Yesterday I saw a new psych nurse (we took pictures with Brad’s camera and I’m still waiting for them to be edited—I’ll make a post about that when the pictures are ready!). She ordered some bloodwork for me, so this morning I went to get it done.
I had an appointment for 9:45, so I showed up around 9:30 as they requested. It was raining, so my mask and the rain really fogged up my glasses!
I got inside and headed over to the check in computers (it’s self check-in). They had a nurse assisting people.
LabCorp where I get my blood drawn has been hit and miss about my SD. My favorite phlebotomist works there, and I’ve seen her at three different clinics over the years! She’s great, but sometimes the front desk people are not nice about Hestia.
So the nurse assisting people came over and I started to get nervous. Since my glasses were totally fogged up, I couldn’t read the expression on her face, so I just ignored her and continued checking in. She came up next to me, watched to see that I knew what I was doing, and then told me how cute Hestia was! She looked closely at Hestia, and I think she was reading Hestia’s vest. Then she moved on to help the next person. Whew!
I sat down to wait, and wait. Even though they require appointments, they were still slammed and running behind. At about 9:50, they called me up to the front desk to look at the tests my doctor had ordered. The lady started to say something to me—I think she was going to ask about Hestia—but before she could even get a fully formed word out, the nurse who had been helping people check in put her hand on the front desk person’s shoulder and nodded. So the front desk person somehow understood everything was OK and just switched to asking for my paperwork. Whew, another access challenge averted!
While I was up at the desk, my favorite phlebotomist called the next person and I was able to wave at her. She recognized me right away and said she’d be sure to get me for my blood draw.
Around 10AM I was finally called back by my favorite phlebotomist! She is really good and always gets my small rolling veins on the first try. She also doesn’t mind Hestia at all.
I decided I wanted to try my right arm since I hold Hestia in my left arm usually and it was raining out so I was carrying Hestia back and forth to the car. Now my left arm usually has better veins, so I usually do my left arm and Hestia is used to the set up with me doing my left arm.
Hestia didn’t really know what to do with her doing my right arm! She was moving around trying to figure out which spot she should be in and nearly fell off my lap! Twice! But we made it through, and I think next time I’ll just go with my left arm and carry Hestia out to the car in my right arm. It’s not worth it to risk dropping Hestia.
The phlebotomist even remembered that I was training Alice, and that last time I came in I had Alice with me. I had to tell her that Alice washed out of service dog training. She was happy to hear I’ll get a new puppy sometime this year, though. She said she can’t wait to meet them.
It was overall a good visit and good blood draw! But I was happy to get home after waiting so long—especially not having eaten anything beforehand!
I took a selfie of Hestia and me in the waiting room. It is below. In it I have wavy brown hair and am wearing a rainbow mask. Hestia is looking like she thinks she’s a princess and too good for the picture taking!
