12 of 12 - August 2010

Happy 12 of 12. Check at Chad Darnell's blog for the master 12 of 12 list with links to all the other 12 of 12ers. And remember Chad's name, cause he's gonna be an Academy Award winning screenwriter one day soon. :-)

My 12th was spent once again at the doctor's. I've got to stop letting them schedule me on the 12th, cause I have way too many photos of the hospital, x-ray machines, blood, needles, etc. in 12 of 12s past. I don't want to see them anymore, and I'm sure no one else does either. But unfortunately, this month, that's most of what I got.

So let's begin.

6:55 a.m. - View from my bed. Looks like the sun is creeping up on me again. I rarely sleep anymore, but I try. Of course, most of my good sleep comes about 15 minutes before the alarm goes off. Trying to get in a little early today since I'm only working a half day and have tons of stuff that has to be finished before I go.

7:15 a.m. - Getting prepped for the doctor. They can never get a good vein when they take my blood, and I'm already squeamish about it to begin with. I've even passed out a time or two (or 7) when they've stuck me, so I've learned all kinds of tricks to try and make it go easier for me. Trick #1 is to start drinking lots of water 24 hours ahead of the appointment. (This has the added benefit of also helping if you have to give another type of sample as well.) So, here are a couple of bottles to get me started (plus 2 more I left in the fridge at work.)

7:17 a.m.- Trick #2 is to take something to focus on that makes me happy so that I won't focus on them sticking me. I've used a lot of things over the years, but this is one that has helped me the last few times. It is a photo from a friend that has special meaning to me. I had it made into a wallet size so that I can whip it out whenever they start tying the little rubber thing around my arm.

7:17 a.m. - Trick #3 - Previous lab results. I get copies every time I have blood work done, because if it has only been a few weeks, some of my doctors will take this in lieu of doing it over again. This works once in a while. It didn't work today.

12:48 p.m. - Piedmont Fayette Hospital, oh how I hate you. It's a nice hospital and all, I just hate being there since that's where Daddy was through most of his final illness. But all of my doctors are in this building, so what can I do?

12:55 p.m. - Kind of a weird reflection thing going on between the two sets of windows on either side of the glass doors going into the doctor's office.

1:12 p.m. - Trick #4 - Have them use a butterfly on you instead of what the smart-ass technician referred to as a "grown-up" needle. The butterflies are a little easier for them to fish with when my vein inevitably runs and hides. Looks like they found one on the first try.......

1:30 p.m. - Yep - just looked like it. That one blew out before the first tube filled up. Ended up with two sticks in my arm...


1:37 p.m. - before they ended up going to my hand, which still hurts hours later. Seems that none of my tricks worked today. And it just got worse after that. I'll just say that blood was not all they wanted from me today, and the next set of photos would have involved longer needles, my hip and me weeping uncontrollably. Needless to say, the camera got put away and I need to have my photo from Trick #2 reprinted cause it got crumpled pretty badly.


4:00 p.m. - Finally getting ready to flee from the torture. View of the hospital parking lot from the 4th floor. Can you spot my car/truck? You know, from this distance, you can't even tell that it needs to be washed.

4:10 p.m. - Passed the lake on the way home and stopped for a few minutes to get out and kind of meditate on it all. Of course, the heat, combined with my light-headedness, was not a good combination so it didn't last long. So I went home and took a nap.

9:00 p.m. - Woke up and went upstairs to try and finish cleaning out the guestroom closet. This baby was completely full 2 weeks ago. But I've lost 50 pounds in the last few months (which made me happy, but not my doctor for some strange reason) and so I went in and tried on just about everything up there in the last few weeks. Ended up donating about 100 items. Now all that remains are all my winter coats, my concert t-shirts from the 80s and 90s, a few other keep sake clothing items and my Dad's flight jacket. Now I can actually have a guest stay with me and have room to hang their clothes. And for the record, that little black spot on the wall of the closet? It isn't really there. I went back up there and the wall is completely white. I cleaned my lens and took the photo again, and it was still in the photo. Too strange.

So, guess that's it. See you next month, if not sooner.