My first blood donation

Today the Huntington Hospital bloodmobile came on campus. I have been anticipating for this blood donation for awhile. I have to say that it wasn't a really good idea to donate blood just a day after my relaxing turned exhausting (physically exhausting, mentally relaxing if you know what I mean) roadtrip. But since I've already planned it for sometime, I don't want this to be an excuse. So this morning I had a hearty breakfast and a huge lunch, also drank heaps of water throughout the day. I went for blood donation in the afternoon, after filling in all the forms I stepped into the bloodmobile. Before going in, a guy came out because he chickened out at the last minute. Talk about discouragement! But I've set my mind on going through with this. The first thing they did was test my blood for hemoglobin levels. I have been afraid that I might be anemic because it's a common condition in women. Luckily, my hemoglobin level was good at 14.7g/dl. They then measured my blood pressure and heart rate. My heart rate was at 64bpm which was surprisingly low considering I was really nervous (this is my typical resting heart rate). Currently it's at 78 (after blood loss the heart need to work harder). The next thing you know I was lead to a chair, lied down and it began. The nurse told me to not look, which was a good call because I remember getting woozy from just looking at losing a few ml of blood for blood tests a couple of years back. I was dreading the needle but it was actually not that painful and I squeezed a ball to help with the blood flow. After awhile, I can barely feel any pain and dared to look at the blood collection. The needle site was covered (which was good) and blood flowed through a tube to a collection bag that was on a weighing/shaker machine. My blood was flowing slowly and she said we can get away with 350ml which is the minimum, then I relaxed and the blood flowed much easier and I'm glad to say that in the end, I donated 420ml.

My blood type is B and can only be transfused to people of B or AB blood types which are both not so common in the states. I was afraid my blood may not actually get used - that would be a waste! So I took this opportunity to learn from one of the workers there. Though people with type O maybe the universal donor, even in emergency situations blood type tests are always taken and patients are given blood based on their own blood types. So statistically, the demand and supply of all blood types should be similar which is a relief. I also learnt that the hospital does not get enough blood and has to buy it from Red Cross. So to cut costs, it's best to give blood directly to a hospital. The whole process took about 1 hour and I felt a little lightheaded afterwards. I'm fine now except for a needle prick and some swelling in my arm and I'll be taking it easy for a couple of days. It felt good knowing that I have contributed in helping people and this is certainly something that is not hard to do. I will be continuing to donate and plan on giving 2 times a year. :)