My first blood donation

I finally went for my first blood donation today. The only reason why I hadn't been donating blood was that I've always thought that because I was G6PD deficient, I can't donate blood. It's only not so recently that I found out that actually I can. Gladys and I went to the Blood Bank, but she was not able to donate because she was undergoing Hep B vaccination.

The process was much shorter than I thought. I thought it would take about 20-30 mins, but I think it only took about 10 mins? Maybe because they only drew 300ml of blood from me. They said that since I was under 50kg, they draw only 300ml. They usually draw 450ml from those above 50kg. The process of finding my veins was not easy. The big, obvious vein was too soft. And the one that they were going to draw from was very small. So they had difficulties locating the vein, and I had to keep pumping. The pumping action actually made my arm quite uncomfortable. Luckily the whole process was short.

That was me sitting at the cafe after the donation. After donation, they would give each donor a card to exchange for some pastry and a drink. They also gave iron tablets. The next time I can donate blood again is 12 weeks later, on 5th Dec, and I'm definitely going to donate again. In fact, I'll probably be a regular there. Anyone wants to join me?