There was a blood drive(and actually a marrow drive as well) going on in Freeborn Hall at UCD campus this past Thursday. I remember back in Taiwan, I had been thinking about donating blood, yet my thinness always got in the way of me doing just that. Yet, this time, at the the urging of Hide (and with the lure of a free T-shirt), I stopped by the Freeborn Hall and made my blood donation for the first time in my life. I got there at around 1 o'clock, right after having a heavy lunch. And I thought it wouldn't take long and I would be able to make it to the ESL class at 3:10, but it ended up taking me up to two hours to go through the whole process.
To begin with, I lined up for the interview and waited for a long while as there were about 50 people before me. The interview went quite well. I told the interviwer my background information and medical history, and then filled out the consent form and some other paperwork. After that, I waited for an hour before it was my turn, and I kept on drinking water as it would expedite the process of blood donation. Otherwise, my blood would thicken and get sticky and gooey. However, it seemed to be a bit late when I started drinking more fluids as it was advisable to drink plenty of water the night before. Accordingly, it wasn't an easy task to draw and collect blood from me as the blood flowed slowly into the bag and sometimes it stopped or even clogged the needle. I was thus told to pump a ball and rock it in my hand to increase the blood flow. Also, I kept moving my feet for that matter. Finally, it did get better, and met the need of a bag of 450mm or 1 U.S. pint blood.
It wasn't over yet though. The nurse inserted another needle at the same place to draw blood for test that would determine if I was contracted with any diseases. But, the blood just didn't come out. I kept a smile on my face most of the time, but this time, I felt a bit uncomfortable as I went on moving my body but the blood didn't seem to flow at all. As a last resort, the nurse had to do the uncomfortable thing by asking me to show her the other arm while bandaging my right one. Good relief....I got this all done, and my blood was safe to distribute to patients!!!!
In the end, my both arms were bandaged and could hardly move, but it was all worth it as the nurse said,"Yes, you do save lives." This mere fact made my day.....
Add to that the fact that I got a free, nice, soft T-shirt(shown bellow). Therefore, even though I was late to the ESL class, I was still in high spirits. And I hope I would continue to donate blood in Taiwan for years to come...........
Bloodsource: http://www.bloodsource.org/
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