I went in for my blood work today. Needless to say that if you read the title of this post, things did not go well.
I go to a clinic that services people of lower incomes, since we can't afford to put me on the hubs' insurance right now. His insurance is super expensive since only 4 people work in the business that his dad co-owns. It would seriously cost us around $300/month to cover me with insurance. That's JUST insurance for me. That doesn't cover both he and I...just me. SO...we found a clinic that has lower rates for people without insurance. The nurses there are super nice, the clinic is clean, and the doctors who work there also work at two of the local hospitals in Winston-Salem. It's a nice alternative to having to pay huge bills at other office's and/or having to pay $300/month for insurance that I would rarely use. (I'm not sick very much.)
Anyway...today they were super nice, it didn't take long for them to call me back to get my blood drawn and it wasn't super crowded when we went in. A very nice, semi-unsure of herself nurse called me back to a meeting room/break room. Pretty much every other room had actual patients in them. (Tuesdays are the day that an OBGYN specialist is in the clinic, so they have a higher traffic volume on Tuesdays.) The nurse was super nice. I showed her the vein that nurses usually use to draw my blood and it turned out to be the best vein to try. Sadly, it yielded very little blood. She didn't hurt me until the very end when she had to go in deeper on the second stick. As soon as I said it hurt, she stopped. She apologized a million times, but it really wasn't her fault my vein wasn't producing much blood! She went and got another nurse while I drank some water and tried not to feel sick, even though I felt like I was getting a little nauseated. (I wasn't supposed to eat anything before going in.)
The next nurse came in and was nice, but not as nice as the first lady, although she was more confident in her abilities. She tried using the same vein, but in a different part. She pumped my veins up a bit more. Sadly, the smaller needle didn't yield ANY blood this time after two different sticks, so she broke out the big one. UGH. That was no fun. It wasn't too bad, but I wish I hadn't looked at it before she put it in. What's worse is that I STILL didn't bleed. My hubs joked that he should have gotten me drunk before we came so that I would bleed freely! By this point, I was feeling REALLY nauseated, almost like I was going to vomit, as well as dizzy, so I said I needed her to stop. So...5 sticks in...one being from a big needle...and still not enough blood to run any test with. That nurse left to get the head nurse to see if maybe SHE could do something. I drank some more water, used the bathroom and tried not to vomit/pass out. I leaned on my hubs and whined a little. (Have I ever told you how great of a husband I have??)
The head nurse came in and I told her how I was feeling, so we moved into a patient room where I could lay back on a table and focus my breathing to alleviate some of the nausea. Well, every time I leaned back, I felt like I was going to throw up. Every time I leaned forward, the nurse thought I was going to fall over and off the table. She tried a tourniquet on my opposite arm (right one) to see if she could get any veins to pop up. She is the nurse that did my blood-drawn pregnancy test back in July/August. She's super nice and she nailed it last time. Well...she didn't get a chance to try it. I almost tossed my cookies. I won't go into detail, but we all decided it was time to stop treating me like a pincushion and save it for another day. The head nurse, whose name I can barely pronounce, let alone try to spell, was super nice about it all and said they could just do the blood work at my appointment next week.
After we left, the hubs got me something to eat, I took a long nap, and I feel much better now...besides my sore left arm. ;-) Keep praying for us! We're at the beginning of what could be a long road...especially if my veins aren't going to cooperate!
If you could take 2 seconds and give this a click, it would mean so much to me! Thank you!!
