you donate blood, it is important to drink lots of water, get a good nights rest and eat a good meal. My donation was quick, took 11 minutes, I have been as quick as 8 minutes before.I donate blood because it doesn't cost me anything and it is a way to give back. I potentially saved 4 lives today. Since I am a gold donor they really want me to donate platelets.
In this process they take the blood out, separate the platelets and put back in what is left over, you can donate 2x as much. It take a bit longer as regular whole blood donation. They keep calling to see if I will donate platelets. I would love to, but I can't. The thought of them taking it out and putting it back in grosses me out like no other! Before I started donating blood, my doctors office would take blood with a baby needle when they needed samples. So I feel like I have come a looong way and don't plan on donating platelets. I finally explained this to them and they have now made a note in my records to show I was not comfortable with this.
