My main motivation to donated my blood this time came from two different sources: personal and external influence. External influence is obviously from friends especially Ching-mama who decided to donate blood(and she did) for the first time as well(at different event though). Other than that I knew that a few of my friends which had donated blood before wanna do it again here and also wanna check out my friends who had duty in the blood donation drive. As for personal motivation, I wanna know exactly whether the process of donating blood is painful or not. Besides now being 19 and will-be-20 this year, I can make my own decision besides having more courage to do so without parental consent. I still remember that back in form six when I was involved in the blood donation drive organized by Young Doctors Club where I am still very much underage and still slightly afraid of the needle and blood. This time however is a great chance to prove to myself whether donating blood is painful or not.
Throughout last week I was really anticipated for this blood donation drive(organized by USM Buddhist Student Society) even though not without hesitation. In fact, I have to reject my cousin's invitation to another blood donation drive outside because I need still need a little time to prepare my mindset.(though the another main reason for this is obviously convenience...after all its an event inside your own university.) Friends' motivation did help a lot in preparing myself for this momentous attempt in my life including indirect one from Avinesh, Lydia and Siva who reject me for following them to breakfast in Wednesday(the day of blood donation drive) morning and instead orders me to go and do a good deed first before indulging in self indulgence. LOL. Either way, thanks all of you who supported me, those are great help for me.
Finally, here comes the judgement day: 16 January 2008, Wednesday. Blood donation day at Foyer DTSP. The day starts off typically with online early in the morning and then breakfast. But deep down inside, I know that this day however is gonna be one whole new different day for me. Still a little nervous, I decided to take a bath just to make myself feeling a little better. After breakfast at 10am, I marched myself into the campus to my destination, foyer DTSP. By the time I reach there at 10:30+ am, a small crowd had been formed. Before we can proceed on to their real thing, we must fill in the donor declaration form to clear off any risk which can make your blood donation a risky one as well as clearance health check for weight and blood type. My donor declaration form is number 73...while the current number when I reach there was 40... Hmm, fine then, cos I need to print out my SHE proposal to pass up anyway. When I am back from printing shop, the number is around 60 hence need to wait a little more...so I spend my time filling in form... Actually I was kinda worried that I do have asthma in the past while my mom contracted Hepatitis (dunno which type) when I was born.
When my number is call, I was a little bit tense. I mean, if I got rejected then I can't donate!! First is weight...and I was shocked that my weight raised to 83.6Kg!!! Looks like those excessive binging of cheese crackers as well as KFC/McD add in the weight...*sigh* Next will be blood test. But first of course they need to prick my finger to get the blood. They used some kind of small needle spring thingy(LOL dunno how to describe that small thing) to make the pricking process fast and quick. One snap and is done. Then my finger is squeeze and my blood ooze out from the prick. They a few drop of it to go through a quick blood type and Rh check. So, my blood was A+. After the clearance test, I am halfway clear for blood donation!!! Next, blood pressure. They use the electronic one to make make process fast. My bloodpressure is 125/70(pretty much this value), a healthy one as commented by the medical attendant who conduct the test. Apparently they also keep the donor's info as an database for future reference of Penang General Hospital. Finally I am all cleared and ready to donate!!!! I was qualified to donate 450ml of blood, the most in the 3 category available. (other two are 200 ml and 350ml)
One last counter before the real thing is the preparation table, where we will get a tray of blood donation equipment(bags, needle etc) as well as little red book aka donor's certificate. I found out that I am donor 54 from the small number tag that Buddhist Society member gave me. I still look a little nervous and the medical attendant who know that I am a first timer told me to relax. After a short wait for empty bed, it finally reach the long awaited moment...the actual process of blood donation, with needles and bag ready. Actually one very major reason that makes me scared of donating blood is the process of finding the blood vessel to pierce in the needle. I am really scared that they can't find mine and have to pierce multiple times to find the blood vessel...X_X. As I lie on the bed I was praying that they can find my blood vessel within one pierce. The male attendant who attend to me first use the thing to measure blood pressure manually(what that thing, with pump one? Seriously my knowledge had degraded to such extent) to apply pressure to my arm, smack a little at my middle arm(the region to pierce in the needle), feel the pulse and then...PIERCE! The pain is a very quick sensation similar to antbite. I was seriously looking away when he is readying the needle and when I look back, I was the good sign: the tube is looking red and my blood is indeed flowing out...so relieved and at the same time rejoicing!!!!
I was given a sponge for me to squeeze in order to keep the blood circulation flowing to the hand while the majority amount of blood is flowing out of the arm. But you know when I squeeze, the little prick on my finger actually isn't fully healed and blood oozed out of the prick when I squeezed the sponge. The sponge was stained by my blood (ROTFL) and I can't rub it anywhere due to the position of arm facing up. Had to let the blood dried itself up LOL. I decided to text Ching while I am still in the process(she did the same thing when she was in her own blood donation drive on Monday). Too bad she is stuck at St. John Ambulance. As soon as her second reply, the whole process is done already and the attendant pull out the needle and pack the bag of blood. I was feeling a very slight dizziness hence I decided to lie down first for about 15 or 20 minutes. But then when I look at my phone for time, it is almost 12noon and I got my Japanese minor class. So I got up to the refreshment stand for milo and bun(XiangYi was dutying there as well) and I went for extra LOL. Trying to keep my stomach from excessively hungry!! As I walk back quickly to grab my bag which i left at the waiting area, I almost tripped off the blind that seperate the blood donation area and waiting area. The attendant was asking me whether I am feeling well or not. So embarrassing because the area was still teeming with people. And after that I rush to class which is at G27 on top of DK STUV.
I went into the class a little bit late. I was a little surprised that ShuLi went to my timeslot of Japanese class. As I shows my bandage to her to prove to her, she was amused that I choose my right arm for blood donation cos right arm is writing hand and after you donated your blood, the arm that you used will have numbing sensation. When I look at my right arm, it is indeed very pale and I do feel a little numb and weakness. Well, thats one tip from ShuLi! She went for the afternoon session after lunch time at 2. I saw Jessica and PeiYue as well as WenChong and JiaHaw waiting their turn to donate blood. After a little chit chat with them, I went off to my other class...(stories continues on in the previous post)
It has been a wonderful experience for me cos I discovered in the end that donating blood isn't painful at all(although it depends on how skillful the medical attendant is, mine luckily is a very skillful one and the remnant of the piercing is very minute and almost unoticeable, while unfortunate for ShuLi, the one that she had was pretty noob for accidentally scratching her with needle and her piercing place is looking blue black. Oh dear...). I also discovered that being a prolific blood donor can have lots of perk in public hospital(from free med check up to free for life ward stay for 50 times and above). Last but not least, I found my parallel text for assignment WOOHOO!!!!! All the info and instruction was printed in bilingual(BM and BI) and since there is not word limit for this assignment, I can utilize it HURRAY!!!! How often you can bump yourself into such fine luck!! One little regret for me though, the organ donor pledge campaign is going along with this blood donation drive as well (in fact, I think the organ donor pledge is the main one) and I did not sign up for it... Maybe its because I am little lazy, or the fear that someone will just remove my organ away from me when I am certified as dead without my consent. (well we can't give consent after we died anyway but...) I think I will pledge my organ in the future...
To wrap up this post, heres a few photo of me, bandage and little red book!!! Courtesy of Jessica's camera before the exhibition preparation starts...that's all for now people!!! I think donating blood in a way good for health for long term as well so now go and support any blood donation drive and donate your blood!!!!
Finally, here comes the judgement day: 16 January 2008, Wednesday. Blood donation day at Foyer DTSP. The day starts off typically with online early in the morning and then breakfast. But deep down inside, I know that this day however is gonna be one whole new different day for me. Still a little nervous, I decided to take a bath just to make myself feeling a little better. After breakfast at 10am, I marched myself into the campus to my destination, foyer DTSP. By the time I reach there at 10:30+ am, a small crowd had been formed. Before we can proceed on to their real thing, we must fill in the donor declaration form to clear off any risk which can make your blood donation a risky one as well as clearance health check for weight and blood type. My donor declaration form is number 73...while the current number when I reach there was 40... Hmm, fine then, cos I need to print out my SHE proposal to pass up anyway. When I am back from printing shop, the number is around 60 hence need to wait a little more...so I spend my time filling in form... Actually I was kinda worried that I do have asthma in the past while my mom contracted Hepatitis (dunno which type) when I was born.
When my number is call, I was a little bit tense. I mean, if I got rejected then I can't donate!! First is weight...and I was shocked that my weight raised to 83.6Kg!!! Looks like those excessive binging of cheese crackers as well as KFC/McD add in the weight...*sigh* Next will be blood test. But first of course they need to prick my finger to get the blood. They used some kind of small needle spring thingy(LOL dunno how to describe that small thing) to make the pricking process fast and quick. One snap and is done. Then my finger is squeeze and my blood ooze out from the prick. They a few drop of it to go through a quick blood type and Rh check. So, my blood was A+. After the clearance test, I am halfway clear for blood donation!!! Next, blood pressure. They use the electronic one to make make process fast. My bloodpressure is 125/70(pretty much this value), a healthy one as commented by the medical attendant who conduct the test. Apparently they also keep the donor's info as an database for future reference of Penang General Hospital. Finally I am all cleared and ready to donate!!!! I was qualified to donate 450ml of blood, the most in the 3 category available. (other two are 200 ml and 350ml)
One last counter before the real thing is the preparation table, where we will get a tray of blood donation equipment(bags, needle etc) as well as little red book aka donor's certificate. I found out that I am donor 54 from the small number tag that Buddhist Society member gave me. I still look a little nervous and the medical attendant who know that I am a first timer told me to relax. After a short wait for empty bed, it finally reach the long awaited moment...the actual process of blood donation, with needles and bag ready. Actually one very major reason that makes me scared of donating blood is the process of finding the blood vessel to pierce in the needle. I am really scared that they can't find mine and have to pierce multiple times to find the blood vessel...X_X. As I lie on the bed I was praying that they can find my blood vessel within one pierce. The male attendant who attend to me first use the thing to measure blood pressure manually(what that thing, with pump one? Seriously my knowledge had degraded to such extent) to apply pressure to my arm, smack a little at my middle arm(the region to pierce in the needle), feel the pulse and then...PIERCE! The pain is a very quick sensation similar to antbite. I was seriously looking away when he is readying the needle and when I look back, I was the good sign: the tube is looking red and my blood is indeed flowing out...so relieved and at the same time rejoicing!!!!
I was given a sponge for me to squeeze in order to keep the blood circulation flowing to the hand while the majority amount of blood is flowing out of the arm. But you know when I squeeze, the little prick on my finger actually isn't fully healed and blood oozed out of the prick when I squeezed the sponge. The sponge was stained by my blood (ROTFL) and I can't rub it anywhere due to the position of arm facing up. Had to let the blood dried itself up LOL. I decided to text Ching while I am still in the process(she did the same thing when she was in her own blood donation drive on Monday). Too bad she is stuck at St. John Ambulance. As soon as her second reply, the whole process is done already and the attendant pull out the needle and pack the bag of blood. I was feeling a very slight dizziness hence I decided to lie down first for about 15 or 20 minutes. But then when I look at my phone for time, it is almost 12noon and I got my Japanese minor class. So I got up to the refreshment stand for milo and bun(XiangYi was dutying there as well) and I went for extra LOL. Trying to keep my stomach from excessively hungry!! As I walk back quickly to grab my bag which i left at the waiting area, I almost tripped off the blind that seperate the blood donation area and waiting area. The attendant was asking me whether I am feeling well or not. So embarrassing because the area was still teeming with people. And after that I rush to class which is at G27 on top of DK STUV.
I went into the class a little bit late. I was a little surprised that ShuLi went to my timeslot of Japanese class. As I shows my bandage to her to prove to her, she was amused that I choose my right arm for blood donation cos right arm is writing hand and after you donated your blood, the arm that you used will have numbing sensation. When I look at my right arm, it is indeed very pale and I do feel a little numb and weakness. Well, thats one tip from ShuLi! She went for the afternoon session after lunch time at 2. I saw Jessica and PeiYue as well as WenChong and JiaHaw waiting their turn to donate blood. After a little chit chat with them, I went off to my other class...(stories continues on in the previous post)
It has been a wonderful experience for me cos I discovered in the end that donating blood isn't painful at all(although it depends on how skillful the medical attendant is, mine luckily is a very skillful one and the remnant of the piercing is very minute and almost unoticeable, while unfortunate for ShuLi, the one that she had was pretty noob for accidentally scratching her with needle and her piercing place is looking blue black. Oh dear...). I also discovered that being a prolific blood donor can have lots of perk in public hospital(from free med check up to free for life ward stay for 50 times and above). Last but not least, I found my parallel text for assignment WOOHOO!!!!! All the info and instruction was printed in bilingual(BM and BI) and since there is not word limit for this assignment, I can utilize it HURRAY!!!! How often you can bump yourself into such fine luck!! One little regret for me though, the organ donor pledge campaign is going along with this blood donation drive as well (in fact, I think the organ donor pledge is the main one) and I did not sign up for it... Maybe its because I am little lazy, or the fear that someone will just remove my organ away from me when I am certified as dead without my consent. (well we can't give consent after we died anyway but...) I think I will pledge my organ in the future...
To wrap up this post, heres a few photo of me, bandage and little red book!!! Courtesy of Jessica's camera before the exhibition preparation starts...that's all for now people!!! I think donating blood in a way good for health for long term as well so now go and support any blood donation drive and donate your blood!!!!
My handyplast for the needle piercing. By the way, the glue of handyplast was very messy...so hard to get it off the skin!!!
Personal info in the donor certificate. As you can see from here, my blood type is A+.
Me, with the little red booklet in my hand, glowing with happiness, pride and self-satisfaction. (Well this is before the exhibition preparation...little do I know my face later at 4am are much paler then right after I am done with my blood donation.)
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