Back at it... Somewhat
I donated for a couple of years 20+ years ago at BioLife. Never an issue, easy money.
Fast forward to nowadays and I pass by a CSL Plasma a few times a week that's right by my mother-in-law's house. I make good money in my job, but cultivated a taste for extra pocket money. I make a fair amount with my side hustle of playing in pool tournaments, but got to feeling dumb for not stopping in and making 'easy money' laying in a chair for an hour.
After 2 hours of paperwork, interviews, watching videos, and waiting, (boy, I don't remember going through the wringer like this back in the day), I finally got in the chair. Since I was going to be playing with one of my pool teams that night, I thought I'd be smart and use my left arm. I did remember using my right almost exclusively back in the day, but wasn't shooting back then, so figured this would be the right move. Second cycle they blow out my vein, which wasn't a very pleasant situation. Move to my right arm and everything goes fine.
I won't go through the headaches I went through with my card they loaded my $100 on (lost about $10 in various fees before I figured out all the ridiculous limitations of how you can get to your money). But I went back two days later hoping to cash in on the next sign up bonus of $80. Take an hour to get through the wait and vitals, only to get to the end and show them my arms. They see the bruise from the vein blowout (easily over 4") and send me to medical eval. Of course, I get deferred pending a doctor's review. I immediately questioned why they didn't tell after the first visit, when the blowout happened and tech mentioned "that's gonna bruise," that I shouldn't go straight to the nurse for eval when I came back?! Bunch of wasted time. The nurse did say she would talk to management and try to make sure my sign up bonus for the first 5 visits would carry until I came back. Whole situation ticked me off because I thought I could just go back and only use my right arm without all these problems. Especially when they know the cause of the blowout. Just don't use that vein again.
Sorry for the rant. I'm going back this morning to try and see a nurse. Bruise is almost gone and I want it looked at, find out what the doctor said, and try to get some idea when I can donate again.
The one big thing that changed for me, personally, this time vs 20 years ago (apart from just being paid in cash), was I was freezing the whole time, shaking on and off now. I figure it's because I weigh 100+ lbs less now than I did back then. And I'm always cold everywhere rather than sweating my ass off. I'm looking at battery powered electric blankets on Amazon. I understand it can make the appointment go quicker, too, if you stay warm. Anybody have experience with using these while donating?
Posted Jan 31, 2026, 1:32 PM UTC