there's always a first time

i fainted today. no, seriously. i fainted at work.

first thing i did when i went to work, was to join in the health screening within the company premises. it's free anyway. urine test fine, weight + height taken, waist circumference done, blood pressure ok. but that's not the point of this all. there was also a blood test. they wanted 2 tubes of my blood. when it was my turn, i'd sat down in front of the male nurse, and i observed him poking the syringe into my left arm. i was ok with that. he inserted one tube after another, each time waiting for the blood to fill the inside of the tube for a while.

when he was done, i felt my ears could not hear properly and so i sounded out i needed to go to the toilet. they were going to escort me there because i mentioned i was feeling faint. lo and behold, i took about 5 steps and barely stepped out of this room the blood extraction was in before i blacked out!

i wasn't sure how long it lasted but it was probably only a minute or less. but i came back to my senses shortly, only to find myself almost lying face up on the floor, with somebody supporting me from behind. they had then gotten me into a chair. holy crap that was weak of me. indeed. i'd sat one side with them getting me some milo. i took a while to recover.

• this was the first time ever in my whole freaking life i'd fainted totally.
• i think i scared another colleague (married guy with kids) who was sitting next in turn behind me for the blood extraction.
• another colleague who was rather timid decided even strongly against taking the test because she was already afraid of the needles.
• the male nurse had concluded in a small chat with me that my last meal should have been before 10pm (10 hour fasting period) as opposed to my dinner which was around 7-8pm. my fasting period was longer than recommended.
• i stood up too soon after the blood extraction.
• i never had 2 tubes worth drawn from me before.
• i can't imagine how much worse it could feel for a swordsman to be stabbed and slashed multiple times walking around like it's nothing, without passing out!

i think i'm still ok with needles after this episode. but no shit, i'm not joking about this whole matter.

*crap @;[*