Bloody Business

Remember my last post where I said that I was going to make it as a blood donor this time? Well, I bloody meant it, pardon the pun. Yes! I am now the proud owner of a little red pocket book that has my name on it, as well a certificate by the Malaysian Blood Bank stating that I " bermurah hati"...a round of applause please...thank you, thank you...haha

What's the big deal, you may ask. Well, it's no biggie actually. But then, after being turned down twice, a girl can only take so many rejections. For me, the more rejections I got, the more I wanted to have that sense of fulfillment. And this time, I bloody made it.

Of course it didn't help that once again the weighing machine was faulty. ( What is it with hospital weighing machines?!) A couple of my friends came away smiling, saying that they were 2 to 3 kg lighter AT LEAST. Ahh, I see, the feel-good factor makes the donors feel that it's all worth their while. So when the lady before me was having her finger pricked, I quickly stepped onto the machine. Not quite up to the mark, which further confirmed that the machine WAS problematic, because I have been WAY heavier than 45 kg for the past two years.

Luckily the nurse wasn't looking at the scales, so I lied about my weight. " Hmm, borderline ya.."he said. Sure, because I took off a couple of kilogrammes off my REAL weight. Haha...the feel-good factor is really important okay, even though I may be cheating. Great, I've passed the first test, the one that got me rejected 3 years ago.

2nd test, the blood pressure examination. Last year the doctor claimed that my pressure was too low, thus I wasn't allowed to donate. Surprisingly, two of my friends were turned down this time due to high blood pressure. Guess the late nights took their toll on them. I sat down gingerly, praying silently. Come on...come on... " blood pressure ok, cantik". Once those words came out of the doctor's mouth, I turned around and beamed at my friends, who were saying " 哇， Sharon, 终于可以捐了！！！” Nothing was going to stop me, not this time!

So I quickly chose a seat and held out my left arm. A few friends of mine had the horrible experience of bruised sore arms the next day after donation, so I wanted to make sure that in case I was as unlucky as them, at least I could still use my right hand to write. Boon sat on my right, muttering his protests. This was because I had taken the seat that he wanted, so he had no choice but to put out his right arm, as all the necessary equipment were attached to the right side of his seat. Haha...he was sulking away.

I was given a 350ml bag, while Boon and YeeLing were handed 450ml ones. So we sat there, waiting for our turns. The funny thing is, my heart actually started thumping furiously and my palms were sweating away. This is weird, because I have never been afraid of needles. In fact, I have always opted for injections rather then pill popping, because I want fast relief from whatever it is that I'm suffering from.

But there I was, starting to feel panicky when the nurse took out the syringe. Boon, who was really calm before this ( he kept assuring me " just like an ant's bite"), actually winced when the nurse injected him. He turned and looked at me woefully, and immediately made things worst by saying " 她的skill不好，蛮痛嘞！！” Great, just great.

When it was my turn, I felt as if the Nile River was flowing from my hands. I took a deep breath, and in went the syringe. Phew...not as bad as expected, maybe due to the fact that another nurse attended to me. Soon I got over the weird feeling of having an alien object under my skin, and started snapping pictures. Yeah, that's how '38" I am.

It was over in about 20 minutes. I felt alright, neither dizzy nor lethargic after that. I don't know why I'm drawn to this bloody business, but what I do know is that next semester I'm going to do this again.


Blood blood blood...


You can see the three of us in this picture..