Blood test

So, Ron got the guy to fix the outlet.  He was very nice about it.

I went for my blood test.  Boy, that wasn't much fun.  I had a lot of water onboard.  In fact, I drank so much water I had to consume extra salt!  Apparently I have very deep, rolling, veins.

I have to laugh, though.  It was pretty comical, she had my arm tied off, I'm squeezing a foam ball for all I'm worth, and all of a sudden I start getting tremors.  She thought I was scared!  I said, no, it's just a side effect of my lithium - tremors.  Just try to ignore them, I'm fine.

So, the poor tech has to draw blood on a shaking arm!  [giggle]  It wasn't very painful.  Ever given blood at  a blood bank?  That hurts a lot more.  I told her to be aggressive and she finally got it.

I had wondered if my fatigue level might be due to an anemia.  I have pretty heavy cycles.  Even though I take iron, maybe I had a problem?  I looked at my arm, at the wrong moment.  Very dark blood running down my arm.

Oooooh.  Well, it WAS very dark and thick looking, so I don't think I'm anemic.  [laugh]  And it was free. The CBC test is $50.

I asked the technician, point blank (something about the medical setting has me baring all, so to speak).  "Are you having trouble because I'm fat?"   She said, not really.  It's a factor, but not major.

I then asked if weight lifting would improve my veins.  She got very animated and said absolutely.  She loves drawing blood on weightlifters.  So, that's something I can do.  Will do.

I can donate blood, at the blood bank, in September.  I want to have better veins by then.

No results yet on the test, but last time it took 3-4 days.