warmth-o-my blood
i was on my ways to get some lunch after the rpp experiment and this girl handed me a flyer for blood drive right outside of MLK. i had thought about donating blood before, but i had always been somewhat afraid of seeing too much blood. i dunno what came over me, i just felt that yesterday was the day that i'd do spontaneous things. and for once i told myself not to think too much and just do it. i just really wanted to help ppl.
they first sucked some blood from my right 食指 finger tip and drop it into a tube of light blue liquid. my blood sank at first but then it stopped and just floated in the mid top of the liquid. i wonder what that meant. but i passed the test and was ready to give blood.
it's always good not having any idea how painful the moment the needle goes into the blood vein is. otherwise i would've make myself nervous by thinking about it. the needle went in deep, and dark red liquid immediately filled the transferring tube that was taped on my right arm. my arm felt very warm, so for a second i panicked and asked the nurse about this. i didn't realize that was the warmth from my own blood flowing thru the tube on top of my skin. hehe, i guess it's assuring to know that my blood is indeed warm. what a strange sensation.
the girl before me actually had the needle in so deep that it accidentally went thru her blood vein, scary eh?
i couldn't really see where my blood was collecting from where i was laying (maybe they purposely designed it this way so that some ppl won't faint if they see too much blood?) it took a while before i thought about taking a look at how much i had filled. the bag was only 60% full and it didn't look like it was going up much. it was difficult to observe the change when i starred at it, just like the hour hand on a clock. somehow my mind automatically blocked out some of the thoughts i might've had about that bag of blood; i didn't quite make the connection between the blood in the bag and my blood. i just looked at it as if it didn't have much to do with me. i suppose that was what kept my calm the whole way thru.
right now i have this bruise on my arm; it's not where the needle went in, but about 1 cm away from it. maybe it's where my blood was actually drawn. i'd say this was no doubt the most meaningful thing i did yesterday.
then i got yelled at when i told mother about this. ay...since withdrawing blood's considered a huge huge deal in china (where ppl usually sell their blood instead), she thought it was unhealthy for me to be donating blood at the tender age of 20, haha.
they first sucked some blood from my right 食指 finger tip and drop it into a tube of light blue liquid. my blood sank at first but then it stopped and just floated in the mid top of the liquid. i wonder what that meant. but i passed the test and was ready to give blood.
it's always good not having any idea how painful the moment the needle goes into the blood vein is. otherwise i would've make myself nervous by thinking about it. the needle went in deep, and dark red liquid immediately filled the transferring tube that was taped on my right arm. my arm felt very warm, so for a second i panicked and asked the nurse about this. i didn't realize that was the warmth from my own blood flowing thru the tube on top of my skin. hehe, i guess it's assuring to know that my blood is indeed warm. what a strange sensation.
the girl before me actually had the needle in so deep that it accidentally went thru her blood vein, scary eh?
i couldn't really see where my blood was collecting from where i was laying (maybe they purposely designed it this way so that some ppl won't faint if they see too much blood?) it took a while before i thought about taking a look at how much i had filled. the bag was only 60% full and it didn't look like it was going up much. it was difficult to observe the change when i starred at it, just like the hour hand on a clock. somehow my mind automatically blocked out some of the thoughts i might've had about that bag of blood; i didn't quite make the connection between the blood in the bag and my blood. i just looked at it as if it didn't have much to do with me. i suppose that was what kept my calm the whole way thru.
right now i have this bruise on my arm; it's not where the needle went in, but about 1 cm away from it. maybe it's where my blood was actually drawn. i'd say this was no doubt the most meaningful thing i did yesterday.
then i got yelled at when i told mother about this. ay...since withdrawing blood's considered a huge huge deal in china (where ppl usually sell their blood instead), she thought it was unhealthy for me to be donating blood at the tender age of 20, haha.