'Will this entitle me to two packets of biscuits?'

A couple of days ago I donated blood, along with my wife, at a session in Chelmsford near to where we live. Usually it's quite uneventful, nothing to shout about and we're in and out within an hour. This time, however, it took 2&1/2 hours! 

We arrived a little bit early for our appointment and waited a short time to be seen. I was called first and had the routine initial conversation, please confirm your name, address and date of birth, blah, blah, blah. Then had my finger pricked and a small sample of my blood tested to see if I was anaemic. I wasn't so I was sent on to the next stage of the journey where you are required to drink at least half a pint of water. This done I was then called onto the final stage, donating. As I already stated, this is usually quite uneventful. The normal routine is carried out,  confirm your name, address and date of birth again, have a little chinwag with the nurse while they prod and poke your arms to locate a vein and then stick a big old needle into your arm and begin the donation. But, today was different. The nurse was having trouble locating a vein and then when he found one he though was suitable, it turns out that once the needle was in my arm the vein wasn't quite where he thought it was, so with the needle still in my arm, he moved it around trying to get it in the right place....ouch! 

Needless to say, (ha, see what I did there?) this wasn't working for me, my arm began to swell as I bled into my arm instead of the donation bag and the pain was unbearable. They decided to halt the donation, thank goodness, and removed the needle, phew!

Then, while one nurse held a bandage onto my left arm to stop the bleeding another messed about with my right arm to see if they could locate a better vein in there. I was then asked 'Would you still like to donate? We've found a suitable vein in the other arm'. Not wanting to let anyone down, and well, we'd already been there and hour and a half, I answered 'Yes, let's give it a go. Will this entitle me to two packets of biscuits with my tea?'. I'm assured that it will and then we proceed with the entire procedure again. Confirm your name, address and date of birth, please, blah, blah, blah. And then, another large prick, this time, a lot less painful, and we're off. 

What have you done today to make you feel proud?

The rest of the donation was quite uneventful, other than me being in immense pain with the arm that I was not donating from and having nurses changing the dressing. And then, a short time later, it's all over and I'm allowed to leave my bed and am invited to have a cup of tea and a biscuit. 

I see the bowl of biscuits on the table and find myself a lovely little packet of Ginger Nuts. Hmmm. Three perfect little servings of gingery heaven and a packet of ready salted later and all's right with the world, again. My fellow donors and I can be proud that we did something selfless and our donated blood will potentially save the lives of many.

My wife and I have already made our next donation appointment for August, only, next time, I'll be sure to tell them 'right arm only!' before they get started, although they have marked it on my records for future reference. And today I'm left with two small bruises, and well, I really can't complain, you just can't put a price on someones life. 

Do something amazing today, give blood. http://www.blood.co.uk/

So, what have you done today that makes you feel proud?