I donated blood on Friday and the phlebotomist said I might "bruise a little" because of the difficulties she was having.
I've donated before and have never had as many difficulties as I did friday.
First the phlebotomist dug around in my arm looking for a vein.
Then, she must have poked THROUGH the vein instead of just tapping into it because about 14 mins into donating (you have 20 mins to fill your bag...once you hit 21 they can't use the blood and I've NEVER taken more than 10 mins to fill a bag) I started clotting and blood was oozing out from where the needle was inserted.
After that, she dug around some more trying to find a fresh stream in that vein so I could fill the bag.
Well the bag ended up being like 95% full and my vein just wasn't giving anymore blood.
I got home and had a little bruise, like she said, and my arm had swollen where she inserted the needle.
Now my arm looks like this:
actually that picture doesn't do it justice.
the bruise continues down around the other side of my arm and is really really dark purple.
And it's not just one of those really bright unpainful bruises...it hurts. PLUS it is still swollen where she inserted the needle.
10 comments:
sue the red cross...do it...do it do it...but you're not the first person i've heard of to have this sort of trauma at blood donations (even though yours is the worst bruise by far) maybe when the phlambatamists go to school they need just a few more hours of training!!
OUCH!! That sounds similar to my first experience giving blood, but worse!! That bruise is TERRIBLE!!
oh my goodness! i have never given blood so i think you are brave and thanks for posting the picture! that is an awesome bruise!
OH MY GOSH!! Are you kidding me?!!? That is literally out of control! I would go back and show that woman what she did to you! I can't believe that Tace! That's SO crazy and no so fun. :\
That picture makes my legs hurt.
Youch. But that does happen on rare occasions. I used to donate plasma 2 times a week and every now and again, that happened to me. Also, I would clot & the blood would decide it wanted to go out & play. and it would spew forth out of my arm.
It'll probably linger for a week or more. It's fun stuff. :)
holy crap tace that's insane!
Man oh man. The last few times I've donated blood, I've had a bad experience. Not with bruising(not as badly as your bruise anyway)but with passing out. I don't know why; I'm just going to keep my blood for a while I think.
I quit donating for a long time because of the same thing! I actually just gave blood a few months ago and all went well so i will do it again but I am nervous every time now where I wasn't before.
ugh, you're making me dizzy. I hate needles!
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