Thursday 30 May 2013

June Photo Challange

Hiya

Thought I'd try something different in June and after reading Sprinkle Of Glitter's blog I was highly inspired to take part in her June photo challenge. 


All credit to sprinkleofglitter.blogspot.co.uk

So for the month of June I will be uploading, well at least trying to upload, a picture everyday of June onto this blog to document my month. If you want to read Louise's original blog post about this challenge, and take part here's her blog post;

http://sprinkleofglitter.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-30-day-snap.html 


Happy June:-) 
@HanMcFly
smilingwontkillyou

Tuesday 21 May 2013

Giving blood

Hi hi hi

So I went to donate blood 2 weeks ago for the first time and what an experience that was! 
I'd booked an appointment so I arrived at 7 for my apportionment at 7:15. All the nurses were lovely and made sure I drank tonnes of water before I donated to stop myself fainting or feeling ill when I donated. 

And in usual British fashion nothing was running on time!

I was the last one to be called through, and that wasn't until 8 so I wasn't bet pleased by this point! I was taken through by a nurse who talked me through the health form I'd already filled in asking about lifestyle and risks, so things like if I was planning on doing any extreme sports after my donation and my travel history. She asked if I had any questions which was really reassuring, especially since I was slightly nervous with it being my first donation! She then checked my iron levels by doing a quick fingerprick which didn't hurt at all, until after she put the plaster on and I could feel my heartbeat in my finger. I was then showed where to sit and had to wait for another nurse to find me. 

When she finally did find me I was taken to another chair where they tried to find a vein for me to donate through. (Bearing in mind that last time I had blood taken the nurse pretty much through the needle at me from the other side of the room with no problem.) So I had to swap arms. The nurse finally got my vein and my donation started. They collected samples for tests first, so for HIV, Hepatitis and blood grouping. I was told to keep moving my hand to get the blood to flow easier and to reduce bruising, but by this point I was already expecting a bruise just by how forceful the nurse had been with the cannula, and how once shed put it in she then proceeded to drop the donation bag which was attached to by arm through the needle!!She then decided that my veins were too thin to donate in a decent amount of time, as the cannula was knocking on either side of my vein causing my donation to be realllllly slow! The nurses then decided that it was best to stop my donation half way through because it was so slow! But they gave me this delightful arm wear and sent me on my way! 


Two weeks later I then received my donation card and blood group! Turns out I have the most common blood group in the UK.



I honestly believe that donating blood and in the future my organs is one of the nicest things I could do for another person. Yeah okay it's needles and my body being cut up but in the end it is my body and my choice, I think that once you're gone that's it, you don't need your organs or your body so why not give them to someone who needs them an awful lot more that I would in death?

Its my thought that why should I not donate my blood and organs? At the end of the day I'd accept a donation from someone else if I needed it, so it's only fair to offer that chance of hope and life to someone else!

That was all very serious, but I wanted to share this with people. 

Side note; yes it did take me 2 weeks to write this post but I've been super super busy with exams and work and things so yeah:-) 

Oh and don't hesitate to leave questions and comments or tweet me or send me questions on tumblr :-)

@HanMcFly
smilingwontkillyou