Karen's trip to blood services...

So, I went to give blood yesterday... a little worried that I wouldn't pass the iron test because I've had little/no meat in the last few months. Little did I know, that would be the least of my worries!

So I get there and check in and the nurse pricks my finger. As usual, my cold fingers don't bleed easily so she's got to work really hard to get enough blood to drop in the blue stuff. Finally she gets enough, drops it in and lo and behold it begins to sink (something that RARELY happens, even when I do pass!). Unfortunately one blob rose to the top so she had to put it in the machine. I'm standing there all nervous as I wait for the machine. It finally finishes and she says, "It's actually really good: 14.4". I'm SUPER excited that I made it through!

so I fill out questions 1-13 and then wait to see the nurse for the "high risk" questions. She sits me down, checks my arms (all good) and then takes my blood pressure and temperature. The blood pressure finishes first and the nurse says "Uhhh... your pulse is only 44, are you really active?" I assure her that my pulse is always pretty low... 45-50 range. Then the thermometer finishes and she tells me that I'm too cold to donate (I was 35.6 and you need to be 36.7)!! TOO COLD!! She tells me to put my coat on and she'd check it again after she asked the questions. Low and behold, a few minutes of wearing my fleece and I squeak in at 36.7. SUPER! Now all that's left is the blood giving...

So I get to the chair and the nurse says "Well you certainly don't have bulging veins!" She looks around and finanlly finds a vein, puts the needle in but no blood comes out. POOP! The nurse had missed. She asked if I'd mind if another nurse tried the other arm. I say absolutely not! I'd made it this far and wasn't going home yet! So after the head nurse tells the junior nurse who missed on my left arm that all she can find in my right arm is a small vein on top of a tendon (whatever that means), I start to lose hope. But she tries and finds one! YAY! She's a little worried that the blood is flowing too slowly, but she's happy to let it keep going. 17 minutes later, I was headed for cookies! The girl next to me, who arrived in the chair about 2 minutes after me took 17 minutes too... which was kinda nice! The nurses kept coming over and saying things like "Wow! You girls certainly aren't speedy!". Anyways, the cookies were tasty... and there's now an extra pint of blood in Canada's blood supply... and I have 2 war wounds to show! Good times!