I currently get weekly blood tests so that my doctors can keep track of what’s happening to me. I went to get one today and the lady that did it didn’t do a very good job. First of all, it hurt (which it shouldn’t when done properly) and second of all, I had to put my own bandage on because she abandoned me and I was sick of sitting there.
I’ve gotten dozens of blood tests since this lupus stuff started, and I’m definitely going to get dozens more in the future. I really wish that people were trained to give them better. When I was at the hospital, I had one girl have to poke me multiple times because she couldn’t get the vein properly. That was after she failed to wipe me with an alcohol pad because she just forgot to.
I hate needles and have obviously had to learn to deal with them. I got a lumbar puncture in the hospital because they wanted to rule meningitis out. I can’t begin to tell you how scary that was for someone afraid of needles.
I got a lot of blood tests done in a short time when I was in the hospital at the start of the month. My electrolytes were insanely low so they were checking those every 3 hours. Then they were also running plenty of tests to try to figure out what was wrong with me.
Since I was getting blood work done every 3 hours, I obviously didn’t have time to heal in between needles. The people doing the tests (can someone tell me what they’re called? They’re not nurses, are they?) started looking at my right arm and going, “Wow, you must be so sore!”
To make matters worse, I had an IV in my left arm that was a huge problem. It was sore in the first place (ever since the guy in the ambulance stuck it in me), and then one of the porters pushing me in a stretcher across the hospital for one of my tests accidentally tripped over it and almost ripped it out. Then one of the technicians injected something into me for an MRI and it hurt like a bitch, and everything hurt a lot after that. I had to get an antibiotic via IV and I was in pain the entire time it went through me, so I had to change the IV to my right arm. The arm with all the blood test pokes. Sigh!
IV wounds in both arms meant hand blood tests after that. Let’s just say I highly recommend you never get a hand blood test. Do. Not. Like. Apparently I have good veins though! At least I didn’t have to get foot blood tests or anything exotic like that. And now I almost enjoy blood tests in my arm after knowing what blood tests in the hand feel like.
Okay no more needle talk. My medication seems to be going okay so far. The dose of one of them increased again this week, so I’ve been treading cautiously as said in my previous entry. I’ve had some digestive problems since starting it, so my stomach hurts a lot of the time. But it hasn’t been unbearable and it doesn’t prevent me from doing anything, so I am fine with it as long as my doctors are. And if I can handle oral medication, I don’t have to inject myself with medication! Bad for my liver, good for my sanity.
I got to play some poker last week and it seemed to go fine. I didn’t get to play any regs, presumably because I played too late. If I keep feeling okay, my next session will be soon and I will play during better hours because I need to play some regs.
Poker isn’t just about making money for me right now. If it were, I’d be playing lower stakes and just playing fish because there’s still money to be made there. Poker is about proving that I can function normally and still maintain my skill as a player. I’ve never been about mass multi-tabling and grinding dollars like a zombie.
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