Day: October 2, 2007

I adore competent phlebotomists

I get blood drawn often. That is one of the side effects of having a thyroid condition. They have to test at least once per year to make sure that dosages are correct. Testing is done more often than that if I experience symptoms. I had my annual test 4 months ago, but lately I’ve had symptoms that suggest that I my dosage may be too high. So today I trotted myself off to get my blood drawn.

Most of the time getting my blood drawn is a non-event. I don’t stress in advance. I feel a moment’s nervousness when the needle is poised, but that is about it. Unfortunately some of my blood draws have been very memorable indeed. Once I got stuck a total of 5 times over a 2 hour period so they could get one little vial of blood. I frequently get stuck twice in the search for a good vein.

Today it was less than 15 minutes from the moment I walked into the door until I walked out with a bandaid on my arm. That time included registering. I think this is the first time that a blood draw didn’t hurt at all. It didn’t bruise either. Would that all phlebotomists were so competent.