800ml (Part 2)
My Relationship with the Plasma Donation Industry: Love, Frustration (Anger), and Financial Empowerment
Go back to Part 1
Skip ahead to Part 3
Skip to Part 4
III - The Battle with the Blood Pressure Machine. A Frustrating Ordeal.
Spring 2022. COVID restrictions are easing up everywhere in America, and especially in New Mexico. We were one of the hardest places in terms of COVID restrictions, and one of the last states to remove mask mandates and the like. It sounds cheap to say, but it was cool to see people’s smiles, emotions, and interact in a normal way again.
Little did I know that the most meaningful human interaction I had that first month was with a short, stocky guy with a big beard like me who was in tears…frustrated tears sitting in a plasma donation center. He was sitting in the “retake” area, so I kind of knew what the issue was, but the emotional dude in me needed to ask what was going on.
“They said my blood pressure is too high. It’s bullshit. I never had this issue before. I don’t even know if I can stay because I got work in a bit.”
I acknowledged his issue and told him to hang in there. I go into one of the booths where they screen your vitals. It’s hard to explain without pictures, and I will be respectful and not take pics when they say not to, but there’s four little rooms about the size of a small closet where you answer questions like “Do you work there? Do you feel healthy today?”, get weighed in private (used to be in public, which was weird), get your temperature, blood pressure, and a small finger prick to check your hematocrit and protein level. It’s a 5 minute process, and I normally breezed through it.
This day, immediately after I talked to the guy, I got called in, and I do everything like normal. We get to the blood pressure part of the screening, and they break out this new, smaller blood pressure monitor with an big LCD screen which spells out your BP in big numbers (presumably made that way so old people can see it).
172/110. What the fuck?
If those numbers are correct, it’s basically Stage II Hypertension, according to the research I did after this issue started.
“I’m sorry James, your diastolic is a little high. We are going to have you sit for 15 minutes to calm you down and hopefully get you back there to donate.”
…Calm me down?
I’m the chillest person in the room. Not only does nearly 20 years of donating not get me nervous, the two hours I am there is usually a time where I get a lot of work done. I live to be in those beds, because it is me, and my The Notorious Banker content. That’s it.
I go and sit down near the dude who was frustrated crying earlier.
”Pshhh (New Mexicans know that sound means ‘Damn!’)… You too?”
”Yep.” I said.
10 minutes later, he goes in for his retake and comes out two minutes later dejected, but not crying. He shakes his head no to me. He got sent home. If you don’t pass your vitals after two tries, you are deferred for the day from donating. You can come back tomorrow to try again.
“James, come on in.” the screener tells me. Of course I am nervous, but not scary movie pulse is racing nervous. I did find it weird that both of us had the same issue one after another.
170/109 was my next BP. I can’t donate, which ends up costs me $80, because I can’t get to two donations this week as a result of the deferral. I am told “Sorry”, but I leave frustrated, and head to the grocery store. Why is this happening? I’m fine. I got no stress whatsoever.
The last time I had major stress? 2018 when I was leaving the banking industry. Every day was a mindfuck, and every day was met with having to hurt another person with the bank’s policies. I despised going in because not only did they make me nearly homeless (A tale I will discuss in a memoir), but the year before I left, my niece passed away, and they guilt-tripped me into staying at work to hit a sales goal, which sent me on a tailspin.
But the second I left there, with the exception of a couple minor financial things, I was stress-free. I also had a great stress reliever. GYM LIFE BABY. I actually started weight training any time I was bummed out by work then did it so much more when I left banking. I lost about 50 pounds, and I added 30 pounds of muscle. This was me in 2013, and this is me in 2022.
I lost more than weight. I lost my hair… lol jk. But I also lost the urge to drink. That was me at some party that I barely remember. I had a rule when shit at the bank started getting bad. When I wanted to drink, I would instead go to the gym, and in about 6 months time, I lost all the weight that comes from booze and McDonalds.
I ate chicken breast. Still do.I lifted weights every day, with my biceps peaking at 20 inches, 4 shy of Hulk Hogan’s 24 inch pythons. I was so proud of my work, because for years, I struggled with my weight and was fat shamed until my 30s by idiots from back home.
Pretty close if you ask me… Minus the days worth of tanning and the anabolic steroid use. I even lost my hair early like him :)
It’s true what they say. Women love the arms, and you can look like a badass without trying simply with an hour of weights a day. I reveled in the attention…too much at times, but I was proud of my body image after years of not being proud.
Plasma donation says “No strenuous workouts prior to donating.”
I never did within 24 hours of donating, so let’s not go there.
When I donated from 2018-2021, it was always a joke for phlebotomists to try to put the normal cuff on me when donating. They’d have to go get the XL cuff, which was way bigger and covered more real estate. I used an XL cuff when screening my BP then too. It was this machine I believe. You also had your temp taken with it. (More on that later).
What became a joke became my nightmare. I got deferred 3 straight times, not knowing what the hell was going on. I stopped going to the grocery store before I went to donate. I had the music turned off in my car because even if I didn’t sing along with songs, I feared a good song would “pump me up” which is fucking ludicrous to think I’d be pumped into hypertension. I even stopped talking and saying “Hi.” to the people at the center I was friendly with. It was weird.
The 4th try to get approved to donate, I saw the short guy again. This time he was sporting headphones. He asked me if I was still having problems. I said yes. He said, “Dude, I’m fucking listening to whale sounds and nature noises to calm my ass down. They say I am not calm. It’s bullshit.” I can hear the sounds of the ocean coming from his headphones.
I glance at this dude’s arms. He has maybe 18 inch arms on first glance. He is not muscular, but a little chubby but his arms are as big as mine, and I lift daily.
I go in to get screened. I decide to document everything.. Not with photos, but with reading the brand of machine and looking at the cuff, and everything I can scrutinize. I see the machine. It is the Qardio TD-3128 BP monitor. Noted. I then look at the cuff, and I see the range of the cuff, and it is for arms up to 16.9”, which is 3 inches smaller than my arm at it’s peak. What the hell?
This is when I realized that my high reading is likely from having too big of an arm to get an accurate reading with that new machine. The older machine had an XL cuff that fit me perfectly, and honestly could fit a person 2x my size (600lbs) perfectly because it had a lot of room.
I let the phlebotomist know that the cuff is too small for my arm. I wasn’t complaining (yet), but it’s a significant difference than my arm size. It’s literally trying to put 10 lbs of shit in a 5lb bag. Guess what happens? 160/109. Deferred for 15 minutes again. I see Mr. Nature Sounds go in for a retake? Nope. I then go back in… nope. Deferred again.
With this money gone and me waiting to get paid for some work I did, I had to dip into my savings because of this lost money. The missed donations represented a significant amount of money I didn’t have to pay my bills. I am not in as bad a way as the people who come to donate, but I can imagine they were hurting more than I was.
So, I go back in the next day. I want to just keep trying until I get it. I go in to donate, and I interact with a screener I had known for years. She was cool with me. I told her about my theory that this machine is no good, plus the cuff being too small for my arm. She goes, “I know. We have seen that people’s blood pressures have been a little higher since we got this.” She mentions that they have mentioned this to management, and it apparently fell on deaf ears
In that moment of honesty, I got really upset…but not at her. Don’t you think if everyone’s BP, which is documented on their computer was a little higher and lower-end employees noticed that and let their boss know, that I don’t know, something should be looked into? Yes, for all intents and purposes, this plasma screening place is a medical facility. Plus, if there is a goal the center has, and that goal can impact your money or your job, wouldn’t you want to investigate?
Imagine if you go to the doctor, and they know their bp cuffs are off by a bit, and because of that he or she prescribes you some harsh high blood pressure medication because the machine’s false reading dictated a course of medical treatment? You’d get rid of that in TWO SECONDS! You can kill someone by prescribing something they don’t need, something that only came up because of a computer error.
I barely fucking pass with a diastolic of 99. 155/99. The screener told me to cool down, read the sanitizing wipes directions, and she held my other hand to calm me down. She held my hand the same way a mom holds their 4 year old when giving a booster shot I did it. $45 for me!!! Yay.
Passed the next time too with a diastolic of 99. The person who screened me said “XL Cuffs have been ordered.” I was excited to hear that.
Two weeks later, I ask about the cuffs. “They said they ordered them, but we haven’t gotten them.” I got deferred that day. I was told I am needing to calm down when I enter the screening room, because that’s why my bp is so high. That pissed me off, and I will explain why in a bit!
Then, the day they told me the cuffs came in, they mentioned they couldn’t use them because there’s a specific “nub” that connects them to the blood pressure reader and they didn’t have those, so they couldn’t use the big ones. Are you shitting me? I don’t know if that is accurate or if it is something they just told me and others to not get yelled at. I made up shit all the time at BofA because I knew I wouldn’t have to be yelled at for the bank’s screw up.
That red thing…It was supposed to be another color.
I didn’t pass that day. The girl who administered the screening told me that I need to be positive and calm down when I go in there. I got really mad. The only time I ever have been vocally upset during this whole thing. I was negative because you are telling me something about my body that isn’t true.
The first question on the kiosk when you donate plasma is “Are you feeling healthy and well today?” I answer “Yes” because of course I am. The machine is calling me a liar by that logic. I can’t prove my health any other way but with a broken machine.
When I was a kid, I was always asked, “What’s wrong?” like I was in the midst of a mental episode because I wasn’t smiling. Just because I am not jumping around doesn’t mean I’m unhappy. While this blood pressure cuff has given me some minor anxiety when I come in. There’s no way my Blood Pressure has gone up 20-30% out of nowhere and the fact there’s a new cuff is just a coincidence. It’s not possible.
I ask to speak to the manager. She doesn’t come out, instead they send out a senior staffer, a guy I know, to hear my complaining on this. He reminds me of me when I had to sit there and get yelled at when I was at BofA for something my company but not me did. He tells me basically there’s nothing the center can do. He says that Grifols ordered them for the center and we had to use them. I didn’t want to waste my anger on him, so I thanked him for listening, and I left.
The final straw was the next time I went to donate. I was late to the party, so I was the 6th person that went in to screen. The five people before me? All deferred due to high BP. WHAT THE HELL? I went into the room to get screened, and I told the girl there’s no way you can tell me that’s a coincidence. That has to be a million to one that all of them have the same malady and because of that they can’t donate? No way. Guess what? I was the sixth person who was deferred in a row. Insanity.
So, I decided to write letters after that incident. My bank account went down about 40% in a month’s time because of this, and I am being told to calm down by every screener as if they think that my blood is always boiling. It’s not the ethical medical thing to blame the patient.
By this time, I knew the machine they were using by name and all the bells and whistles that goes along with it. While writing a letter to the manager in charge, I decided to google the name of the machine to see if there were any other people with the same issues of the machine giving false readings. I went to the Amazon page for the product, and it had a TON of bad reviews, and all of them said the same thing. IT DOESN’T GIVE ACCURATE READINGS and is falsely claiming that they are in hypertension range, plus there’s no true way to calibrate it.
This is the listing on Amazon. Ironically enough, Qardio discontinued and rebranded the machine Grifols is STILL CURRENTLY USING!
Couple things hit me with the reviews:
It’s a consumer device, and not a device that is meant for heavy commercial use. I don’t know how many times it SHOULD be used for personal use, but hospital equipment to make an example should be rated for years worth of use. These BP machines might be getting a year’s worth of use every day inside the screening booths.
The device was cheap. Well under $100 and many were made in the midst of COVID, just like everyone made sanitizer and thermometers. The problem with a lot of the things that came out in 2020 is that it was mass produced and sold at a higher price, implying its high quality when it was a piece of crap. People put out products to have something to put out and this machine was part of that group. The plasma center even had super-duper el cheapo hand sanitizer that smelled like the 99 cent margaritas at Casino Royale in Vegas. It’s a gross smell, but it made me miss Vegas and getting drunk cheap
This is from my 3rd book, “Vegas Vices” when I talked about seedy Vegas as a 20-something. That’s me with hair drinking $1.98 of Casino Royal Margarita. The sanitizer scent makes me want to drink it, damn the consequences.
People went to doctors to reassure themselves this machine they bought for home was wrong, because they are closely monitoring their health. That’s the craziest thing to me. These machines were being used by people SITTING AT HOME, arguably the least anxiety-producing spot in the world for you, unless you have annoying kids I guess. They were in the perfect environment for an active reading. No stress of someone judging a number and they are throwing up hypertension numbers.
That’s inexcusable for that machine.
The craziest thing is the link I shared above. I saved the Amazon URL for the machine from a year ago, when I first emailed Grifols management. I clicked on it now, and it’s a whole other model of the machine that actually connects to your phone for readings, not the one with the screen like before. While I am a new tech lover, I can’t gel with that. This tells me that they are made for consumer use and it doesn’t work right there, nor can you properly calibrate it!
The reviews are still for the old machine but the page is for the newer model, which I have never seen before on Amazon. While ratings have improved since the new one replaced the old one, the old reviews and photos are still there!
This machine is for regular use with one person. The fact that it takes AAA Batteries tells me that it can’t possibly be recommended for 50-100 people a day usage. No way. Not to mention that the machine costs in the $100 range. The one that was used before is closer to $1000 in cost. I would expect a dropoff in quality from the expensive one to the cheap one, right? It’s like a Doordash driver switching out their reliable Honda Accord for a Power Wheels Barbie Convertible.
Yeah, theoretically it can get you to someone’s house to deliver their Outback Steakhouse, but it is not practical. Dude.
This may not be the exact one, but it sure looks like it, and I had only been deferred 1x in 20 years of donating with this machine.
So, any time I answer the questionnaire “Do you feel healthy and well today?” and I answer yes, the new BP machine is calling me a liar. This is rich, considering I lift weights every day, watched what I eat, and took care of my body more than most. No smoking or drinking.
Mentally it sucked, because since I knew that the machine was shit, and the fact that having big arms that couldn’t fit in there was likely an issue, I felt like I was reverse body-shamed. It’s true. I felt that if I didn’t lift weights like I did, if I didn’t care about my body, my arms would be smaller and/or softer and maybe I will pass.
I made a decision in May 2022 to stop doing weight training, my outlet for stress, so I can just donate plasma and make money to sustain my quality of life and my bill paying. That’s how serious I was. I gave up the thing I loved the most for money. The people who were being deferred? They had it worse off than me, and they were losing money not knowing it was not them, but a poor quality machine that caused the issue.
It’s been kind of hard mentally to give it up, but money is more important. I just like to think of myself as Robert DeNiro gaining 80 pounds for his craft to play Jake LaMotta in “Raging Bull”.
The fact that my arms didn’t fit caused the cuff to not properly inflate and deflate weird to give inaccurate readings. It would throw “E1, E5, and E6” codes when I would donate, and the screeners didn’t know what that was, but because I was writing letters and learning all about the machine, I knew what the errors were and I knew they were caused by the arm issue. It was all so frustrating.
Now, I know what you are thinking. Someone likely has bigger arms than me…not necessarily muscular arms, so what about them? Interesting, ok… So what I remember from all the chats with employees over the years is you can be up to 400 lbs and donate.
But let’s be blunt. What 400 pound person has tiny arms? None. The amount of arm fat people get would cause an issue. So this machine is basically selectively picking on people that fall within the guidelines of plasma donation.
I heard a conversation between two workers that they were comparing me to some guy who had gastric bypass and had flappy, foldy skin that caused him to get bad readings too. I was happy that I was being heard, but I was offended to be compared with a person who never took care of themselves as well as I did. I put in the work.
I don’t mean to body shame, but do NOT compare something like that to me.. I worked too hard.
I then used the conversation in another email I sent. I was beyond sad. I went through this range of emotions that I didn’t want to be a PROBLEM, but I wanted to fix something I know to be wrong, and I was being hit financially because of it. There are so many people here who are worse off than me. Are they feeling this too? I am sure they have to be
A weird thing comes up from time to time too.
Sometimes phlebotomists would insist on me waiting to go to booth #4 to be screened, because it was 2x the size, and at that time, it had a stool. The funny thing is this…If all the machines are the same, why is going to #4 the best place to get a better reading? Why would it have a better chance to pass in #4? I feel like it’s a lottery system when that comes up, and every time I come in, I irrationally hope that I get to go to Room #4!
The workers know from doing it all the time, and they likely told management and management probably dismissed it as bullshit. No, that is bullshit that you don’t listen to your people. (More on this at the end)
It was just weird. uniformity is what corporate America craves, and the fact that one machine and one room is the “better” room to do a blood pressure reading in tells me there is something totally broken.
After 3 months of stress and losing money and giving up what I love to donate plasma to pay the bills, I was told that they would break out the old machine for my screening and as far as I was told, I was one of the only people to be able to use the machine.
Wait, I thought it was “gone”??? Whatever. I felt a moral victory, not for me, but for research, and any people impacted by it. From the moment they went to that cuff and machine until January 2023.. I never had to retake or get deferred. Not one.
Then recently, I was alerted by one of the more awesome workers who knew my battle that the cuff was going to be coming back and “We tried to tell them we are going to have deferrals but…whatever.” I immediately started worrying about money before I even had to deal with it again. It sucked.
So the first day the cuff comes back. Guess what? 159/104. Nope. Have to sit 15 minutes. I am told I should sit on the stool. I told them I know this machine, and it’s going to make the BP go up if I do that. They tell me to try it, and so I did.. Blood pressure was higher. Here I am losing money again.
What’s funny (Not really) is that it took me almost 5 months to get back to par in my savings account from where I was pre-deferral. I always love the stat that more than half of Americans can’t afford a $400 emergency. Well, I experienced losses twice that, and despite saving well my whole life (I worked at a bank for God’s sake), it took me months to recoup what I lost through no fault of my own.
Here’s the crazy thing. Last week, I walk in really late. I overslept, and I saw the nature sounds guy from last year waiting to get a retake and he tells me his “BP is high”. He remembered our conversation from last time. I let him go ahead of me for his retake.
The phlebotomist told him if he has to do a retake, he should “wait until door #4 is open” which brought back that old hypothesis about the room, not the cuff. He waited so I waited more. He got deferred again. It was time for me to do my screening. I have not failed a screening since the first one where the cuff is back.
I actually do sit down now, read something boring, and let the cuff inflate on my arm. Here’s the thing. I found a “trick” to sit down in a way that lowers my BP. I passed every time, with numbers that are still not close to normal, but they are at least passing.
It’s insane how I sit. I wish I could photograph it but it works for me all the time (So far). But what does that tell you? That my BP is still a lie no matter what. Imagine medically screening people and you don’t have accurate numbers? That’s what goes on with those machines. I hedge to say I am “tricking the machine”, but conventional wisdom would say that if I am getting inaccurate readings as I claim with the new BP machine, then something was horribly wrong with your screening process.
In turn, if you are saying the $1100 blue machine was providing inaccurate readings, then you mean to tell me for 20 YEARS it was throwing inaccurate readings?
Their unwilling to budge last year did a couple things. It causes staff to get backed up with the deferrals. It creates these unnecessary gluts on the waiting room area.
It makes phlebotomists running the floor to have idle time waiting for clients, and it messes up with tasks and how you should schedule staff… you know, all that manager stuff. It causes chaos. It impacts morale, it impacts number of donors, and it impacts your sales goals. Why wouldn’t you want to fix it?
So I write this Part 2, knowing I have to do part 3 now, because there’s so much to talk about. It wouldn’t be true to what I do for a living as a consumer advocate if I didn’t share my testimonial. Part 1 was positive, and honestly, I feel it is romantic about an industry THAT GETS SO MUCH SHIT TALKED ABOUT IT FOR NO REASON. There are legit some people who mock people who donate and mock centers for taking advantage of low-income people. This is something I push back on. They offer a service and you are compensated fairly. Those who have the money to critique this never have had times like I mention.
I have good stories and good memories of wanting to help people by introducing them to the option and seeing customers of mine do anything to make sure the electricity is paid for them and their kids.
Positivity is key in order to critique. Part 3 will be a little of both. I think a lot needs to be said about the people who interact with donors at these places. I revere and RESPECT them. That’s why writing this was so difficult, because I put in hours of research, I changed my physical appearance to accommodate making money. Some could say I made myself “unhealthy” in order to claim I was “healthy” on the kiosk. That is a mindfuck.
I know myself better than anyone. Most people know their bodies better than anyone. When you have a variable that tells people that they aren’t telling the truth and the systolic/diastolic don’t lie, then that’s when I have an issue with the company.
One thing I mentioned in my book is that lower-income people, which this place has a lot of, people of color, especially men of color ALMOST NEVER go to the doctor for anything. It is an inherent fear that they have, or they have too much pride or not enough money.
At the very baseline of things. The donor screening should be a no-cost way to check some important vitals. You are told your weight, which they monitor. A significant gain or loss can defer you, which also can be an identifier for something going on with your body. They can check your hematocrit and let you know you need to drink more water, and they can check your protein level and tell you to eat more steak and peanut butter.
Then the Blood Pressure can tell you if you need to worry about something that may give you a stroke or something. If that machine has any doubt or question that it is not accurate, then you need to look at this last paragraph and really look at what I am saying. Because if not, people can lose more than money…
Part 3 coming in a couple days. It will be positive (mostly)
- James