Well Take My Blood And Call Me A Pincushion

Since I made an appointment for blood test results next Wednesday I thought I'd better get to the lab and have the blood work done.

I was due for fasting blood work to check my blood glucose and ferritin levels.

This is the first time I've driven myself to town for fasting blood work and I was a little nervous about it.

This is NOT the first time they've had a hard time getting blood out of me.

Today I was too dehydrated, which made my difficult veins even more difficult.

She got the first two vials from the left arm- after much poking and prodding and pushing to help it along.

She then passed me off to another lab technician who tried to get the last two required vials from the right arm.

That was a no-go, so she casually mentioned that it looked like there was a good vein on the back of my hand.

"Some people prefer me to take it from that vein", she said.

I said she should do what she had to do, as long as she wasn't offended if I cried. I wasn't expecting it to be terrible, but by then I was a little tired, a little shaky from fasting and being probed, and I couldn't be sure I wouldn't shed a few tears with the stress of it all.

As I walked out of the hospital I thought I must look quite a sight in my short sleeved shirt with the big squares of gauze taped to the back of my left hand and the inside of each elbow.

Not exactly the best ad for the Wetaskiwin Hospital and Care Centre's lab.

Hope I didn't scare anyone off.