Needles and Nurses

It was a good day at work - hey who am I fooling? It was tolerable, maybe that's a better description. This morning I went to work fasting so I could have my annual wellness screening. Less and less is required of me each year so the entire experience took about 15 minutes. Since I don't work in a clinical area, I am no longer required to take the TB test, nor the FIT test. Ahhhhh, that chopped off some time.

I have tiny hidden veins - she likened them to Easter eggs hiding in tall grass. She finally chose a small needle and after some ins and outs and resticking and poking and prodding, she finally got the red goop to flow. There was little discomfort though, even after all that jabbing. I even watched some of the process -- and I NEVER do that. I can count the flower patterns in the wallpaper on the other side of the room like a pro!! But today, she was brilliant - well for me it was anyway. I sometimes have to undergo needles in both arms and then sometimes in the hand - then after several jabs everywhere there is supposed to be a vein, they send me over to the Lab Department for their best phlebotomist - who usually gets it the first time. But today, I lucked out. The nurse in the Occ Health Dept finally accomplished the undoable. Actually the nurses over there usually run when I come in - no one wants to be responsible for my vein poking. I bruise, I bleed afterward, and sport several band-aids the rest of the day, but not today. Today, one band-aid and no bruise. Yipppeeee

Tomorrow morning I am to go back to be given the lab results and have a bit of a sit-down chat with a nurse. I'm hoping everything is within normal limits, as it's been in all the past years, but the blood sugar and cholesterol results have been creeping up slowly. Found out I probably don't have to worry about the blood sugar reading, because it has to be over 169 and mine has been in the upper 90s for two years. Whew. But then there's the CHO. The good, the bad, the total, the tri's, and of course other readings have been added too. So, I'll find out about them tomorrow. If anything is out of range, I have to see another nurse who will have to "help" me get those numbers back in range.

I have been eating fairly healthy this month. Yep, just one month, started Mar 1. But I've been trying. Turkey and chicken have been the meats of the month. My dad's side of the family had high CHO so I was rewarded with those genes. Mom's is extremely low, so maybe I can stay in the middle somewhere. I'm just glad to get the arm jabbing over for the year.

Today I had lunch with a friend. Nice to get away from the stress and enjoy a nice chicken salad plate. Today was cooler than the last few days and we had some rain this morning about the time I got up. It was over by the time I headed out to work but it's chilly here tonight and the potted gardenia plant had to be brought in for the night. We're expecting to get temps about 35 tonight and that's a bit too close for comfort for our gardenia plant. I cut some branches one day recently of 2 kinds of flowering shrubs and they are here on the table. One has pink blooms just beginning to poke out and the other should reward me with orange blossoms soon. Ahhh, I do love spring. I'm getting sleepy so I'm thinking it's about time to get horizontal for 8. Ahhh, and I think I could squeeze in a few snores too.