I donated a pint of blood this afternoon at my local nonprofit blood bank.

They were busy since they were having a blood drive, and so this time I donated in a chair set up in an upstairs overflow room.

I ended up getting stabbed in both arms for just the one donated pint. I've donated a handful of times before and not had any problems, just felt a little woozy after the last time. But my first needle lady must not have done something correctly. It sure didn't feel like it was done right. It stung quite a bit when she first put the needle in my left arm and it didn't get any better. She ended up taking it out, and I'm not entirely sure why, although I was glad she did. She said something about it bruising when she tapped it. I was just relieved to get it out of there.

I was a little nervous about trying again with the right arm, but another person came over to do the second attempt. That went okay and felt like all the other times I've donated. It doesn't take very long to pump out the pint.



My hand holding the ball they give you to squeeze so the blood keeps flowing.



This afternoon I felt flushed and queasy after donating, so they reclined the chair flat, brought me cool towels for my forehead and neck and also water to drink. The cool towels helped to bring me back to normal fairly quickly.

My bandage:



Time for the traditional cookies and juice afterwards--I chose water with my Nutter Butters.

Be nice to me! I got poked twice for my pint. Oh wait, that's not what it says.



I met up with my roommate in the snack room and found out that he got spattered with some of his own blood when the phlebotomist inserted the needle in his arm. Eewwww. The phleb used some peroxide to get the blood out of his shirt. Thankfully it was an older casual shirt to begin with. Now we have new advice for people going to donate for the first time: Wear old clothes you don't feel sentimental about.

I peeked under the bandaid at the failed attempt on my left arm. I'll have a bruise. It even still had a tiny bit of fresh blood leaking out.



We got home about two hours later, and yep, the bruise from the failed attempt on my left arm is worse than the successful one on my right.

My left arm (failed attempt), two hours later:



My right arm (the successful donation):



My blood type is O+, so they'll be calling me soon after my 8 week wait is up to donate again. I hadn't donated blood in quite a while (for no good reason), so SF0 got me off my butt to go again.