When your Red Cross blood donation tech is having a difficult day. I’ve been donating pretty much my whole adult life, And mostly it’s an uneventful and essentially painless procedure. Occasionally this, and other random things like hematomas and not being able to get the needle into the vein even though ITS RIGHT there, happens sometimes. ♀️
That happened to me once after getting a blood test. Your phlebotomist sucks. After my recent blood test there was absolutely zero mark. I was so pleased that when my health care provider asked me to review my experience in a survey, I mentioned it as a complement for the phlebotomist. Most people only sound off when there is a problem, but I have decided to also compliment a good job.
if you've got a good phlebotomist you don't get that bruising. I've had ones in training since I get the work done in hospital setting. One time my had grew to be about the size of an orange because "he" couldn't;t find a vein in my arm and then butched my hand up. After telling him that his work was unacceptable i went back to show the doctor.
I've had that happen before; also on the back of my hand from an IV a few years ago. The older I get, the thinner my skin seems to be so that every bump or scrape looks like a major wound.
In my experience, the blood bank phlebotomists are much gentler and more careful. Why? Because most people will never donate blood again if they have a bad experience. On the other hand, the phlebotomists at the lab know you're going to be back there whether you like it or not. Note: don't EVER let a doctor draw blood or set an IV. They're great golfers; they suck at blood draws.
The only bad experience I had was when I had disc surgery on my neck. Whoever put in the IV for my duly-earned Demerol missed the vein. Every time I tried to get relief, it would shoot into my muscles, making them burn. I got gypped.
Students are often sent to do blood draws. They will have already been trained to do so, but they are there to get experience on people who are not in an emergent situation.
(This is as close a topic as I could find to fit this. It doesn't warrant a new thread.) I just had my first experience with a Senior Bruise. Last Monday I was unloading stuff from my utility trailer when I stepped behind the wheel (with no support) instead of in front of it (where the hitch stand props it up.) The back end of the trailer slammed to the ground, causing me to fall into the steel plate where the left turn signal and license plate are mounted, then scrape off of it. I fell to the ground in pain. I knew it wasn't gonna look good, so I finished unloading the lumber before going inside and inspecting the damage. Since I could still walk and there was no blood seeping through my pants, I wasn't too worried. I scraped a rash on a huge part of my leg above the knee, to include a bloody scratch maybe 1/2" wide and 3" long in the center of that area (it's not stitch-worthy.) The worst part is the huge bruise that goes from my knee all the way up inside my thigh and wraps around behind my leg. I have never has this large of a bruise, nor have I had one so black and green before. This is Day 5, and while the pain has gone away, the tenderness is still very much there. The colors seem to be less dramatic. I continue to go out and do work on the property, get on & off my tractor, etc so my leg doesn't get stiff, and I popped some acetaminophen the first 2 nights to help me sleep. I wash the area off every day and reapply Neosporin and a telfa patch, and there's always a little blood on it...nothing to worry about really, but the severest part of the scrape has yet to heal. I guess moving around causes it to open back up a little. I gotta remark on one weird thing: there is no bruising where the telfa patch has been. There is this perfect rectangle of pasty white surrounded by a sea of green, blue & black. It's odd because while I have the patch being held on by an elastic bandage, one end of the patch protrudes (so the patch is not under uniform pressure) yet the entire rectangle under it is perfectly unbruised. It's as though mere contact with the patch is preventing bruising (or causing healing.) I also gotta remark that I've yet to get bruised by any medical lab work, or by anything else.
The worst bruise you can get from a phlebotomist is when they miss the vein and hit the brachial artery. Even in non-seniors, the bruise sometimes goes from wrist to shoulder unless really good pressure has been maintained. For random bruising, arnica salve/ointment sometimes helps. Arnica tablets seem to help with concussions if taken immediately after a fall or impact.