donate blood regularly

I don’t think I will be able to do this on a regular basis. I went into my local blood clinic yesterday, feeling really eager about donating. I filled out the form as usual, and then had a routine check-up before I was allowed to give blood. It seems I’ve lost a good bit of weight since my first donation of November last. I’m not quite 8 stone (50 kilos). It was probably all that worrying during my exam period.

I felt a bit disappointed about that. My only solace is that I haven’t put on weight like I thought I had with my lack of exercise over the last fortnight. But therein lies the paradox: keep the weight down or remain unsuitable to give blood? It may seem logical to give this one up. It was really something I would have liked to do, though.

The blood clinic I wanted to visit was shut yesterday. I sorta forgot they don’t open on the weekends, but I suppose I can always just go in next week. Besides I hadn’t had a proper breakfast when I went out, which was probably very stupid of me if I want to be giving away about a pint of blood.

That’s apparently the statistic when I went to donate blood the first time in November of last year. That’s a lot of donations, and in just one week! I wonder at how they ever manage it. It’s fortunate for me that I don’t mind giving blood. It wasn’t at all as bad as I had thought it would be; the needle didn’t even pinch that much! I’m going to do this again. And not just out of the guilt of knowing that there are some people who are in serious need of blood transfusion for whatever reason, but because I want to.