This was the second time I gave blood. What I mainly recalled from my first time was the size of the needle and how painful it was. So when I decided to drop in at my church's blood drive, I steeled myself for pain.
According to the informational material, it takes ~ 10 minutes to give blood. The needle was stuck into my arm at ~11:09. It was twisted a couple of times to speed up the blood flow. Then my blood stopped flowing, and the needle was pushed in deeper.
Deep breaths and whispered jibberish helped me deal with the pain of the needle readjustments. And when the blood flow restared, my arm tingled and my eyes were wet.
"We're done!" said The Tech. "What about the tubes?" I responded. "We're not done until the tubes are filled." What were the odds that my blood would stop flowing again and I hadn't filled the bundle o' test tubes?
The needle was pulled out at ~ 11:37.
At least two people came and went while I was on the table. I walked to the parking lot with one. He told me of a time when it was slow for him, and of another time when he was on the table for barely 5 minutes before the bag was filled. It was encouraging. Still, I probably won't be giving blood for another year. Or two.
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