When I donated blood at the Red Cross blood drive at work, they also took an extra vial to test donor suitability for apheresis (platelet donation). Sure enough, I was a suitable candidate, and got a letter in the mail a while ago inviting me to donate.
Back when I used to donate in Brisbane, I'd seen the plasma donors in the other room, all hooked up with blood coming out one arm, getting the plasma spun out, and the red cells going back in the other arm, and it totally grossed me out. The concept of having that for 2 hours wasn't all that appealing either.
The letter said my donation would be helping out cancer patients, and as I recently lost an uncle to cancer, I thought I'd give it a go, just once, to see what it was really like.
Man, I'd hate to have renal failure and need dialysis, that's all I can say, because having to have this done to you every week would be a real drag. Better than dying I guess... I had the "out" hose hooked up to my right arm, and the "in" hose on my left. They had a bit of trouble getting a good flow out that way, so if I ever do it again, I'll probably try it the other way around.
The recliner you lie on is heated, as apparently the "in" hose is a bit cool, but I didn't notice (the nurse did say my left hand got pretty cold at the start though). They also heap the blankets on you. You get a selection of movies to watch, so I watched War of the worlds, which was a good length. It finished just as they were unplugging me from everything. I did feel a bit tingly towards the end, and felt a bit woozy when I got up, but that could have been as much from lying down for 2 hours as anything else.
So would I do it again? Not in a hurry. It's pretty time consuming. We got up early and drove to Oakland, both because that was the only place with a slot available today, and we haven't been to the eastern side of the Bay yet. So we hit the road just after 8am, and weren't out of the blood bank until midday, so it's not the sort of thing I'd be wanting to do regularly.
So that's my good deed for the day.
Oh, and having hairy arms really sucks.