Tuesday, November 12, 2013

I'm grateful....really, I am

Today, I did not have fun. I went to the "lab" to get some blood drawn for some bloodwork that needs to be done prior to my annual appointment with my nephrologist. I also have a bit of "bio-measurement" test that I'm supposed to do for my health insurance that is also supposed to be done at the same lab, so, why not kill two birds with one stone? I head over to the lab near my house that I normally go to (which was also listed by my health insurance company as one of the labs that does the measurement stuff they require), but they inform me they can only do the bloodwork, but not the measurement stuff - I have to go to another site for that. So, after I get stuck and they drain me of 3 vials of blood, I head for another location where I can get the health insurance stuff done.

After they take me back, I find out that they need to take blood as well for a cholesterol test. Fantastic. Now I get to be stuck a 2nd time. If I had know that I would have just gone to that location first. Oh well, that's why I have two arms. So, they measure me up (6' 4", 215 lbs) and then the nurse proceeds to stick my other arm, and promptly misses the vein (which I warned her about BTW - but they never believe me). So, then they call in the site expert and he decides to stick me again in the first arm that got stuck and just pick a different vein. So, now I have 3 new holes in my arm and I'm a bit peeved at phlebotamists in general.

Side note - this is not unusual. When I had my shoulder surgery they stuck me 9 times in different places trying to find a vein, then the IV came out when they moved me to the surgery table and had to stick me AGAIN. So, not only was I jacked up from the surgery, but I had 4 huge bruises on my hands, forearms and the crook of my arm from where they had failed to stick a vein.

HOWEVER....all that being said....I am still grateful for modern medicine. I would be in a lot worse shape than I am if it wasn't for competent doctors that have been able to keep me functioning in what resembles a reasonably healthy human shell. My family has also benefited immensely from having modern medicine inflicted on us. I kid, but really, even the bad experiences I had today remind me that for all the bad experiences, there are about as many miraculous things (can you use that word to describe the outcome of science and research?) that have been provided by the dedicated practitioners of the medical profession.

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