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Mar. 25th, 2010 06:46 pmAs I drove home from work it was absolutely lashing down with rain. So what record do Radio Solent play straight after the weather round-up? Walking On Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves. Very funny.
To the Thorngate to give blood. Donating is never simple with me and today was no exception - the sample drop from my finger floated to the top of the test tube, meaning I had to have an arm sample taken to check my iron rating was high enough. It had to be 135 or more for me to be allowed to donate.
They take the sample from the arm you don't usually donate with. As the nurse looked around for a vein, she said "I think I can see why we don't normally take from this arm". I mentioned that sometimes they've had to call on the venepuncture expert, and she called over to Pete, the man in question, to find a vein. He opted to take the sample from a 'thread' vein on the surface - the nurse was initially surprised, then turned to me and said "Pete can get away with taking from a thread, I can't."
My iron total was, hallelujah, 138. The nurse looking after me when I was on the bed, after examining my arm and hearing that they sometimes have to call on Pete, said to her colleague "Are you giving me all the ones you normally give to Peter?" but this time he wasn't needed, as she found a vein on the side of my arm and went ahead. The insertion of the needle, unusually, hurt like buggery, but after clenching my hand tight for the insertion I didn't need to open and close; she just said "Now relax your hand." I waited for the instruction to start opening and closing, till she said "That's coming nicely now" and I turned to see the light showing I was already 30% of the way through my donation - the first I knew that it had actually started. Got finished fairly quickly and wandered over to the refreshments table for a couple of cups of water, and that was it for another four months.
To the Thorngate to give blood. Donating is never simple with me and today was no exception - the sample drop from my finger floated to the top of the test tube, meaning I had to have an arm sample taken to check my iron rating was high enough. It had to be 135 or more for me to be allowed to donate.
They take the sample from the arm you don't usually donate with. As the nurse looked around for a vein, she said "I think I can see why we don't normally take from this arm". I mentioned that sometimes they've had to call on the venepuncture expert, and she called over to Pete, the man in question, to find a vein. He opted to take the sample from a 'thread' vein on the surface - the nurse was initially surprised, then turned to me and said "Pete can get away with taking from a thread, I can't."
My iron total was, hallelujah, 138. The nurse looking after me when I was on the bed, after examining my arm and hearing that they sometimes have to call on Pete, said to her colleague "Are you giving me all the ones you normally give to Peter?" but this time he wasn't needed, as she found a vein on the side of my arm and went ahead. The insertion of the needle, unusually, hurt like buggery, but after clenching my hand tight for the insertion I didn't need to open and close; she just said "Now relax your hand." I waited for the instruction to start opening and closing, till she said "That's coming nicely now" and I turned to see the light showing I was already 30% of the way through my donation - the first I knew that it had actually started. Got finished fairly quickly and wandered over to the refreshments table for a couple of cups of water, and that was it for another four months.
