The perfect draw.
I’m the kind of girl who requires a butterfly needle for a blood draw. I’m the kind of girl who requires a warm compress on my arm before even attempting a blood draw. I’m the kind of girl who usually spends more time in the lab chair getting poked and prodded than in the waiting room.
You think you comprehend? No, I don’t think you quite understand.
I’m the kind of girl who shows up to work after a blood draw with a compression bandage around each arm AND one around the back of a hand, bruises developing quickly on all three sites. Yes, it’s usually that difficult to get enough blood for a “simple” A1c, TSH, and lipid panel.
For whatever reason – enough water consumption in the past couple days (thanks to past lab tech advice) or being warm enough on my own bundled in my winter coat until my name was called (thanks to a blood draw veteran’s advice) or all the planets were correctly aligned – Ryan the lab tech had absolutely no problem finding a vein this morning. AND I was in and out of the lab itself in only five minutes (though I still needed that necessary butterfly needle), only slightly shorter than my time spent in the waiting room.
And look, ma, no bruising!
Posted on November 23, 2009, in Health. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
They’ve never used a different needle on me, but I’ve been told I have “deep veins”. That’s a pretty polite way of putting my situation. :)
Yay! I love good blood draws, always a big deal for me! Hope all your results are what you want and more!
Nice! I hope you’ll have this type of luck on all of your future draws too. Bad draws suck. And not just blood.