My First Experience

Ah... Today was the 1st time I ever donated blood in my entire life. I was persuaded by XuJen to donate since her friend is suffering from leukemia. Went to Gleneagles to donate.

Was suppose to go with ShinYe but she got some problems today, so she can't donate. I don't really know the receiver well so I asked XuJen to tag along. As we entered the laboratory only I was qualified to donate since XuJen is underweight...Filled a form asking TONS of questions, mostly on disease, and some are rather hilarious...

I didn't know that;

1) You have to sleep more than 6 hours the day before donating blood. (Luckily I did)

2) You have to be at least at an age of 18 before donating blood.

3) They could actually seperate blood cells and platelets from our donated blood.

4) You have to be at least 45kg to donate blood. (I'm WAY higher than that =.=)

5) You must not have vaccination 3 weeks before donation. (Longer if the vaccine is strong)

6) You are not allowed to take any other medication, be it Panadol, the day before.

7) You need to have a 3-month-loop or better, more, in your blood donation routine.

When they were about to take my blood for tests, I started to feel a little nervous, as this IS my 1st time donating blood. I got freaked out by our local nurses who game me a shot on Anti-measle in school, and it hurt so bad I could actually felt the needle touching my bone.

I got to know I am of the O+ blood group too.

On to donating blood. Went upstairs and met HuiYee, suprisingly... Then, I went into Room 28 for another suprise. The one assisting me in my blood donation is the mother of a friend of mine...

Since its my 1st time, she gave me a shot to numb my pain receptors. Then comes the real needle, connected to a 450ml blood packet... Good thing I didn't feel much of the needle. I was relieved, but at the same time, I felt like a sissy.

Now that its done, they covered the wound with a cotton.

I... sort of took it off to soon, and it created 3 mini volcanoes...

Though, I felt good about it, and might try to donate again 3 months later. I hope I'm mentally prepared that time...

Signed off,

Teng Aun.