Blood Donation in Vain Due to my Veins

Nantoy has been donating blood regularly and was up for a donation, so when he invited me to join him, I invited Jemma and Dred and we all went together this afternoon.

Nantoy and Jemma are regular blood donors, though it was Jemma’s first time in Singapore. Dred and I were pretty nervous about it. I’m actually pretty scared of blood extraction and actually fainted once before, but I really wanted to do this.

 

So Nantoy called and made appointments for us and we showed up at the Blood Bank this noon. They asked us to fill up a form with all these questions including your sexual behavior which made us laugh because we are very mature people like that. After submitting the forms we were called one by one where they entered our data into a computer and they gave a sticker for us first timers to wear.

Then we got called into separate rooms where a doctor asked us some more questions and made sure that we understood what we had answered. After that we submitted our forms to counter five where we got called to have our fingers pricked for blood typing. That turned out to be the last time a needle touched me in that facility.

We were asked to walk inside a big room filled with dentist chairs… okay, so maybe that’s not what it’s supposed to be called, but you know what they look like. That’s where the blood donors reclined while they gave blood.

I was asked to sit on one while a nurse (I think) checked if I had suitable veins for blood donation. She gave me a stress ball to squeeze and checked both insides of my elbows and said my veins were too small.

She said, “Actually, your veins are unsuitable for blood donation because we use really big needles here, so I don’t think you should ever come back.” Ouch. I should have expected that, though. People rarely manage to find my veins on the inside of my elbow. Blood extractions usually end up happening from the backs of my hands. =(

So I just stood and jealously watched my friends instead.

We were all given coupons for refreshments and planners, including me, even though technically I didn’t give blood, but I guess because I had the intent.

But seriously, the blood bank is critically low on type O (which is my type, too bad) and low on other types as well. So why don’t you give the most noble gift and donate blood? All details can be found on their website.