A bad stick

Some of you probably know that I give plasma occasionally. I've been a blood donor since I turned 18, but I switched to plasma for a semester in college for some extra cash (you get paid for plasma donations). Recently, I noticed that there was a plasma center here in town, so I have gone occasionally - partly for a little extra money and partly because I think it's kind of cool and gives me some guilt-free reading time. For those who don't know, for plasma donation, the needle is quite a bit bigger and it stays in your arm for about an hour. During that time, blood is drawn, centrifuged to remove the plasma, and then returned to your body through the same needle. The process is repeated many times until enough plasma has been obtained. Then they pump saline into you to replace the volume that was lost. Because not all of the blood cell is used, you can donate plasma up to twice a week.
The above picture, although a terrible angle of my arm, shows what my arm usually looks like when I'm done. No big deal. In all my years of donating blood and plasma, I've always had really clean sticks - no problems. In plasma donation, though, if you get a "bad stick" (meaning the phlebotomist messed up) it can be really bad because when the blood is returned to your body, it leaks out into the surrounding tissue creating a very impressive bruise. Mine wasn't nearly that exciting. They noticed the problem and switched arms before the return cycle, but I still got a small battle wound. I know I'm crazy, but I thought it was pretty cool. Just had to share...
(The little indention is scarring from my college donations in case you're morbidly curious).