My first and only blood donation this year

 

Snapped a few photos since the opposite seats were empty

Finally! 

I've been trying to donate blood earlier this year even before COVID officially hit us. I was even obsessed with it and went 3 times in a row once my deferral period was over. Anyway, I was deferred all 3 times due to low iron count, it even went as low as 10++ and my deferment got longer and longer and I gave up. 

I stopped my digestive acid medication and booked an appt online a few days ago. Bloodbank usually have low blood level in December as half the country is overseas but this year its different, they even told us there's no hurry to donate as blood level in the country is healthy. As I have a pending endoscopy coming up and will not be able to donate for a few months after that, I decided to go ahead. Anyway, I was not having high hopes of passing the iron count test but at least I try.

My stomach was queasy after fire ramen dinner last night and I know I have to eat something and not exhaust myself before the donation to increase my iron count during the prick. I decided to put off taking the medication till the blood donation trip, but I was breaking wind the whole night and ran to the toilet first thing in the morning. I was glad I didnt put on weight after the the ramen dinner as I had a lot of carbs yesterday, I also ate kway chap (including the kway) for lunch. I did not have much appetite and made myself the golden keto smoothie (with tumeric ginger cinnamon etc) and that was a mistake even though it was quite delicious. Once I alighted from the MRT, I had to find a clean toilet in PS and apparently, I was having diarrhea and losing water.

Surprisingly, I was able to pass the iron test by 0.1g/dl and found myself waiting on one of the beds in the donation room. The crowd control inside the bloodbank was quite good compared to pre-COVID period when people were crowding and rushing down to donate then. There was no queue as I've made my appt online and I breezed through the stations quite fast. There was a short wait on the bed as there were only 3-4 nurses working in the donation room. The one attending to me was young and I was worried as I have tiny veins and usually only those very experienced nurses were able to find it. As expected, the thick needle went under my skin and went around a few times before she gave up and asked a older nurse for help, thankfully my blood flowed well after that. 

I was unwell right up till dinner due to the diarrhea, took my meds and dinner and slept super early even though it's Friday. This is my first and only time donating blood this year even though I made so many trips down to different HSA branches (I even tried Outram once) and I hope next year my blood donation journey will be smoother.