Plateletpheresis (The Last Episode)

Finally had the plateletpheresis today! It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. I know it will be difficult to explain the whole process, so I took pictures! Piccie piccie! I will have you people know that it was not easy to procure these pictures, okay? I had to do it discreetly because I don't want the staff nurses to laugh at me because I was so suaku until I have to take pictures.


This is the machine that will suck out my blood! Blood sucker!!! Noisy leh this thing. Kept beeping! Hehheh, actually is because I kept moving my arm and the machine did not detect any blood flow. I am quite a restless person, and it felt weird not to be able to move my left (dominant) arm whenever I want to. So I moved it anyway and... *beep beep beep*


Look the huge needle! So big! So big! Actually it was kinda creepy seeing such a huge needle poked into my arm. But it was kinda funny too, to see my blood zoom through the tube which was lying on my lap. *zoooooom zoooooom*


The TV! It's good that they have a TV for each donor. Got HBO leh! But I ended up watching my Ah Bale in The Prestige on my mp3 player.


The ward in general. The staff nurses are all so nice. They really made me felt at ease during my "ordeal". Keke. And seeeee my toeeeees???


After 1.5 hours! My platelets! Godspeed, platelets! Do your best! Save lives! *waves waves*
Platelets: "So corny, this person. Finally we are free of her! Weeeeee!"

All in all, the procedure was not as complicated as I thought. I did felt all of the possible "side-effects" such as feeling cold, some tingling especially on the lips and also nausea. And immediately after the procedure I felt woozy, but that went away after one of the nice nice staff nurse made a super nice cup of hot milo for me. It's really nice loh, not like those machine ones, blend and tasteless.

And not only was the staff nice, they were also alert to any possible problems that may arise during the procedure, checking up me from time to time to make sure that I was alright. They also had a doctor gave me a simple checkup because I was donating platelets for the first time.

So this is my account of my very first plateletpheresis experience, and I don't think this will be my last. There isn't really a demand for people to donate platelets until someone actually needs them because platelets, unlike blood, cannot be kept for a prolonged period of time (only about 3-5 days, I think). So when the need arises, I would definitely do it again.