Orange Brains and Pink Blood

This doesn't look right...

I was at the Red Cross blood donor center yesterday and took this photo of my arm. Something's off - shouldn't blood be red? And what's with the orange brain in my hand? 

Ordinarily, I'd make a joke about the grapefruit diet being the cause of this very light-colored blood, or say I'm a robot and this is a picture of me getting an oil change, or mention that I was at a picnic and the host was providing pink lemonade intravenously. But it's not as exciting as that. This is the second stage of a "Power Red" donation, where they take a pint of blood out, extract the red blood cells, then put the remainder back in. The remainder is clear-ish. It also feels funny when it goes back in, as that is not a sensation most of us are familiar with. 

The orange brain is a foam toy they give you to squeeze while you're donating - it helps keep the blood moving. The nurses there tell me they have a box full of all kinds of squeezy toys, and that people regularly drop off new ones. I have a squeezy pig and frog back at the office, and if I return there, I may drop them off for a future blood donor to use.