So, today I went to Pusat Darah Negara at Jalan Tun Razak to donate blood. My first blood donation for this year. According to the small little red book that keeps record of all my blood donations so far, I have donated my blood 5 times since July 2008. I didn't donate any blood for the whole of last year (what a shame) but I intend to start donating blood regularly this year. You can locate Pusat Darah Negara from the map below.
But then I felt slight dizziness and tingling sensations all over my body just after a minute my blood started to flow into the blood bag. I called the same nurse who attended me earlier. She advised me take a deep slow breaths. I followed her advise and hey it works! I started to feel more at ease and the dizziness and tingling sensations slowly subsided. I continue to take more deep slow breaths. The nurse said that it's normal to feel like that as the blood pressure tends to drop slightly. Huhuhu. I was quite nervous at first but felt a little relieved when she stayed beside me until I said I'm not dizzy anymore. So, in about 5-7 minutes, my blood bag is full. The same nurse took out the needle and let me just rest on the bed for a while. After about 5 minutes another nurse came and replaced the cotton bud on my arm with a plaster. It's time for me to get up from the bed and go to the cafe where I was served with light food.
I just realized (after reading PDN website) that a donor who have donated blood twice a year are entitled for free Hepatitis B vaccination. So, another reason to go for blood donation ey! Pusat Darah Negara website is here for you to learn more about blood donation.