I only have ssdi now. Stuck living with abusive partner bc I can't afford to leave.

Have a masters degree and worked most of my life. Don't know what happened.

Wishing you the best

know that plasma donations are very important, you are doing a valuable service regardless of the reasons

We're all hooked up to machines getting juiced in the same big room. The phlebotomists running around sticking people. The folks watching from the waiting area.

we're all valuable

Were the machines in an open area like ours?

decades ago I made the mistake of asking, what are those people over there doing? LOL

seriously though, never feel shame for doing honorable work - it's all good

it was not a good experience, ended up passing out and got a hematoma .. was bruised from my mid-forearm to my shoulder. I still have the pictures on my phone and I would post them if I knew how to do that. Haven't done it since, but I would not rule it out. You do what you have to do to survive.

I got really nauseous and sweaty all the sudden. Thank goodness I was almost done and ready for my IV bag. It went away pretty quickly but I was tired the rest of the day.

Oops

always make sure to have a good meal before donating

I'm trying to be grateful for 5 things every day. I have a roof over my head, running water, a/c, and the love of family.

Some days are hard to be grateful for. Wish we could have another Convention! I smiled for days.

However the last one is the very best, bsm.

It was like having a freeloading relative show up with a sob story and who I couldn't manage to turn away. When I went back to work, usually against medical advice, things would get better, but I knew the sucker would always be back.

Health problems are not our fault, but you'll never get a Republican to admit that until they hit him, usually a him because he's got a wife to soothe his fevered brow and go out to work if necessary. They never get it until they're alone and disaster strikes, and disaster doesn't strike them nearly enough for them to get it and dump the cruel and idiotic neoliberalism.

It's my hope that SSDI is liberalized so that people who are too ill or injured to go out and work can afford to live without selling their blood and/or plasma. Trying to flog the sick into working by pushing them into dire poverty if they can't is not a policy any other rich country pursues. Ours shouldn't, either. It's a source of shame that it does.

I wonder just how much. A company profiting from homelessness/severe poverty - it's actually disgusting.

At least they provide a place to get a bit of cash though. So there's that.

The donations are going to save people's lives, so that makes it worth it.