(Blogging offline on my computer. 14th February, 9:18pm) Well. Today has been a pleasant day. Hmm. I wonder if that�s pleasant. Anyway, this morning, I was cursing somehow. Got irritated. So I as I was walking to the bus stop, there�s this voice in my head that says anything can happen. Anything can happen. Right now! And I fell over the road divider, head first. My legs were like on the dividers and I fell facing downwards and I used break fall technique of judo. Not hurt, but quite stunned. Then I remembered that Peng Ming was like asking me about this phrase. �What goes around comes around.� Yeah. Guess I shouldn�t have thought evil thoughts. Then nothing would have happened. Nonetheless, it�s a lesson well learnt.
Oh, I donated blood today. Quite okay. I was expecting more pain. And expecting it to take a much longer time. I couldn�t donate last year. Extremely sick. Was on like 6 different types of medicine.
The nurse first gave a paper that you�ve got to read, a packet of iron tablets and a card that says thank you. Have to rest for 10minutes. It began with applying of some green solution around your vein area. I think that�s to sterilize the area and to make the veins look more prominent. The nurse then wrapped this thing that measures blood pressure around your arm and it�s left there for the whole of the blood donation. The pressure goes up, you would then be asked to squeeze the ball. The nurse will see if your vein is �thick� enough (I think). Then you are being taped all over. The tubes and all. And a gauze is left over your vein (before you are even pricked.. pricked?). She then shows you that she�s going to give you an anesthetic jab and that it will hurt a bit. Not at all. It was much less painful that expected. (From the last few anesthetic jabs I had few years ago, this is really nothing.) So you�ll be asked to squeeze the ball again when you are ready, and the nurse takes out a big needle. I think it has got like a diameter of 3 to 4mm. Pokes it in, and kind of weird. Your skin is kind of stretched, and the nurse jabs it in further. It�s about 2cm long. Then there�s some leakage, and that explains for why a gauze is left over the site of incision. (By leakage I mean blood coming out from the side of the big needle.) It�s quite amazing how fast the blood flows into the packet (It contains anticoagulant. Haha. I was chatting and talking to the nurse.). The first 10 seconds was like; wow, I�m losing blood so quickly. Haha. Then there�s this blue ball that they give us to squeeze. At first I was reluctant to squeeze coz it was simply weird to have a needle inside and you squeezing. You can feel the needle you know. Then I started squeezing and squeezing. Oh. And I was being videotaped. Haha. My bag filled up quite rapidly and the nurse was like pointing and saying, �Melissa, him, him!� Haha. The nurse came over, folded the tubing and secured it with a silver ring device to stop blood flow. Then used a flat-headed plier to flatten a 1cm portion of the tubing before cutting the tube. And that�s not all. Then, while applying pressure to the plier, the nurse uncapped tubes; all to be filled with blood, four of them. And it�s quite funny when it comes to this part. Popped. Tube open, and she released the pressure on the plier, and my blood comes gushing out into the tube. (You can actually visualize this. A 20cm long tube, an open end and the other, a thick needle in my arm and the blood comes gushing out like a tap or something. Haha.) I started to squeeze the ball; just once. The nurse was like, �No, no, you don�t have to squeeze. The blood flows quite fast.� Capped the tube back. Popped open another. Tap turned on. Blood out. Capped. And repeat. Oh. 450ml of blood goes to the bag. Another 50ml goes to the four tubes for blood tests. (Yeah, I was talking to the nurse.)
And yes, when I was happily squeezing the ball, I was looking at others. I was trying to touch my tubing and trying to see if the blood is hot or something. I wanted to touch the packet of blood but I feared that it would drop off and burst when it hits the floor. I was also sitting upright trying to look at the blood pressure. There�s this J1 guy who was beside me on the inclined stretcher. His class girls were around him and he kept asking if it�s painful. I told him, �Just a bit.� And it was quite funny. Just when the nurse took out the needle, he was like saying out loud, �Oh my God, the needle is so big.� Haha. Well. He got knocked out halfway I think. He only managed to fill � of the bag. Like many others, he had to lie down. I wonder what happens to half filled bags. Do they mix the blood with other half filled packets? I also wonder what happens if they were to like drop a packet of blood accidentally or burst a packet. And what about bad blood? Do they get burnt or drained down the pipes into the sewage?
The nurse then wrote the time of collection of blood on the surgical tape and pasted it beside your arm. Have got to rest for 10minutes before you can move again. Had like refreshments. A packet of Milo and chocolate sandwich biscuits. We were given a diary as well. =)
Well. So much for today. I fell asleep while waiting for food, woke at 8 and I think I should get started on work no matter what. I know I�m lazy and�����..
Oh, I donated blood today. Quite okay. I was expecting more pain. And expecting it to take a much longer time. I couldn�t donate last year. Extremely sick. Was on like 6 different types of medicine.
The nurse first gave a paper that you�ve got to read, a packet of iron tablets and a card that says thank you. Have to rest for 10minutes. It began with applying of some green solution around your vein area. I think that�s to sterilize the area and to make the veins look more prominent. The nurse then wrapped this thing that measures blood pressure around your arm and it�s left there for the whole of the blood donation. The pressure goes up, you would then be asked to squeeze the ball. The nurse will see if your vein is �thick� enough (I think). Then you are being taped all over. The tubes and all. And a gauze is left over your vein (before you are even pricked.. pricked?). She then shows you that she�s going to give you an anesthetic jab and that it will hurt a bit. Not at all. It was much less painful that expected. (From the last few anesthetic jabs I had few years ago, this is really nothing.) So you�ll be asked to squeeze the ball again when you are ready, and the nurse takes out a big needle. I think it has got like a diameter of 3 to 4mm. Pokes it in, and kind of weird. Your skin is kind of stretched, and the nurse jabs it in further. It�s about 2cm long. Then there�s some leakage, and that explains for why a gauze is left over the site of incision. (By leakage I mean blood coming out from the side of the big needle.) It�s quite amazing how fast the blood flows into the packet (It contains anticoagulant. Haha. I was chatting and talking to the nurse.). The first 10 seconds was like; wow, I�m losing blood so quickly. Haha. Then there�s this blue ball that they give us to squeeze. At first I was reluctant to squeeze coz it was simply weird to have a needle inside and you squeezing. You can feel the needle you know. Then I started squeezing and squeezing. Oh. And I was being videotaped. Haha. My bag filled up quite rapidly and the nurse was like pointing and saying, �Melissa, him, him!� Haha. The nurse came over, folded the tubing and secured it with a silver ring device to stop blood flow. Then used a flat-headed plier to flatten a 1cm portion of the tubing before cutting the tube. And that�s not all. Then, while applying pressure to the plier, the nurse uncapped tubes; all to be filled with blood, four of them. And it�s quite funny when it comes to this part. Popped. Tube open, and she released the pressure on the plier, and my blood comes gushing out into the tube. (You can actually visualize this. A 20cm long tube, an open end and the other, a thick needle in my arm and the blood comes gushing out like a tap or something. Haha.) I started to squeeze the ball; just once. The nurse was like, �No, no, you don�t have to squeeze. The blood flows quite fast.� Capped the tube back. Popped open another. Tap turned on. Blood out. Capped. And repeat. Oh. 450ml of blood goes to the bag. Another 50ml goes to the four tubes for blood tests. (Yeah, I was talking to the nurse.)
And yes, when I was happily squeezing the ball, I was looking at others. I was trying to touch my tubing and trying to see if the blood is hot or something. I wanted to touch the packet of blood but I feared that it would drop off and burst when it hits the floor. I was also sitting upright trying to look at the blood pressure. There�s this J1 guy who was beside me on the inclined stretcher. His class girls were around him and he kept asking if it�s painful. I told him, �Just a bit.� And it was quite funny. Just when the nurse took out the needle, he was like saying out loud, �Oh my God, the needle is so big.� Haha. Well. He got knocked out halfway I think. He only managed to fill � of the bag. Like many others, he had to lie down. I wonder what happens to half filled bags. Do they mix the blood with other half filled packets? I also wonder what happens if they were to like drop a packet of blood accidentally or burst a packet. And what about bad blood? Do they get burnt or drained down the pipes into the sewage?
The nurse then wrote the time of collection of blood on the surgical tape and pasted it beside your arm. Have got to rest for 10minutes before you can move again. Had like refreshments. A packet of Milo and chocolate sandwich biscuits. We were given a diary as well. =)
Well. So much for today. I fell asleep while waiting for food, woke at 8 and I think I should get started on work no matter what. I know I�m lazy and�����..
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