I got to give blood today, for the first time. As I've mentioned before, I gained weight this past year, so I FINALLY weigh enough to donate. It took 2 hours and 40 minutes, and they almost turned me away twice. 
The nurse who screened me stayed with me during the entire blood letting, to make sure they were right to let me do it. Overall, it was ok.. the people were very nice and friendly (the people working and donating), and while I felt really guilty about all the attention, it did feel nice that they appreciated me coming over.
The main problem with it is that I'm still bleeding (it's 11:30 now, and they removed the needle around 4:20). While the gauze/bandaids are tight, it's not bleeding through, but I should have been able to remove it by now. I've been being good and not lifting and keeping the arm as immobile as I can. Instead of the hole I'm used to with bloodwork or IVs, it looks like a little gash. I don't know if that's normal, and if it isn't, I don't know if it's from going in (she thought my vein was too small, and squeezed the hell out of the arm to swell it enough) or coming out (different woman, and it hurt like hell when she yanked it out). I don't know what to do to make it stop, so I can only hope it's done bleeding when I wake up. I can try calling in the morning, but I think they only man the phones M-F. *shrug*
I was going to try to do this regularly, but I think I'm going to have to wait to see how this turns out. I'm not a fast clotter, and there was a time that I had bloodwork done and even with pressure I bled for an hour or so, so maybe it's only another instance of me being weird.
The nurse who screened me stayed with me during the entire blood letting, to make sure they were right to let me do it. Overall, it was ok.. the people were very nice and friendly (the people working and donating), and while I felt really guilty about all the attention, it did feel nice that they appreciated me coming over.
The main problem with it is that I'm still bleeding (it's 11:30 now, and they removed the needle around 4:20). While the gauze/bandaids are tight, it's not bleeding through, but I should have been able to remove it by now. I've been being good and not lifting and keeping the arm as immobile as I can. Instead of the hole I'm used to with bloodwork or IVs, it looks like a little gash. I don't know if that's normal, and if it isn't, I don't know if it's from going in (she thought my vein was too small, and squeezed the hell out of the arm to swell it enough) or coming out (different woman, and it hurt like hell when she yanked it out). I don't know what to do to make it stop, so I can only hope it's done bleeding when I wake up. I can try calling in the morning, but I think they only man the phones M-F. *shrug*
I was going to try to do this regularly, but I think I'm going to have to wait to see how this turns out. I'm not a fast clotter, and there was a time that I had bloodwork done and even with pressure I bled for an hour or so, so maybe it's only another instance of me being weird.