Blood Donation

It is true that being able to give blood is a gift. It means that you are perfectly healthy and you are able to share that health with someone else. For the first time since I weighed enough to donate, I was rejected 'coz apparently my Hb is too low. 104 g/L was their reading. Never thought I might be anaemic but apparently I am! I guess I have been feeling tired and breathless at times but I thought that was just due to not sleeping enough and me being unfit. I'll probably need to book an appointment soon to get a blood count. And no more blood donation and more red meat in the next six months!
And if you are one of the lucky ones who are healthy enough to donate, please make time to do it every 3 months. It really doesn't take that long (about 30 minutes in total each time) and you are sharing the gift of life with someone else. And it really doesn't hurt that much. It feels a bit uncomfortable when the needle goes into your vein but that usually goes away within half to one minute. Plus it's kinda cool watching your blood being collected in a bag. It gives me a strange sense of achievement as the bag slowly gets filled up and the machine reaches 400. And if the sight of your own blood freaks you out, you can always look the other way and watch TV or have a chat with one of the Red Cross staff members, who are always lovely and will happily feed you after each donation :P