I hate medical needles.
I suppose I better get used to it though, right? I mean, how often do you think I'll be getting poked and prodded in the next few months? Day number one of poking and prodding started this morning at the rise and shine time of 7:30am. Well, at least I GOT there at 7:30am (7:15am to be exact). I was second in line so to speak since there were nine of us there as soon as they opened. I felt sort of bad for the woman opening since she was the only one there until about 8:00am. She took fifteen minutes with the first man, and then it was my turn. Now, I had been examining my lab work prior to entering and I counted one, two, three, etc, all the way up to fifteen. I had fifteen little X's marked on my paperwork. Fifteen tests?! Holy crap. How many viles of blood does that translate to? Well I'll tell you. Seven. So here I am starting to have a mini panic attack, because they're taking ALL OF MY BLOOD OUT! (Not really). I was actually already freaking out because there were needles involved. I don't know what my fear of needles stems from... a healthy does of numbing agent when I got stitches as a child perhaps? Makes sense to me, so we'll go with that. Plus, the idea of a foreign object entering into my vein does not appeal to my better nature either.
Deep breathing and relaxation.
This is not by any means the first time I've had blood taken for testing. However, this IS the greatest amount of testing that I've had done with my blood. The last time I had blood taken I threw up. As embarrassing as it is for me to admit, I was so queasy that I actually had to tell the phlebotomist to stop taking my blood so I could vomit. Add to the fact that my husband was there (then fiance) and an unknown number of strangers in the waiting room and my face was both red and pale at the same time. So this time I made sure to tell her "I threw up last time." Embarrassing. Still to this day. ::shakes head:: She told me then, that I would get to sit in 'the recliner' in the room at the end of the hallway so that I was more relaxed. I was beyond happy with that. She left me in there with some water while she set things up, so about another five minutes. I propped my little feet up in the recliner and leaned all the way back in the chair while she put the tourniquet around my left arm. In the past they used a single vein in my right arm. I can point it out to you on command since it's a very nice vein. So when she started on my left arm my anxiety sparked back up a little bit. I have "rolly" veins, and by no means do they like to be stabbed with needles, but she found a usable vein in the crook of my left arm. I made myself relax as well as I could since I remembered my doctor telling me that when I'm stressed out my insulin level spikes... crazy right? So RELAXING was a must.
Polite conversation.
I watched her put the needle to my skin and took a deep breath. She said "little poke" while the needle went into my vein. Blood immediately started to fill the vile and I looked away. I just continued to breath, watch the clock, and make polite conversation with her. I told her about trying to get a hold of someone at my office to tell them I would be late, but no one answered. We talked a little about the testing, and how long it would take to get results (with the holiday weekend, no later than Thursday). I also reminded myself I need to call and get my husband set up for his testing. All the while I'm counting the clicks of different viles being snapped into place while the needle remains pressed into my vein. I'm not going to lie and say it didn't hurt, because this time it actually did. And it STILL does. There's a tiny blue bruise around the puncture wound and a hole from where the needle went in. But ya know what? I didn't die. When she told me I was done I was kind of surprised at how quickly it went. I couldn't remember it being over that fast before, but in the past I threw up and passed out, so for me to remain awake and calm this time was kind of impressive. :) She did have me hold a cotton ball down on the wound because I was still bleeding. And I bled for another twenty minutes after that! Talk about a bleeder...
Bloody Hell.
When she laid out all of the blood viles on the counter I was kind of surprised. My blood is dark red. Almost purple. I've never really paid attention to my blood when I cut myself shaving or when I skinned my knee as a kid, but I remember seeing other people's blood and it being nowhere near as dark. For as long as I can remember I've thought my blood type is AB-. If it IS I really need to start donating blood since AB- is the rarest blood type in the united states. One of the tests they are doing is a blood typing test so I will know 100% if I am AB- or not. Someone asked me this morning, "you don't know what your blood type is?!" And I had to smile and tell her my reasoning, like I'm about to tell you. My mother and younger brother are both A+. My father and two older brother are B+. I am AB-. How can all those positive people make a negative? Makes you wonder doesn't it? I know a little bit about genetics, and when I say "a little bit" I really do only know a miniscule amount about it, but what I do know is that you can get recessive traits passed down the line. If the negative side is from a grandparent, or great grandparent then it's entirely possible I have their blood type. My aunt has a negative blood type, so I know it's possible. It's just interesting to me. I think I'm actually more excited to know my blood type then my progesterone and testosterone levels. I'm excited about all of it, don't get me wrong, but knowing my blood type 100% will make it nice for when I want to donate some. I plan on donating at least once in my lifetime.
What's in store now?
I'm secretly hoping my doctor gets my blood test results back BEFORE Thursday. When she told me with the holiday weekend it would be by Thursday I was a little disappointed. So I'm definitely crossing my fingers for earlier. Once he receives the results the office will call me and tell me on which day to start taking my Clomid. Two pills every day for five days. Then one day between six and twelve I will have a hysterosonogram done. That's when they take a catheter and use it to fill my uterus up with water. They then insert a dye and watch all the little dye bubbles float through my tubes and uterus to make sure there are no blockages or other underlying issues that can't be seen with a regular ultrasound or vaginal ultrasound. They prescribed an antibiotic for me to take when that happens. I need to take it the day before the procedure and then for the next twelve days to prevent infection. They said it's extremely rare to develop an infection, but they take all of the precautions just in case. I also need to contact my insurance again, because when I went to fill my prescription for my ovidrell shot my insurance refused to let the pharmacy fill it. The pharmacy was told that I needed to go to a "specialty pharmacy" to get it filled. Well... I can just order it through the hospital too, so I'll still contact them to make sure I can do that. I need to contact them anyway to double check that they'll cover my lab work that I already did... they said that as long as the code says FERTILITY TESTING and not INfertility testing that they would cover it... but you know how insurance is.
*sigh*
Insurance is ridiculous.
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