Three Kitties and Blood*

Several months ago, I decided to make an appointment with an internist to establish a relationship with a doctor in DC in case I was ever sick--I'm not one for those "quick clinics."  I was scheduled for my physical the first week of January and made the trek to Foggy Bottom to meet my new doctor, spill my family history and be on my way.  The visit went well--I really liked my new doctor and all of my vitals tested out fine.  The final step: give a few vials of blood for routine testing.

Part of my instructions for the physical was to fast after midnight the night before.  I didn't realize that I could drink water, so I only had a few small sips instead of the 2-3 glasses I drink in the morning--usually before 10:00am.  By the end of the appointment, it was nearing 11:00am and when the nurse came to draw my blood, nothing came out.  They tried both arms AND my right hand.  Nothing.  I was sent to sit by the water cooler and consume as much as I could, but still nothing would come.  The doctor mused that a combination of dehydration and the cold temperatures may have contributed to my veins not producing any blood.  Either that, or I had survived a vampire attack.

Since the latter seemed unlikely, we rescheduled an early morning for me to come in and have blood taken.

Now we're current: this morning I awoke to pouring rain and freezing temperatures.  Just the perfect day to traipse across town and be out and about.  As I fought my way up the metro escalator, I tried to remind myself why I love living the urban life so much and fantasized about having a driver pick me up and deliver me effortlessly to my appointment.  I digress...

I made it to the appointment where the nurse who helped me last time remembered exactly who I was.  I was escorted back to a room and the nurse promptly went for the vein in my right hand.  Thanks to my extra efforts to hydrate (water before bed and 2 glasses before leaving the house) and the fact that it was only 8:00am as opposed to after 11:00am...my veins were just bursting lovely red blood.

I'm not squeemish around needles.  I grew getting weekly allergy shots and I'm the first in line for the flu vaccination each year...but...around the third vile I started to sweat a little.  My focus shifted between clay models of the human spine to a fascinating poster of three kitties.  I settled on looking at the cats.  You can't see it from this poor quality photo (no Nikon in tow today) but the big cat has these rainbow colored whiskers...and I started to count them....

As soon as the nurse capped the last vile, I blurted out, "I feel ill.  I need to lie down."  I was cold and hot and  lightheaded.  The trio of kitties looked concerned.  The next thing I knew four nurses appeared, someone pulled the table out so I could put my legs up, another nurse ran for water, someone else was mopping my brow with a cool cloth.  I just keep apologizing for being so much trouble.

So, Happy Tuesday.  Just because it's not Monday doesn't mean it's going to be any less eventful.

After resting for a few minutes, I felt well enough to head back to work.  Thankfully, Trader Joe's is downstairs from the doctor's office so I made a pit stop there to get some sustenance.

*I dedicate this story to those in my life who love me through all of my medical maladies.

You know who you are.