The fuel that drives us

Not literally, but physically.

Blood.

I had my second ever blood donation today at Uni courtesy of NZBlood who organised the session. They come to campus 2 times a year for a 2-day session to collect blood from would-be donors. I was encouraged by a friend to go and donate, in order to save lives as they say. I had no intention really to donate but as a challenge in life, why not right?

So i decided to gave my blood and it was a rather interesting experience ebing in a room full of donors and nurses. The horror of needles does not stop me but drove me on. What excites me the most was getting the opportunity to see the cool gadgets they have to hold and store blood.

I had no idea they that here in NZ, they needed a machine to shake the blood constantly once it's in the plastic tube. It's just amusing to watch. Haha. The needle was huge! Plus, watching my blood flow out of my body other than the reasons of injury was cool too.

Silly thought i had, i even wished my blood goodbye and take care once they met a new owner. Hahahahahahaha. It was just fun the first time! I couldn't sit still on my chair, instead i kept turning to my right to watch the machine tilt back and forth mixing the blood. Every now and then, some other machine would beep to signal that blood flow was under 40 m/min.

The nurse needed 3 tries to locate a proper vein with good blood flow for me which was a rather painful experience watching the needle in and out 3 times. Ouch.

That was the first time, this time around, one was all it needed to locate a good vein. I was done in less than 7 min.

I got pretty exhausted after this donation from not preparing my body in the proper way. I probably did not have sufficient sleep and fluid the day before as well. The effects of it lasted for about 4 hours. I could feel the weight on my head as well as on my chest.

Here's what they gave for my 1st and 2nd visit.

A blood red bottle.

I'm a B+. Nearly half the world's population are.

2nd visit freebie.

I do encourage you all to donate blood as well. Many patients depend on your blood to survive. Normally a transfusion takes more than just one donor's contribution to complete the process. So help out. You'll never know your blood might save yourself in the future.