Bad day getting blood drawn

[DebE13]

Got up bright and early this morning to have blood drawn to see where my numbers are at for my thyroid. Was pleased to be in and out. I had an unusual pain at the draw site but I had my coat on and was in hurry to be on my way. When I got home the area around the poke was the size if a golf ball and hard as a rock, not to mention painful. I never had this happen before and was surprised because the gentleman who drew my blood has done it numerous times before and I consider him one of the good ones.

It took my mind off my stomach ache for a while. I can finally straighten out my arm but have about a four inch area that looks pretty nasty. I'm sure it will be weeks before that clears up.

It's amazing how something so simple can cause such a disruption to the day,

[Jeanemcl]

Oh brother...that stinks. Sorry.
Jean

[tex]

Bummer . . . Definitely not a fun way to start the day.

I've always been pretty lucky. Over the years I've had quite a few experiences where it took a number of attempts to get the job done, and one where a student nurse finally gave up after umpteen unsuccessful attempts on both arms, but outside of a few small bruises, I've never had a major leak, except for one occasion — when I was in the hospital recovering from surgery, and fortunately, it wasn't due to a blood leak, because I was low on blood at the time. They were giving me an infusion of saline solution, I suppose, because if you have too much foreign plasma in your circulatory system, it can actually cause a bleeding problem that may not be stoppable. I was recovering from surgery caused by a bleeding problem in the first place, and I had already received 11 units of blood prior to and during the surgery, so apparently I was already close to the allowable limit.

Anyway, to get to the point, the IV needle evidently slipped out slightly (or overpenetrated) and after a while I noticed that my arm was beginning to hurt. When I looked at it, it was swelled up like a toadfrog (as they say around here) from about half-way up my forearm to almost up to my shoulder. Just as you noted, the skin was as tight as a drum, and I couldn't bend my arm. And since that was the second or third bag of solution, there's no telling how much had leaked into my arm. One would think that one of the nurses would have noticed that something was wrong. While it was swollen, I remember thinking that if they could get the other arm to match, I could have played the part of Popeye in a movie. As best I can recall, it took most of 2 days for the swelling to completely go away, and I don't even remember how long it took for the color to return to normal, but you're probably right that it was a couple of weeks or so.

It's probably a good thing that it's winter, so you'll be wearing long sleeves most of the time. That will save a lot of time at work, that might otherwise be wasted explaining to everyone what happened.

Tex

[DebE13]

Wow, Golf ball size is nothing compared to Popeye sized! I can't imagine how much that one would have hurt. Nothing like adding insult to injury. I still wear long sleeves in July so it isn't often my arms see the light of day. My husband said people are going to think I'm abused at home.

When you think about it, our bodies are such a delicate balance, it's amazing how we even manage to stay alive. More amazing is how the body keeps trying to find that balance to maintain health.

[gluten]

Hi Deb, When, I have my blood tests they ask what type of needle. They gave me two choices the regular size and the butterfly which is a smaller needle but it takes longer to fill the test tube. I have to order new " kefir grains" the grains did not survive the trip and never grew. Jon

[tex]

Deb,

Actually, the pain wasn't too bad, because I was still hooked up to IV-administered narcotic painkillers due to the surgery. Your arm probably hurt worse more than mine.


Jon,

You're lucky. I've had hundreds of blood draws during the last 10 years, but the only option that has ever been offered to me is "which arm do you want me to stick?".

Tex

[DebE13]

Tex, it's probably a good thing you were on painkillers. I can't imagine tolerating what you had without it. The sad part was I almost passed out when I got home. After I looked at it I immediately got severely nauseous, started seeing black, and had the ringing in my ears. So much for being a tough guy. I've always been that way and find it very annoying because it wasn't nearly THAT bad. My husband shot a nail through his finger a few years ago and I had to drag him to the emergency room. I didn't find out about it until he finished the project he was working on. There was t a ton of blood but he just kept going, it's weird how people react differently to their own injuries. On the other hand, other peoples injuries don't bother me at all!

Jon, maybe I should ask since I will be having lots of blood work regularly. Although, the lab guy was very chatty so I'm thinking he was just a bit careless while blabbing with me. I've gone to him a lot in the past and never has a problem. Maybe I'll just stick with the other side. I've also been told I have leathery veins that roll. When I had my CT scan when I was first dx with CC, both technicians were not able to put my IV in. Talk about feeling like a pin cushion. I started to get a bit ticked off. They actually asked if I wanted to skip the contrast dye since they were having such problems. The tried convincing me they could still do the scan it just might not be as sensitive but would work. I told them I was spending a lot of money for this test and I was really sick so duh, it wouldn't be ok to do a half-ass job. They ended up calling in a surgical nurse. She got it the first time. Crazy.

I should send you my grains. They look pretty happy and I'm not using them for anything more than entertainment right now. Did you get yours from Keysands? They did a very nice job of packaging them.

[tex]

My husband shot a nail through his finger a few years ago and I had to drag him to the emergency room. I didn't find out about it until he finished the project he was working on.

Men are kind of funny (weird) that way. I can identify with him wanting to finish before he could be convinced to go to the ER. Many years ago, I was building a desk out of walnut and ash, and I was finishing one of the drawer fronts on a joiner. If you've ever used a joiner, you'll know that they are probably one of the most dangerous power tools ever invented. They use blades in a high-rotational-speed cylinder to put a beautiful smooth surface on wood, as you slowly push the wood over the cutter. And the cutter is wide enough to surface the entire width of the board in one pass. It works sort of like an upside down planer.

It does beautiful work, but the problem is that even when you take all the precautions, and use a special fixture to push the wood across the cutter (so that it can't contact your fingers or hands), the dang things are notorious for kicking the wood backward, which of course knocks the fixture out of your hand so fast that you can't respond in time to prevent your fingers/hands from diving into the cutter because of the pressure that you have to apply to the wood to push it across the cutter. IOW, no matter how fast your responses might be, when it happens, it will get you virtually every time, because humans simply can't change direction fast enough when they are pushing with that much force against something.

Anyway, I was working on the last drawer, and when it was about halfway across the cutter, it happened, and in about a zillionth of a second, even though I immediately began to change the direction of my hands to a more upward direction to try to miss the blade, the end of my left thumb passed across the cutter, and it neatly sliced the end of my thumb off. Naturally blood started spurting out, but I wrapped most of my thumb in a paper towel or 2, so that I wouldn't get blood all over the drawer face, found the pushing fixture and the drawer face, and ran the wood over the cutter a couple of times to get the surface and the finished thickness that I wanted. Only after I was satisfied with the finish on the drawer face did I decide to try to stop the the bleeding.

I thought that I could stop the bleeding by applying pressure with paper towels, and I tried to do so for a while, but it didn't seem to be working, so I finally gave up and decided to go to a doctor before I bled to death. In those days, many of the small towns around here still had a local doctor, so I went to one and the nurse jammed some of that stuff that looks like shredded styrofoam on the end of my thumb, and it stopped the bleeding. I was lucky, it could have been much, much worse.

Anyway, I'm not sure if this is proof that all men are idiots, or just some of us, , but resisting going to doctors and/or hospitals, and wanting to finish projects despite serious injuries, seems to be a rather common trait for the male gender.

[DebE13]

Honey, is that you?

Oh, that story sounds all too familiar. I was laughing out loud as I read your story (not sure if that's appropriate or not ). My husband is an avid woodworker and builds anything and everything which is why we have a two car garage and I can't park in it- it's filled with tools. I don't know too many guys who own six chop saws. I've already asked, How many can one man have? Of course, the answer is Not enough.

I found the part about not bleeding on your piece hilarious. That too is familiar. Before I got sick we basically gutted our place up north over the course of several years and changed it from a water damaged, mildew infested trailer I to a cabin in the woods. He would go fishing early in the morning and I would rip something out. His favorite was the day he came back and I tore out a wall. It was all in the backyard when he got home. It now has an open concept. Tee hee. I'm good at demolition and clean up and he does the build and repair. Plus what a better motivator than to have no choice but to fix it! Someday when someone else tears up the floor they will see a spot of blood that I circled with a sharpie and wrote that this house was built with blood, sweat, and tears. Hopefully they will have a sense of humor. Better yet, I hope the sub floor never has a reason to be torn out again. The blood on the floor joists wasn't a big deal but I know the mentality of preserving the project at all costs.

I hope the missing tip found its way back to its original location.

[tex]

Taking out a wall is definitely enough to raise an eyebrow or two, I reckon. You're obviously not bashful about swinging a hammer or a wrecking bar. It sounds as though you two make a great team (as long as you don't get too far ahead of him).

I hope the missing tip found its way back to its original location.

Now that you mention it, I did think about looking for that piece, and I actually found it in the wood shavings under the joiner, but it looked so pathetic, with all the blood drained out of it, that I threw it away. I was lucky that the blades didn't quite reach the bone, and over the years, the end of my thumb gradually grew back almost completely, so that today it's pretty much impossible to detect. The only way to tell is by examining the distorted thumbprint pattern. It took over 20 years for the nail to return to a normal shape, though.

Tex

[gluten]

Hi Deb, I did buy my Grains from Keysands and sent them an e-mail about the grains and waiting for a response. Thank you for your offer. Tex, I taught woodworking and machine tool technology for years and was always concerned about the students using the jointers and table saws. Never had any accidents except by me while using a bandsaw. While cutting out a four inch block of wood the block slipped and cut my finger in half across the joint. I just wrapped a cloth around it drove myself thirty miles to the hospital. Only a few drops of blood around the stick shift. I was shocked at the numbers of stitches it took. The microsurgeon had to stitch all the nerves and tendons back together. Twenty six total. I almost made the same mistake as you many times but was lucky. I could not find my push stick. My accident and almost accidents happened on my own machines. Jon

[DebE13]

Tex, it was a happy day for him when there was nothing left I could possibly touch. He left the house to go fishing with a spring in his step laughing that there would be no new projects for him when he returned.

I've had some bad cuts and a few painful pinches and smashes but am relieved to say I have never parted with any digits- full or partial.

Jon- good luck with your new grains. I'll bet they will ship you new ones, they seemed very nice and concerned with quality when I dealt with them. Maybe I had better luck because I'm not too far from them. I just changed the water and there was an even bigger film of goo over the top. It doesn't look like it's something bad so I left it. Maybe it will turn into one ginormous kefir grain.

[Lesley]

Deb, Tex, and whoever has a problem with veins for blood draws. I join that club. I have one easy vein in the crook of my left elbow. Otherwise I always come home black and blue, and once, many years ago, a tech damaged a nerve on the back of my left hand, damage which is still there.
This last epidural the nurse got the needle in quite easily, though it really hurt- a week later the vein swelled up and gave me a lot of pain. Phlebitis. A whole week later.

[DebE13]

Leslie, I feel for you. This is the first time I've ever had a problem so hopefully it was just a careless draw and won't be a pattern. Although, I will stick with my other arm for now.

[Lesley]

I couldn't believe it when it swelled up a week later!