<p>Whole blood only means that they just do the normal blood donation. You know, needle in arm, blood in a bag. Apheresis is the process by which you donate platelets. You do the normal thing, they separate the part they want (platelets), and then you get your blood back in your arm. That takes 2 hours.</p>
<p>I signed up for early because I don't want to make the mistake of donating during cross country season again. I donated a pint of blood three hours before I had a 5K race. Lol, wasn't pleasant. I ran a whole two and a half minutes off my usual time.</p>