I went to the lab a couple of days ago for blood work (and pee-work, and whatever else work). When it came time to draw blood, the technician asked, "Which arm do they usually use?" I said, "I think it's usually the right one, but I have shingles and it extends down my right arm almost to my elbow. I'm worried about tying off some of the shingles."
"OK," she said, "then we'll go with the left arm." She tried and tried to draw blood, but it wouldn't flow. The above pic is what my left arm looks like where she tried.
I said, "Go with the right arm. It'll be OK." And it was, as far as the tying off. The technician said, "Ah, now I see why they use this side."
She stuck in the needle and still no blood flowed into the hypodermic. She pushed it side to side and up and down. She said, "Doesn't this hurt?" And I said, "Yes."
Suddenly, blood started to flow through the hypodermic needle. She said, "Operator error. I didn't go deep enough."
I think she went through one vein and into another. Below is how my right arm looks.
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4 comments:
Ouch. They always have to put a blood pressure cup on me to get blood. Thank goodness I don't have to do it very often.
Orbs, you have been battered, bruised and shingled. Stay strong my friend.
That happened to me when I had to get blood drawn because they had me on blood thinner after my knee surgery. The next day my arm looked like that.
Gee... that looks like a good blood draw to me. I bruise just by the nurse looking at me. I look like a drug addict with huge black marks all the way up and down my arm after a doctor's visit.
Hope the shingles have stopped spreading, orbs?
My mother bruised easily. When she'd come home from a hospital stay, both of her arms were black and blue.
The shingles have stopped spreading. I think I got the ant-viral in time. But my entire right shoulder throbs. When I first got the shingles, the sores hurt, but now the pain has moved in deep.
To be blunt, if it weren't for Charlie, I'd off myself. Not just because of the shingles, either. I'm sick of all of this. After 64 years, all I have to show for it are pain and poverty. Fuck it.
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