In an effort to offset the annual fee of my new credit card or the increased fee from my new phone, I decided to give plasma donation a try on Wednesday night.
At work, I googled to find a plasma donation center near me. Then I read up on the procedure and what I needed to do/bring with me (photo ID, SSN). The website said to drink a lot of fluids to make the process go more quickly. So I drank like 3 nalgenes of water that afternoon.
After work, I drove over to the center and walked in. The first sign that this wasn’t going to be exactly what I had in mind was the police officer standing near the front desk.
I didn’t really get why he was there until I saw my fellow donors. (The vast majority looked like they might be homeless and/or drug addicts – the rest were college kids.) Let’s just say I really felt out of place in my work attire of khakis and dress shirt. I don’t know what I was expecting, maybe something resembling a doctor’s office, but it was far from that.
Anyway, so I checked in and they told me I had to go eat something because I hadn’t eaten within three hours. I ran out to my car and ate a sandwich that I didn’t have at lunch because our boss sprung for pizza that day.
After eating, then I had to go through the registration process. This took about 30 minutes which consisted of them taking my ID, SSN, address, etc. Also taking my vitals and all that and me reading a little book about donating. They explained the payment schedule which consisted of $40 my first two donations and then $25 every time after that. Sounded good to me.
After all that, I had to go back to the lobby and wait for a nurse. Another 30 minutes of waiting and a nurse finally called me into a little exam room. She did a little physical, checking my ears, eyes, nose, reflexes, etc. As all of this is going on, I’m thinking I need to pee because I drank so much water at work. The nurse asks me if I have to go to the bathroom before I donate and I say, yes. So she points me in the right direction.
After peeing, they brough me to the donating floor which consists of row upon row of chairs with little machines next to them.
They sat me down and hooked me to a machine and told me it would take between 60 and 90 minutes. At this point, it had already been an hour since I walked in the door. I was sort of thinking that this wasn’t worth my time.
So I’m laying there and my blood starts flowing and the machine separates the plasma and then pumps the red blood cells back into my body. Everything is going fine….until…about 15 minutes in…I totally have to pee again. At first, it wasn’t so bad, but as I was sitting there with nothing to do and not much more to think about, the urge got worse and worse. After 30 minutes, I couldn’t hold it anymore and I had to ask one of the nurses if I could stop the machine. She sort of made a big deal about it and everyone was kind of staring at me and that didn’t help because I already felt like people were staring at me because I was so out of place. All in all, it was embarrassing and I wasn’t sure if they would let me stop or not. She asked me if I could wait another 30 minutes and I emphatically replied, no! I was about to explode. The head nurse came over and told me that they couldn’t pay me the full amount if I quit early and that if it happened again on my next donation that I couldn’t come back. I didn’t tell him that I had already decided I wasn’t coming back after about 15 minutes.
After all that, they stopped my machine and I basically ran to the bathroom. I think I peed for longer than I donated. Stupid instructions to be well-hydrated.
But guess what, they still gave me $35! They only took $5 off which was pretty nice of them.
On my way home, I called my friend that donates twice a week at a different site. She described her place and it seemed a lot nicer than the one I went to. Maybe I’ll try it again at her place. I don’t really mind the process at all, I just felt so uncomfortable and out of place, but if I could get over that it seems like a pretty easy way to make a few bucks.
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And if any Asians are reading this, they say that Asian blood is the kind most in demand because:
1) Asians don’t donate blood. Kind of against the culture.
2) Because it’s the least donated blood, it’s the one in most demand.
I did the same thing, thought it would be a great way for me to earn some extra cash to pay my bills. Worked for 2 months and I made over $200. Then last week it seems they either punctured a vein or a muscle and not a decently sized portion of my arm (lets say football sized) is massively bruised and getting worse. I haven’t been able to move my arm normally for a week… I WON’T be donating again…. it’s just not worth it.