I learned something new today...

(if you are grossed out by talk of being poked with needles and blood, then skip this one)

Today I learned 2 new things....(drum roll, please...):

1) IF you are poked with a needle in the arm...AND IF the needle doesn't hit a vein...THEN you won't bleed. Yes, tis true.

2) Age and experience are invaluable!

I went to the lab to get some blood work done (why? see yesterday's post!). I sat down in front of a young gal who looked very nice. I gave her my paperwork and she started pulling out empty vials and setting them in front of me...1,2,3,4,5,6,7 - yes, 7 vials! I told her that whenever I've had blood taken in the past, people always have a hard time finding my veins - I wanted her to be prepared and I was secretly hoping she knew some good trick to finding my veins quickly.

She tried my right arm first - tied the surgical strip around my arm, poked around to feel the vein, rubbed the alcohol, etc. Then, she pulled out the needle and stuck it in my arm. I am watching the tube, expecting to see it filling up with red...nope, nothing. She moves the needle around, still nothing. After 3-4 more moves of the needle, (with it in my arm the whole time) still no blood. She tells me she'll try the other arm. When she pulls the needle out, it doesn't bleed. I was very surprised, what with all that digging around.

Left arm - same as the first...no vein and no blood when the needle comes out (I'm still surprised). I'm starting to get a little nervous now, because all 7 of those vials are still staring me in the face. She tells me that she can try another spot on my arm, or get someone else. I ask her to get someone else.

Now, let me say that it's a good thing I don't get grossed out by seeing my arm poked repeatedly with needles. And, I should also say - this was NOT the first time this had happened.

Ok, back to business. My young friend calls to a woman named Carol, and she comes over. When I see her, I am immediately at ease. She is older, has a friendly smile, and looks like she knows what she's doing. The first thing she says is:

C: How tall are you?
Me: 5 foot 10. Does that make a difference for finding my veins?
C: No [smiling], I just always wanted to be tall. I'm 5 foot 2, and the last time I saw the dr, he said I was shrinking.

We both had a good laugh, and I was immediately relaxed. Next, she looked at the labels for my blood tests, and said that one was a duplicate. Yeah, now I only need to fill 6 vials! (It was a duplicate b/c when I was checking in, the gal's label machine ran out of labels, and she put new labels in, the machine got stuck, and she finally had to get them reprinted at another station). Anyway, Carol kept making small talk, and before I knew it, all 6 vials were filled and she was putting a little bandage on my arm. Yeah! Barely noticed she had poked my arm again.

Yes, age and experience are golden!