I've mentioned it before, we can't use my left arm for giving blood, infusions or blood pressure, given the unused fistula in my wrist...the marriage of a vein and an artery...for use if I ever have to dialysis. Hopefully not. Anyhow, my right arm veins are becoming almost useless. The biggest and best source of blood has scar tissue and is now dry. Weird stuff. So when I go to give blood, it's a darn challenge. Today was a simple two vial blood test. CMP and CBC. Took 4 needles before we finally were able to tap into a usable vein. Ugh, that sucks. Luckily, I know the lab tech and she tries to be as gentle as possible. Recently I went to a new lab and that was a big mistake. The tech used a large needle and moved the thing around like it was searching for an undiscovered reservoir of oil. The tech today used a small needle and is real careful. I have a port, but that's reserved for chemo or very specific people to use. But, I need to talk to Dr Phan and figure out what we're going to do going forward. I give a lot of blood and there's got to be a better way.
File this under: Things we don't think about.
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