Blood Donation

 I had blood donation at a GH blood drive set in my campus this late morning. Surprisingly I was the only donor then, so the entire process from registration to the end of the donation was pretty fluent without the need to queue.

I enjoy blood donation but there is one necessary step of it I never like – the finger-prick blood sampling, which the capillary blood is collected by lancing a finger. Typically, the medical assistant will cleanse the area to be pricked with an alcohol swab and then prick with a blood lancet. Ouch! I recall I was shocked by pain for the first time I did finger-prick because I was unprepared for the trigger mechanism of the blood lancet (I didn’t know how it works). Since then I have a little fear whenever dealing with it.

I proceeded to blood drawing after going through some examinations. The medical assistant first pressed on my elbow pit searching for my vein location. When it was found, she cleansed the skin on top with antiseptic and used a large needle to pierce it. My blood spurted out through the needle instantly.

I was given a rod to hold and squeeze repeatedly to increase the blood flow.

 

The drawing completed in less than 10 minutes and a pack of 450ml warm blood is ready to serve.

A Must-score Test

Diana and I had just registered for the GRE paper-based test which will be held at Penang MACEE, in February 2009. The test registration fee costs US$170, an equivalent of RM570. Some people might think we’re “crazy” for spending this much for just a test, but for us, that’s our stake that would determine our destiny – a passport to the US universities. So we just can’t afford bad or so-so performance in the test. Our ultimate aim is to score with flying colors. 

The GRE or Graduate Record Examination is a multiple-choice admission tests intended for applicants to graduate schools particularly in US. It consists of three sections: 

• One 75-minutes “Analytical Writing” (essay) section that contains 2 essay questions
• One 30-minutes “Verbal Reasoning” (vocabulary and reading) section that contains 30 questions
• One 45-minutes “Quantitative Reasoning” (math) section that contains 28 questions

The first 2 sections are pretty challenging for me because:

1. My english command is not strong; my vocabulary is very limited.
2. I have poor writing skill, especially in the analytical and critical sense (just like what my teacher always says, a lack of critical mind).

So I have two difficulties to overcome in order to meet my target. 

I talked to Diana about the GRE test preparation this afternoon and she suggested to memorize a number of vocabulary and their meanings for every week, then set a test in the weekend. Sounds like a brute-force and “artificial” (quoted from an article) approach but I believe it will help. After all, all we need for the verbal test is to know more words. In fact I myself have a more “organic” way of picking up new words, which is by reading more standard english writings (such as The New York Times) and take notes of the new vocabs I learned from the writings.

6 months to prepare, 1 goal to achieve, 0 failure allowed – that’s the only thing in our mind. I think we have made a good start by investing in some expensive reference books and started to read more. Hopefully the spirit will continue to burn, higher and higher. Wish us luck. Oh no, wish us determination.

Painkiller That Nearly Killed A Life

My friend Susan met a car accident two years ago. Although she survived the accident, the impact of the car crash had caused fractures in her lumbar vertebrae. Since then she had suffered from low back pain frequently. To ease her pain, her physician had prescribed some opiates.

After 6 months of therapy and rest, Susan had finally recovered from her injuries and back to work. However, another problem arose without her awareness. During her resting period, Susan had become pretty dependent on her pain medication. She took painkiller whenever she felt discomfort and eventually the painkiller was taken at an even higher dosage than the initial prescription.

She became addicted to the opiate (painkiller) effects that she could not help to withdraw the pain medication even though her initial back injury had healed. The excessive opiate intake had adversely affected her daily life that she became easily depressed and could hardly concentrate in her work. She also suffered from insomnia often and lost weight badly. Struggling with those unhealthy symptoms for about a year, Susan realized she needed to do something before her painkiller addiction could ruin her life thoroughly.

Susan sought treatment for her painkiller addiction at a drug treatment centre called Meditox after doing some online researches and went through a 6-week outpatient opiate rehab program. The drug withdrawal was a successful one. Now Susan is back to a cheerful person as she used to be and has somehow become more motivated and socially active than ever.

I chatted with her online some days ago and she told me about her future plans. Well, looks like she has got great influence from her treatment counselor that she is considering to enroll in counseling services program! Happy ending isn’t it? I wish her the best of luck.