5-10 years ago. I warned them what had happened the previous time. No problem, they assured me, they’ve never had the same thing happen and my veins look fine. Of course, a similar thing happened. Ultimately, they did find a vein, but they only got a half a bag, so it had to be discarded.
Today, my wife helped organize a community giving day at her place of worship. My kids helped prepare meals for a local food pantry. There were various other opportunities to make a donation of time or supplies as well. One of the opportunities was the local blood bank mobile giving center. While my main job was actually to shuttle our kids around this morning so my wife could attend the event, I did sign up to give blood at the last minute because the sign up sheet was mostly empty. Turns out, it was fairly crowded from people who had signed up in advance. I gave the phlebotomist the same warning. Of course, she also said she would have no problem because the vein was easy to find.
This time, she was right! One painless prick and I was done in a hair over 6 minutes. Supposedly a record for the day. Thank you to Linda at the Aurora, IL Heartland Blood Center for making it so easy!
We all know motor vehicle crashes are the leading killer of many age groups of children and young adults and among the top killers for most others. According to blood donation fact sheets, an automobile crash victim might need 50 units of blood or more. For all those kids who aren’t properly restrained in the back seat or are riding with an impaired or distracted driver, please consider donating blood. Even if you’ve had a bad experience in the past!
Good for you for persevering! I gave up after 3 consecutive low iron level tests and after being harassed by the local blood bank to donate (after asking them to stop calling due to said low iron levels). Dh has the magic blood and I should remind him to go donate again since he hasn’t in a while.
Good for you! I’d love to donate more, but the Red Cross has blacklisted me. I got a false positive on a rapid test, as confirmed by several negatives on the full test- but as I had a positive one time, I’m done for good. I understand why the rules are there, but it’s a shame that there’s nothing wrong with my blood yet I can’t donate again.
As a moom to kids who rely on transfusions (hemophilia)THANK YOU!!!
I try to donate every 56 days, but usually wind up being able (due to low iron) being able to donate about four or maybe five times per year. I tried last Monday and tried again today, but my iron is too low. I’ll try again later this week.
Good for you for donating!
I’m glad you tried again! I have donated 85 times. That’s almost 11 gallons! There were 3 times, they couldn’t find a vein and it was very frustrating! I also had too low an iron level several times. I’ve heard that giving blood is supposed to be good for your body and may even help with weight loss. Hmmm, hope that’s true! LOL