Became a blood donor

Today was an exciting day in my life. For the first time in my life, I actually had donated blood. It was a good feeling. About 19 of us came to Level 1, Manningham Function Centre on Doncaster Road organised by Fer Lene, my friend from EDSC.

So for many of us it was the first time we were all donating blood. It was exciting and scary at the same time, and as I finished the registration form first, I was the first one to donate blood out of all of us. Apparently, from the observations of the nurse I looked worried. Who knows what could go wrong with the needle and blood process. And what if there was something wrong with my blood that no one knew about.

They tested me and everything, and subjected me to many questions to qualify for blood donation. Some of my friends couldn't do it as they weighed less than 45kg. I was 50% over the minimum weight, so by that you can actually calculate my weight if you do some maths. So finally the blood donation process started. They put me on a table and put a needle through the vein of my right arm. They also gave me a rubber ducky to squeeze on my right palm. Apparently that helps the blood flow out faster.

My friend had been telling me that you would feel dizzy, tired, high and all sorts of feelings after donating blood. However, after I finished donating blood about 440ml in total, I felt pretty normal. My exercise routine has been daily for the last few days so I'm pretty fit and have also been drinking alot of orange juice with iron in it the last two days. I guess the sum of all that means that I had too much blood in me to begin with. Donating blood actually helped me get rid of that excess blood. So now I am normal again.

It was a good and wonderful experience. Apparently I helped to save 3 lives. I am proud of that and hopefully by God, I have made a difference to 3 helpless people!