Blood Donation
I have a fairly rare blood type (B- cmv -) so I try to give blood when ever I am eligible. My number came up on the 15th, but there was a company blood drive today so I waited to donate at work. Now I am a nearly perfect blood donor. I have a rare blood type, I don’t mind doing it, I do it quickly, I am a large guy so I am not negatively affected by the loss of blood. There is one hitch however, I have veins that are difficult to hit. Normally this is not a problem when donating blood, the phlebs have enough practice that if I warn them they do fine.
Today however it was a major production. First they want me donating on a new machine that takes two units of red cells at a time, it is the opposite of plasma donations; they take the red cells and give you back the plasma. So there I am on the table, and they keep feeling around my arm, looking for the vein. They can find it, but they are not sure the direction it is running so they can position the needle for the return. They finally decide to check the other arm (the one that has never been useful for blood donation), they can barely find it at all. So after about half an hour they decide to send me back to donate whole blood.
Now the prep process has to start all over again. The guy that worked me in whole blood worked pretty hard to locate the vein. Finally the stick comes and he missed. They brought over the supervisor and she was able to back it up and nail the vein end.
Good thing this was not on my time.
Today however it was a major production. First they want me donating on a new machine that takes two units of red cells at a time, it is the opposite of plasma donations; they take the red cells and give you back the plasma. So there I am on the table, and they keep feeling around my arm, looking for the vein. They can find it, but they are not sure the direction it is running so they can position the needle for the return. They finally decide to check the other arm (the one that has never been useful for blood donation), they can barely find it at all. So after about half an hour they decide to send me back to donate whole blood.
Now the prep process has to start all over again. The guy that worked me in whole blood worked pretty hard to locate the vein. Finally the stick comes and he missed. They brought over the supervisor and she was able to back it up and nail the vein end.
Good thing this was not on my time.