My First Blood Donation

i donated my blood at the blood bank yesterday. it’s something i had wanted to do for a long time. the process was pretty quick.

first things first, i filled out a form with my personal particulars and health information. then they gave me a sticker to wear that read “treat me nice. this is my first donation.” that was cute! i had my blood pressure taken and did a blood test to check if i have sufficient iron. finally, i was ready to give away my blood!

i was a little scared at first when i saw the room through the glass doors with all the people getting their blood drawn. they had to squeeze a red rubber heart continuously so that their blood would be drawn more quickly. that looked painful!

once i was seated on a high chair, the people there treated me super nicely (like what my sticker said). the lady checked my right arm, then decided my left arm had a vein that was more suited for the blood to be drawn.

she rubbed disinfectant all over the area, then injected a painkiller. finally, the big hollow needle with the long tube went in and immediately, the tube was colored in red. i was given a heart-shaped squeeze ball that i had to squeeze every five seconds. boy, was my left arm feeling all weak by that time. watching the bag at the side slowly filling up with my blood only made me feel weaker.

450 milliliters of blood was drawn from me. in addition they also took away three or four test tubes of blood to conduct tests, which i thought was quite a waste. then they let me choose the color of the gauze to wrap around the wound. i chose pink! with purple hearts!

i didn’t really feel weak after that. singapore needs 250 blood donors everyday and i really don’t think we have enough. so if you are healthy, please donate your blood. i would do it again once i could, and that’s in three months’ time.

external links

Health Sciences Authority: Blood Donation

Posted by Veron · Uncategorized category · 3,184 views