Emily, Don't Read This Post. It's About Blood and Needles.

I donate blood pretty regularly.  Every 52 days, I expect a phone call from the Red Cross to set up my appointment.  Usually, I don't have a car in the winter and so I can only donate in the evening.  This year, Kurtis has been taking the bus to work instead because a bus pass is cheaper than gas at this point.  So I have the car!  Woot!  Woot!  So this time when they called, I was all excited to be able to donate blood while my kids were at school.  My appointment time was 10:45 this morning.  In order to prepare for this, I ate breakfast.  Usually, I don't because I'm not hungry until 11, but I did today so I wouldn't get nauseous.  I should have had more water, though.
I got there, checked in, and went through all the usual questions about my history.  Then I got up in the chair.  The phlebotomist (we'll call him Matt because I don't want to have to type phlebotomist over and over), found a good vein in my right arm.  Right is usually the one they go with and I have the scars to prove it.  He cleaned my arm with the iodine (as usual), and said, "If you need to look away, now is the time."  I did.  I have to, or I will go into a mild form of shock.  I felt the usual sting as the iodine entered my blood stream.  Then Matt turns to his co-worker and says, "Um.  Can you come help me?"
Oh great.  I want to look, but I don't want to look at the same time.  So I say, "That's not encouraging."  Matt says, "It's just not flowing."  "What does that mean?"  I snuck a glance at the tube, and noted the truth of that statement.  I'd never seen that before.  It was not flowing through the tube at all.  His co-worker says, "It's okay.  We just have to check to see if the tube is kinked or if the needle is just hitting the top of the vein and adjust it.  Nope.  The tube isn't kinked.  I don't know what's wrong."  "Did you have a lot of water to drink this morning?"  Matt asks.  "Uh, probably not.  About a cup or two."  "Yeah.  Next time, you should probably drink some more."  He was really nice and his other co-worker got me some water.  The one trying to adjust the needle gave up and said, "I think we will need to use the other arm."  Matt pulled the needle out and said, "Whoa.  Now, it's bleeding."   I told him I was a bleeder.
Yeah, so we switched to the other arm, and switched bags and needles and all that fun stuff.  I finished the bottle of water they gave me before I got stuck again, and wal-la.  The job was done in five minutes and thirty-nine seconds.  That's about how long it always takes.
So did I not have enough to drink this morning, or was there something wrong with the tube?  Maybe both.  My right arm feels like there is going to be a nice bruise now though, and I think I did end up going  into a mild form of shock.  I was shivering by the end of it.  Not bad or anything, but I was cold, and a little freaked out.  That has never happened to me before, and it was an interesting experience.  Who knew blood donation was such an adventure?

This picture is from http://www.redcross.org/