Blooduh.

So I've been pestering Rene to try out this blood donation thing that I've been doing since my 18th birthday, and since dad was gonna run errands near Sarawak General Hospital yesterday, I saw my golden opportunity. *evil grin*

Community service advert here : If you're legally 18 (& above), not on serious medication, not pregnant/having your period, don't have a  history of drug abuse, and weigh more than 45 kg, do consider donating one of your kidneys blood at the SGH blood bank. And don't use the lack of parking spaces as an excuse not to, the new building for the blood bank (near the mortuary) even has THREE (3) parking spaces marked "STRICTLY FOR BLOOD DONORS ONLY". Whee for convenience!

It's way more convenient to go straight to the hospital (compared to waiting for a blood donation drive at some supermarket) because the likelihood of a queue is next to 0.

Dad hasn't been donating blood for a long time now because the last he tried to, his haemoglobin level was too low. But since we were already there anyway, he decided to give it a shot. Lo and behold, he was an eligible donor!

The bummer was that I couldn't donate my blood because it hadn't been a full 3 months after my last donation, which happened to be on 26th September. The thought did cross my mind, but I thought it was one of those "just for safety" stuff that no one really minded, just like how I could donate my blood with less than 5 hours of sleep at camp and nothing bad happened. Turns out they needed 3 months for my red blood cells to mature fully before another donation. Awwell. The clerk was really nice about it though, and consoled me with the fact that at least I had brought 2 more donors with me. =P

Two generations of happy donors 
Rene and her blood.

Her 350ml bag (dad had a 450ml one)


And daddy who looks like a real patient. Maybe cuz he has way more tubes hanging  all over him. =P

For FAQs on donating blood, click here.

You'll get a little record book of your donations after you've donated your blood. As for me, I always carry mine around in my purse so that if I happen to come across a blood donation drive, I can immediately whip it out. You can donate too even if you don't have that book at hand (they'll just give you a new one - that happened to me once), but the fun's in accumulating all those little stickers!




Oh and you get free soft-boiled eggs and milo too after the donation. Over and out.
Location: Malaysia

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Not Everyone who Speaks the Language can Teach It

One of my latest undertakings is signing up for an online TESOL certificate by Arizona State University through Coursera. The course started this week, but it's a pretty laid-back course since it only demands about 2-4 hours of study each week. The downside is that it would take perhaps a year or more to get my certificate since it's going at such a leisurely pace. What I do have is time, however, so I'm not too concerned about that. Anyway, I completed my first assignment two days ago, and felt like posting it up here. The assignment was to state my opinion in 1-4 paragraphs on the statement "Anyone who speaks the language can teach the language". Since many believe just about anybody can teach and that teachers aren't really professionals, here's my two cents about it. Not Everyone who Speaks the Language can Teach It My name is May, and I strongly disagree with the assumption that “Anyone who speaks the language can teach the language.” My reason...
Read more

Library membership woots!

Bright, cheery sunshine certainly makes everything else in the world seem brighter and cheerier. On that note, it's mid December and the weather has been surprisingly pleasant - think 24 degrees Celsius last week, and right now it's still pretty warm (for December, that is). Checked the weather forecast for Christmas, and it's going to be 21 degrees Celsius! Every Malaysian's dream come true! =D And to think that just a month ago, it hit -1 degree Celsius. Uncanny, eh? Apparently the South fluctuates pretty unpredictably when it comes to the weather. Warm winters aren't all that uncommon, and I'm hoping this one stays warm for a longer time. It'd be a wonderful Christmas gift to have Malaysian-like weather instead of the bitter, dry cold. =D On another note, Jia Wern and I finally went to the library to get our library cards made! I wonder why I never thought of this earlier. Perhaps it's because e-books are cheap here and can be auto-delivered in...
Read more

Malaysia

I've been asked to present about Malaysia to the international spouses at the IHouse on November 6th. For the past month or so, I've been piecing together my presentation and doing lots of research on Malaysia for this purpose. If I were back in Malaysia, this would have been unthinkable. Among Malaysians, I'm the last person you want to ask about Malaysian culture, seeing as I'm not very culturally knowledgeable about the gazillion ethnicities and hybrids that Malaysia boasts. I am Chinese, but I hardly know any Chinese traditions because I was brought up practically anglicized. Being Christians, my parents didn't subscribe to superstitions and old wives' tales, and neither did we. Being mostly introverts, we didn't celebrate festivals on a large scale, much less know about the background of these festivals. Granted, I did pick up some Chinese history and mythology from the Chinese primary school I attended, but knowledge doesn't stick when it isn'...
Read more