In Part VII of “My First Ever Attempt to Donate Plasma,” I almost lost consciousness but made it through with the help of a cold compress and some gracious fanning.
The Unsticking
The medical tech took my plasma container to the lab area where it would be temporarily stored and refrigerated before being transported to ZLB Plasma’s lab headquarters in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The medical tech placed a rectangle piece of white gauze over the place on my arm where the needle still protruded into my vein. She told me to gently hold the gauze in place. She removed the needle from my arm. I pressed firmly on the gauze to stop the blood flow. The tech then tightly wrapped the gauze in place on my arm.
She handed me a small piece of paper with a pin number printed on it. She instructed me to enter the pin and then my birth date into the ATM machine near the lobby.
The Cash Machine
Slowly, I stood up from the vinyl bed where I had laid for the last hour. I felt okay – no dizziness at all. I walked past other donors reclining in their beds, still hooked up to the plasma machines.
I entered the pin number and my birth date into the ATM cash machine. The machine dispensed two $20 bills. I took the $40 and stuffed the bills into my purse. I had earned it.
As I walked out of the plasma center and into the warm sun, I realized it was almost 6:00 pm. I had been at the plasma center for almost five hours.
The Drive Home
It was somewhat difficult to drive home because the bend in my right arm was so tightly bound. My arm was already quite sore, especially when I tried to bend my arm. Fortunately, my car has an automatic transmission. For most of the drive home, I was able to keep my right arm extended, avoiding the increased soreness caused when I needed to bend my arm.
Would I Do It Again?
My arm remained a little sore for a few days. A bruise emerged several days later that looked much worse than it felt. I wondered if people saw the bruised needle mark area of my inner arm and concluded that I was a heroin addict. Although it was August and the temperature was well into the 90s, I wore a long-sleeved shirt to a friend’s engagement party a few days later.
On Saturday morning, two days after my first plasma donation, I got up early and had a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast. I drank lots of water. Then I drove to the plasma center to offer my arm for my second donation of plasma.
