Confessions of a Fugitive Mind
August 18, 2008
Just Like the Movies
If my life were a movie, it would probably resemble a gory vampire flick. Switching primary care physicians has unleashed a horde of new doctors and specialists in my life. And each one of them wants my blood. And not just a little bit here or there, but a few vials before an appointment and another few after, then a few more in couple weeks, and more yet before the next appointment. They're downright blood-thirsty.
FAIR WARNING: If you get squeamish during vampire movies or are uncomfortable with descriptions of blood and needles, you might want to skip the rest of this entry.
To satisfy the pre-appointment needs of one new doctor, I went to the local hospital during my lunch hour to have some bloodwork done. Two phlebotomists with at least five different vials pounced on me. The first woman seemed very unsure of the large, deep vein I offered and had difficulty locating it, looking back and forth between my arm and the other woman in the room. After the second minute of hesitant tapping, I noticed the student designation on her badge. She checked my other arm before returning to the original vein, and after getting confirmation from the senior tech and some reassurance from me, went for it.
I mentioned to both of them that vein was tricky, but that's really an understatement. I've had blood drawn from it at least once a week this month and each time it needed a particular angle and a bit of coaxing to keep it going. So when the student encountered trouble with it part-way into the first vial, I recommended changing the angle a bit and applying light pressure to below my elbow to get more tension on the skin. But she was hesitant to do anything but poke deeper. When she couldn't fill the first or second vials, she handed things over to the senior tech. I'm pretty sure she was getting ready to try a different angle on the same vein, but when she retracted the needle a mini geyser appeared, shocking all of us.
As we cleaned up and prepped to try the other arm, the senior phlebotomist mentioned that she'd never seen anything like that while drawing blood. She had always assumed it was just something they did in the movies and on TV. As luck would have it, a smaller vein in my other arm proved to be cooperative and we filled all five or six vials without a problem. No prodding, no extra poking, and no horror-movie special effects.
I've never been squeamish about having blood drawn or being poked with needles, so I was more than happy to have a student work on me. But at this point, I feel like I've had so much blood drawn that I would rather it be done and over with as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Posted by criminal at August 18, 2008 2:27 PM