Saturday

I had a funny sort of Saturday morning during the weekend. It started with me being a pin-cushion...

I went for a full-body check-up at one of the clinics. It involved the general examinations, a lung-function test, BMI calculation, urine test, blood test and ECG. Everything was fine until it was time for me to do a little um...blood-sacrifice.

This was where all the trouble started.

You see, I've never been an easy patient when it comes to blood-taking. You can say that I am an inexperienced-doctor's worst nightmare. My veins are incredibly tough to find, tiny and if you happen to stumble upon one in the crook of my arm, I don't yield much blood. Often, the doctors give up trying to draw blood from anterior aspect of my elbow... and switch to a vein from my hand or wrist.

First, I should mention that I had drunk a ridiculous amount of water that morning - just so that I could empty my bladder to give a substantial urine sample. I was still waiting for the call of nature, when I was called... into the blood-taking room instead.

The biochemist who was to potentially 'break-the-record' (or so I hoped), didn't seem fazed when I told her about my 'problem'. She prepared the needles and placed a tourniquet on my arm...

I thought, "Uh-oh. OK, here goes..."

After examining my arm, my biochemist realized that I was not kidding about my 'difficult veins'. Started tapping, tapping, tapping and tapping on the anterior aspect of my elbow... until she was practically slapping it in frustration. *Yeouccch* (Ganas betul!) She would occasionally stop slapping to feel around with her fingers for veins. No veins responded or appeared. I sighed. She decided to insert the needle by faith anyway.

By the time she had finished all the slapping, I was already numbed. The needle pierced my skin and moved around, desperately hoping to puncture a vein. No such luck. After quite some time of moving the needle in all directions under my skin and pumping the syringe to suck up some blood, the biochemist who looked really tired and nervous (I felt so sorry for her) announced reluctantly, "I will have to use a different spot."

I said, "It's OK. Relax!!!" Gave her the most friendly smile I could possibly muster. (I knew how she felt - coz I was once in her shoes)

I thought, "But I want to pee..."

She tried again. Same arm. Slap, slap. Feel for vein. Slap, slap and SLAP! The needle went in clean after a long time... and this time, it did puncture a vein. Bravo! However, she did not manage to get much blood. Pumped and pumped the syringe too. I was starting to smart with pain... and since there was still not much blood, she decided that she'd try the other arm.

This was when Ben, who was sitting outside, got REALLY worried (I had been in there for a good 20 minutes or so) - he talked to another biochemist outside and told her to rescue me. (My dear is such a hero! :P) And so, yes, this time, a different biochemist jabbed me, on a different arm....

BLOOD! At last! Not much, but still... it was just enough to fill up all the lab test-tubes...

I heaved a big sigh of relief!

This was the longest blood-taking session ever. 30 minutes for a few tiny test-tubes of blood. I think I proved to be my first biochemist's worst nightmare.

I ran to the bathroom after that for a good pee. The End.