My First Blood Donation
We went to the municipal hall yesterday to donate blood. It was my first time doing it, as I am curious about the health benefits of blood letting. It also felt good that my blood could help others in need.
When the doctor started asking me why I want to donate blood, I casually said that it was because my wife forced me to go1. The doctor’s look in response was priceless, like a disappointed mother looking at her son soaked in mud.
The nurse also asked me if it was my first time, and jokingly scared me with “Hala… chos”. I remember smiling in response, trying to hide the fact that a huge needle the size of a PVC pipe is going through my vein. I didn’t look but it didn’t feel that bad, as compared to that needle prick in the finger I just had for blood typing which brought a lot of pain.
I watched the container as my blood fills it and after around 15 minutes I was done. I watched the nurse process my blood bag (450 ml of it came from me!) as she removes the air from it, probably so that it’s ready to be donated when needed.
Knowing that the liquid part of me was filling up that 450-ml bag, I didn’t feel any dizziness from the experience. Maybe I just wondered who would receive my blood and will that mean they are now a part of me too? I remember one story where a guy received his kidney from another donor and he guessed that it might be a girl because he tends to sit when urinating ever since he got his new kidney. Turns out the donor was a woman.
Is it possible that the receiver could potentially get some traits of the donor or was it a lucky guess with a 50-50 chance?
If the former, I wonder what traits do I have that would be able to pass on to whoever receives my blood.
A total of 106 donors have donated their blood yesterday. It was fun and I should probably do it again soon, in three months, I guess.
that’s half true - I totally forgot about the blood donation and she brought that up while I was working. ↩