I Sell My Body For Money, Its Called Plasma Donations

Welcome to the life of a poor college girl! Today was my 4th time selling my plasma. It's quite convenient only taking a few hours of your week and the Donation Center is so near to my apartment. Then you walk out with about $65 dollars every week. Anyways, the first time I went I had a trainee get me all set up and then this cute guy came and needled me up. Today the girl did it all by herself. I wasn't nervous, she's been working for a couple of weeks, right? And she had someone observing her. Well, she missed my vein but got it the 2nd time. Didn't hurt a bit....until later!

For all of those who don't know what plasma is or what plasma donation is, let me explain: plasma is the proteins that accompany your RBC's in your blood. When taken, your body immediately regenerates what was lost within 24-48 hours (which is why you can donate plasma twice a week. So they take your blood (similar to giving blood) but then centrifuge it out in a machine that's right next to you--separating the plasma from the blood (RBCs). After the centrifuge the plasma enters this little bottle and the rest of your blood re-enters your arm through the needle. So while the blood was re-entering my arm, I noticed a little bit of pain. Just a bit. I thought about it and typically I always try to be invincible and do the "tough it out" thing. But I know a lot about how the body tries to communicate to you. I looked down at my arm AND SAW THIS HUGE BUBBLE RIGHT WHERE THE NEEDLE WAS ENTERING! Freaked me out just for a second.

I asked if one of the workers if that was normal and she rushed over to me, pushed some buttons and just began idly talking to me. I could tell she was trying to be calm, to make me calm, by talking but I saw through it. I did the best I could to act like everything was normal but my body didn't. I quickly began breathing really hard and having a serious hot flash. With a few ice packs and my feet even more elevated, they unstuck me and re-needled me in my right arm so I could get my blood back.

Basically, the needle and vein weren't together. So when my blood returned it just entered my tissue and made this huge awesome bubble. Now I'll have a wicked bruise for awhile. My arm hurts a bit and I don't like the lady who initially needled me up but, heck it was worth the $$.