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I used to be terrified of needles, but donating blood for the first time ended that fear. The nurse told me to take a deep breath and look away, and I came back with a semi-witty comment like "you're about to stab me in the arm and you don't want me looking? I don't think so." I'm fascinated by all the tubes, bags, and machines, and watching my blood flow out. It makes me wonder how much trial and error it took to get everything exactly where it is today, or if they just said "make that tube 30 inches long" and left it at that.
I have been donating regularly since high school, and one thing I know for sure is that they can never have too much O- on hand. I always joked that at my size, they could probably take two pints without me noticing, and it stayed a joke until one day the nurse said "actually, since you're O negative and have donated in the past with no problems, would you like to donate a double unit of red cells?" I've been doing a double unit every time I can since then.
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