Blood Donation

Just got back from my latest blood donation. Lots of people there midday which even required me to wait a little longer for the appropriate bed. I have always donated from the left arm and it has always gone fine. I am not normally a superstitious guy, but I always insist using the left to donate. It all started because I am right handed too.

Anyway, the donation was fine, and the cookies and juice tasty. Unfortunately they have moved to individual sized juice boxes. What a terrible waste to see all of the leftover rubbish. Sure they can be recycled, but that is a lot of extra processing to do.

By the way, that was donation 45.

Just got back from donating blood. The whole process took longer than normal since they were so busy. Who would have thought they would be busier mid-day than the evening. Weird.

Donation 44 this time. Cookies and juice were plentiful like always. Now I'm all bandaged up and ready to go out for beer tonight. Woot.

Tonight was donation number 43. I can't wait to hit number 50! 7 donations, 56 days between them, means I still have a year and a bit before I hit that mark.

There Ed Bain was there donating too. Nice to see some local celebs being involved in a cause like this.

Smooth process, but for some reason my arm didn't want to stop donating. After the bag was full, I held the gauze on my arm for the 5 minutes, but even then the hole was still bleeding a little.

Mmm, cookies. I haven't bought Oreo's in a very long time, but every time I donate I make sure to eat a couple.

Blood donation number 42 tonight. I got there at the appointed time and while I was waiting to check my finger poked, in walked one of my co-workers. Strange coincidence.

I breezed through the questions, then it was on to see the nurse. Due to my travels to New Zealand, there is now a question that I have to answer yes too. This slows down one stage of the process a little.

From the nurse I walked straight to the donation bed without any waits at all. So far pretty speedy.

I still hate when they put the needle in, and can never watch them while they do it. Once the bag starts filling though, the rest of the time flies by.

Over cookies and juice I got to talk to my co-worker. Made for a more pleasant experience. Since we both booked for next time, I might see him again in October.

Mmmm, cake. There was cake after donating blood today. It was good. Their pre-donation procedures have changed a little bit due to donor feedback. Their is a new queueing system to ensure that everyone donates in the order they arrived. Kind if silly really.

I had brought a magazine to read while eating my cake and cookies, but ended up talking with another gentleman about mountain bikes, and mountain biking.

This was donation 41 for me.