NewMexiKen went to the lab early this morning for routine blood work. I’m not crazy about needles and so never watch. As I’m sitting there, having felt nothing at all, I realize that the technician is already drawing blood. This is too good to believe — a part of me actually doesn’t believe it — and then she’s done. Wow, I think, that was easy.
“Oh,” she says, “I’m sorry. I’ve got another one [tube] to get. I’ll have to do it again. I’m so sorry.”
It goes without saying I suppose that the second poke was the one that hurt like hell.
The last time I had blood work done it not only hurt, but the tech predicted I would have a bruise. I did: two inches in diameter and it took two weeks to fade.
anticipation sometimes causes us to monitor ourselves perversely, and can create divisons in the mind where none existed (the choke moment an athlete dreads) or can create a helpful self-awareness, as in the prove-they’re-genuine accidental hiccups cure mentioned in an earlier.
btw, at this point, you and the house of representatives have the same number of posters 😉
I shoulda drawn your blood. You wouldn’t have felt either stick. Or rather, you wouldn’t have felt it as I would have realized how many tubes to draw before I took out the needle. Silly phleb.
I found out the hard way that being dehydrated can have an painful effect on the drawing of blood. It’s much harder to get a good poke when you are low on fluids because the veins collapse somewhat. So, now I try to make a point to drink plenty of liquids before I get lab works done.