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miss_lucy21- Oh, my God, I hate blood work. So, the plan was I would go get the labs done on my way to work because the lab is pretty close by. I got there on time for the appointment and everything was gone fine until the tech looked at the lab slip and realized that my doctor isn't one of the ones they usually work with and so she didn't have the codes he usually uses for the lab work and what the slip was asking for wasn't something they routinely do, so she had to go look up the codes. Whereupon she discovered that there are multiple tests that the slip could have been asking for, but they weren't specific enough to tell which test was being ordered. So she had to call my doctor's office. Except it was only about 8:20 and the office doesn't open until 8:30. And then the doctor's office forgot to flip their phones off from the answering service and didn't manage to do that until around 8:45 (which was the time I'd told people I'd probably be in the office by, but that's neither here nor there).
So, the lab tech gets the order situated and logs it into the computer which tells them they need three tubes of blood, and not the tiny tubes either. That was strike two on this adventure as far as I was concerned. And then she asks if I minded letting the student tech stick me, which, yeah, sure, that's fine, go for it. Well, she starts with my right arm, because I wasn't paying enough attention to clue in that giving the student tech the hard stick arm is probably not my best idea. But she can't find the vein after putting on the band, so I say, you know what, let's switch arms, there's a better vein in the left one. At least I spotted this before she went poking around with the needle. She actually did a good job on the stick part- got me on the first try, no hesitating, didn't hardly hurt. Except my blood pressure bottomed out and she couldn't get the tube filled. I think she got half way on the first tube and decided to try the second one and then my arm stopped bleeding for her altogether. Which is not her fault- this happens all the time. So, the actual tech steps in and decides we'll have to try again. At this point, I said that I needed to lie down before they tried this again because things were getting sparkly around the edges. So they got me lying down, gave me a minute, found a smaller needle and went for two. This time, my blood pressure played nice and she got what she needed.
Lesson learned, I apparently can't sit up for blood tests anymore. I used to be able to manage if I'd eaten already and just had to be reclining for the fasting ones, but apparently my body has decided to put the kibosh on all blood letting. I now have lovely bruises on the inside of my left arm and tape irritation because the lab tech used a gigantic strip of tape to secure the gauze pad. Seriously, my arms are not very large at my elbows (my biceps/triceps are big, but the rest of my arms are average to small). She needed about half as much tape as she used. I just hope it all heals up before the surgery center decides they do, in fact, need to do blood work because I'm pretty sure they'll take one look at my left arm and decide to go with the right arm, which is a more difficult stick. But yes, I will insist on lying down for those if it comes to pass.
I texted my mom and told her that these tests had better be useful in some fashion because I will be pissed otherwise. She told me I am my father's daughter- my father is also notorious for passing out during blood draws. And at random, this week. He wound up in the ER the other day because when a 61 year old diabetic man is dizzy and about passing out and his blood sugar is completely normal, then the doctor ships you to the ER because they figure you are having a heart attack or a stroke. Fortunately, neither of those things were happening and he was just really dehydrated. He's on a couple of medications that can cause dehydration and he drinks more caffeine than he probably should, and also tends to slack on the fluids. Because he is easily distracted and easily falls into hyperfocus and therefore just plain does not remember that, hey, maybe I should drink some water. Or, hey, my water bottle is empty, I should go refill it. Because the man is brilliant and a complete idiot at the same time (no, I'm not irritated with him at all, am I?)
So, the lab tech gets the order situated and logs it into the computer which tells them they need three tubes of blood, and not the tiny tubes either. That was strike two on this adventure as far as I was concerned. And then she asks if I minded letting the student tech stick me, which, yeah, sure, that's fine, go for it. Well, she starts with my right arm, because I wasn't paying enough attention to clue in that giving the student tech the hard stick arm is probably not my best idea. But she can't find the vein after putting on the band, so I say, you know what, let's switch arms, there's a better vein in the left one. At least I spotted this before she went poking around with the needle. She actually did a good job on the stick part- got me on the first try, no hesitating, didn't hardly hurt. Except my blood pressure bottomed out and she couldn't get the tube filled. I think she got half way on the first tube and decided to try the second one and then my arm stopped bleeding for her altogether. Which is not her fault- this happens all the time. So, the actual tech steps in and decides we'll have to try again. At this point, I said that I needed to lie down before they tried this again because things were getting sparkly around the edges. So they got me lying down, gave me a minute, found a smaller needle and went for two. This time, my blood pressure played nice and she got what she needed.
Lesson learned, I apparently can't sit up for blood tests anymore. I used to be able to manage if I'd eaten already and just had to be reclining for the fasting ones, but apparently my body has decided to put the kibosh on all blood letting. I now have lovely bruises on the inside of my left arm and tape irritation because the lab tech used a gigantic strip of tape to secure the gauze pad. Seriously, my arms are not very large at my elbows (my biceps/triceps are big, but the rest of my arms are average to small). She needed about half as much tape as she used. I just hope it all heals up before the surgery center decides they do, in fact, need to do blood work because I'm pretty sure they'll take one look at my left arm and decide to go with the right arm, which is a more difficult stick. But yes, I will insist on lying down for those if it comes to pass.
I texted my mom and told her that these tests had better be useful in some fashion because I will be pissed otherwise. She told me I am my father's daughter- my father is also notorious for passing out during blood draws. And at random, this week. He wound up in the ER the other day because when a 61 year old diabetic man is dizzy and about passing out and his blood sugar is completely normal, then the doctor ships you to the ER because they figure you are having a heart attack or a stroke. Fortunately, neither of those things were happening and he was just really dehydrated. He's on a couple of medications that can cause dehydration and he drinks more caffeine than he probably should, and also tends to slack on the fluids. Because he is easily distracted and easily falls into hyperfocus and therefore just plain does not remember that, hey, maybe I should drink some water. Or, hey, my water bottle is empty, I should go refill it. Because the man is brilliant and a complete idiot at the same time (no, I'm not irritated with him at all, am I?)