blood update

Rough day at the blood bank. I'm not sure what's going on with my blood but apparently I am not the amazing blood donor I once was. Single tear...

I thought things were going to be ok. Iron was good. Pulse was good- I pulled a 50bpm which is the minimum within the acceptable range. Phew! I should have known there was a problem though when I had to get pricked twice in order to get enough blood for the iron sample. But at least I only had to get the blood pressure taken once.

So, they got me all plugged in. Getting stuck with the needle hurt way worse than I remember. But the blood started flowing. I was pumping my fist every 3-5 seconds... ok maybe clinching would be a better term. But how awesome would it be to be fist pumping at the blood bank... or just fist pumping anywhere for that matter. Anyway... typically when I donate I do an automated red cell donation (as opposed to a whole blood donation) where they take out some blood which is automatically separated into red blood cells and plasma. Then the plasma along with a saline solution are pumped back into you and the process is repeated 3 times. In the end you end up donating 2 units of blood (with whole blood you only donate 1 unit).

I started thinking that the first segment was taking a really long time and just then the lady (phlebotomist?) told me I had low blood flow. Huh? Me? She was concerned that my vein wouldn't be able to accept the plasma/saline back in and she didn't want to explode it and cause me a lot of bruising (bless her heart). So, she decided to terminate the donation. I was still able to donate one full unit but I was so disappointed in my veins. And I got a little bruise - on my arm and my ego.

Here's my analysis:

I think I'm turning into a vampire. Think about it- I've been suffering from mild insomnia for the past year. I'm close to comatose during the day. My blood flow is seriously slowing down. I have vampire fangs (seriously, ask my sister. She makes fun of them all the time). I am really pale (or was last week before going to the beach). I really like the band Vampire Weekend. And I have no shadow (maybe this is not true).

What do you think?