Blood #2 : Donation

So I went and donated blood on Wednesday. My first time donating blood. Reading through the brochure, I noticed that people sometimes feel light headed or dizzy after donating blood. Yea I was worried that it might happen to me since I'll be having an exam on that night. Still, I went for it.

Procedure prior to the 'poking' of the veins for blood was rather straight forward. Answer about 48 questions about your health and where you have been. Standard screening procedures. I passed.

I've had needles poked into my arm before and it does sting a bit and for a while but this experience was just torture. The nurse/doctor was having a hard time finding my veins as she 'stabbed' my arm with the needle, took it out and repeated it again. I don't know if the muscle pain I had because I was playing basketball the night before had anything to do with this but it fucking hurts like hell. Probably embarrassing since I was making faces as well while she was 'stabbing' at my muscles.

Finally, she asked for help of another doctor/nurse/helper and got the needle into my veins. The stinging pain was subsided and blood was finally being pumped into the collection bag.

After the donation, there was a bruising on my arm and patterns that resemble herpes... She must've struck some veins unintentionally (I hope) which caused this. As of now, my left arm still hurts. Hopefully because of the bruising/muscle pains and not because of some unwanted infections...