Tuesday, July 01, 2014

A Tough Stick

One of the things I dread most about a visit to the hospital is having my blood drawn or getting an IV put in. I can tolerate the pain (usually) and I'm not afraid of needles. I've always been one of those people that phlebotomists hate to meet. I've been classified as a "tough stick." I've been told my veins are deep, that they roll, they collapse, they disappear. The lady on the Red Cross Bloodmobile told me to never come back. Sorry folks, it's no party having you stick me multiple times either. Once in a blue moon someone will hit the vein right away, but that's not the way it goes most of the time. The first try on the arm is usually not too bad. The second try digging around in the other arm is a little annoying, but still not extremely uncomfortable. But when they start searching the back of my hand and poking around on my knuckles I tend to get rather exasperated. I actually know someone with similar problems that endured...I'm not exaggerating here...THIRTY attempts to start an IV. I was happy to learn today that the normal OSU policy was to call in someone with an ultrasound device to find a good vein after two failed attempts.

As a side note, I have also noticed that hospital furniture is not built for comfort. Whether it's a patient's bed or a chair for the visitors, a relaxing experience is not in the cards. Laying on a thin blue plastic mattress for six hours straight brings the phrase "cruel and unusual punishment" to mind.

My biopsy went pretty much by the book today. A short delay while they found a vein for the IV, and some delays following the procedure due to some scheduling conflicts, but nothing out of the ordinary. I came out with just a band-aid stuck on my back that my wife has to check periodically for the next day or so to make sure I don't start bleeding out. Pathology results should be complete by Monday, but I won't find out what they are until I meet with my lung surgeon. No followup appointment has been scheduled yet, I'll be calling his office if I don't hear from them by Friday.

I missed my trip to the Twilight Zone. The drugs might have made me a little mellow but I was acutely aware of what was going on during the entire procedure. Darn...I was hoping for at least a little reverb and some video distortion effects.

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