Authentic Moment #5: My Friend, the Phlebotomist

This lady looks way too happy to be getting blood drawn.

As I’ve mentioned before, when I was pregnant with the twins I had to get my hormone levels checked every two weeks. Which means I had to get blood drawn every two weeks. And, as I’ve mentioned before, I hate needles. Hate, hate, hate. Mostly because I have bad veins. They are thin and deep and most times I have to be stuck repeatedly. And even when they do find a vein that works, usually my blood will clot and they have to stick me a few more times to find another vein.

The “baby” needle.

Probably the most painful part of my labor and delivery with the twins was getting my IV put in by that first nurse. She tried at least four times, if not more. My arms were covered in bruises the next day from all the sticks.

Anyway, my point is, I have bad veins. Period. I have a hundred nurses/blood center workers to back me up.

Every time I walked into CPL to get my blood drawn I’d warn the phlebotomist about my veins and I’d ask for the baby needle (butterfly needle) because they usually have more luck with it.

One phlebotomist that I came to know from my frequent visits was such a character. She was loud and opinionated and hilarious. This is from the first time I met her and her reaction to my warnings:

You have veins the size of a sausage. You’re making me nervous. Are you always like this? Who have you gotten before? What was their name?

What is an “Authentic Moment”? Check it out.

Also, I had to look up how to spell phlebotomist. It would be an amazing Scrabble word.