Upon reaching the hospital, I went up to the 5th floor and walked straight in the Blood Bank. I was the only one at the counter at that time. The nurse was happy to know that she called me earlier and I could donate blood on that day itself. I had to fill up the form to agree that I'm healthy and fit to donate blood without any sicknesses and so forth. Then she performed a check to ensure that there is enough iron in my blood. My finger tip was pricked to extract some blood for this test. It's not painful but at times the puncture at the sensitive fingertip might be annoying. I passed that test easily and I was asked to walk into the room to select which bed I would like to rest upon before the blood donation began.
A very helpful nurse talked me through the process before I donated blood. As this is not my first time, I was nodding away to acknowledge her advise and thoughtfulness. She checked my blood pressure and it was very good. If I remember correctly, it was 120/80 which is great! I joked that I never had such good blood pressure when I'm working! Haha. There was an injection that stings a bit before the whole blood donation process began. If you are afraid of blood or big needles, you shouldn't be staring at the nurse when she does her job!
After like 4 minutes, I was done donating blood. I guess my blood pressure is good thus I filled up the bag with blood pretty fast! Every blood donor will have a small red booklet. This booklet will keep track of how many times you have donated blood. I believe all donors will be happy to see that this little red booklet has been updated. Not bad for reaching 23!
I was treated to a cup of Milo and some biscuits. The nurse was very nice and gave me a piece of paper to read on what I shouldn't do after donating blood. I still remember my friends and I went to play football right after donating blood. I guess we were still young then and no one had any problems thankfully!
There's a lot of reasons why people don't donate blood as there's lots of myths around. Donating blood saves lives for sure and I'm happy that I'm given the opportunity to help another person! I definitely felt good and I sincerely hope the man had a successful operation!
