My Donating Plasma Dilemma: What Do I Do?

As a way of making some extra money I have considered donating plasma. Let me tell you what happened to me the first, and only time, that I have donated plasma. It was quite a traumatic experience. The sorty below is true. It is from my old blog post from 2008, I am just going to copy and paste it. Please try to keep your laughing to a minimum:

"I recently had a life changing event in my life and I wanted to share it with all of you. A couple of weeks ago my roommate, Kristin, and I decided that we needed some extra money and thought the best thing to do was donate plasma. We made appointments at the local plasma center and the glorious day finally arrived. We gathered our three forms of ID and headed out. Little did I know the adventure that awaited me.

When we got there we had to be weighed and tested to see if we were even eligible to donate. Kristin didn't weigh enough to donate. I definitely did not have that problem, so I gave Kristin my car keys and told her to come pick me up in a couple of hours. I passed the physical and was able to donate. I must admit I was a bit scared of having a needle in my arm, but I thought about the money I'd be receiving at the end and was able to go on. The process wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I sat and watched "Entrapment" while blood was pumped out of my arm and then pumped back in.

When my time was up, the cute plasma guy (I don't know what they are called) came and took the needle out and told me to walk over and sit by the window where they give you the money. He said that if I felt light headed I should let someone know. I walked over and sat down. I was proud of myself for not getting lightheaded...but then it all went downhill from there.



I am sure this is how I looked when I fainted.



I was sitting there and all of a sudden the world around me seemed to be caving in on me. The guy at the window called my name and I looked at him, put my finger in the air, and announced, "I think I'm going to pass out." Then everything went black. When I came to there was a bunch of plasma workers around me, lifting me onto a table. The nurse took my blood pressure and laid an ice pack across my chest. I realized then that I was burning up. I looked down at the floor and some girl was wiping something up. I couldn't figure out what it was.

I started to feel a lot better and the nurse said that my blood pressure was great and the color was returning to my face. I looked again at the girl wiping the floor and wondered what it was she was cleaning up. Did my arm leak where the needle had been? Was I sweating? Then realization hit me.... I had peed my pants!!!!!!



I looked down at my sweats and froze, not sure what to do. Everyone but me had known that I had wet my pants. The nurse was very professional about it and went to see if there was a pair of scrubs I could have, but found none. Not a word was spoken about the wet pants, but there was an understanding, we both knew that I knew what had happened. I was thankful that I chose to wear my black sweats that morning. I texted Kristin and told her that I had fainted. She had been outside waiting in the car. Her reply was simply "Oh great! What should I do?"

The plasma boy brought me my money and I confidently walked out of the plasma center, pee pants and all!!! Kristin was waiting outside, I jumped in the car and we headed home. But, of course, we needed food, so don't worry, we stopped by Curry in a Hurry on the way home and I even walked in to order my food and then quickly walked back to the car and waited for Kristin to bring the food out. I am now proud to say that I finally have an embarrassing story to share with others and to allow others to laugh at my expense. But hey, the $40 was worth it! The question now is: Do I go back to plasma place and continue to donate or should I never show my face there again?"

What do you think people?  Should I give donating plasma another try?