It just so happens that I had to have blood drawn twice in a short period of time. The first time, I was donating blood with a very interesting technician. The second time, I had to go in for my usual yearly check up. I'm sure other folks have done the same thing before: you check your cholesterol, blood sugar, and various other numbers related to your relative health. Basically, they want to actually measure how healthy you are. In order to do so, though, they have to draw blood.
This wasn't my first time having to do this, so I knew the routine. I showed up early in the morning, got my number, and waited for my turn (it's not a particularly hard routine). All in all, that whole portion of the interaction was relatively smooth. I always end up wishing that they would call my number faster, but it's not like I had an unreasonable wait. Like I said, it was a pretty reasonable, mundane wait.
The actual blood draw portion, however, was slightly less mundane. The nurse/technician/person with the needle went through the usual pleasantries and asked me for my information. Once that was done, the stabbing and blood draw commenced. Now, the people on the other side of the table know full well that this can be a disconcerting experience. I've managed to get over my dislike of watching the needle, but it's not exactly something to which I look forward. So, people often talk to you while this is going on. Basically, they're trying to distract you while also making the whole thing slightly less awkward.
That's when things started to get funny.
Technician: "So, you have any weekend plans?"
Me: "Yeah, actually. I've got a birthday party to go to." (ignore my bad grammar)
Technician: "Oh, that sounds like fun. Going anywhere fun?"
Me: "Well, he's about one year old, so probably not."
Technician: "Haha. I've never been to one of those. That should be interesting."
By this point, we'd both had a pretty good laugh, so we were feeling fairly jovial. Laughter is magical at taking the edge off, I'll say. The rest of the actual blood draw process went smoothly, and I figured I'd be on my way. However, as with donating blood, your body will be slightly weaker when you have just lost a few vials of blood. So, it's not unheard of to give you something to recover. That led to one more exchange.
Technician: "Do you want any juice or water?"
Me: "Juice would be great."
Technician: "One second, be right back"
*comes back with a little juice box*
Technician: "Here you go"
Me: "Haha, now I feel like a little kid. I haven't had a juice box since I was young."
Technician: "Haha. Well, I might be able to get you a hat for the birthday party from back there, too."
I'm not going to lie, I was very tempted. Alas, it was not to be. Though I will also say that if all blood work exchanges work out like this one (or the previous one I linked), I may start to like this whole process. It's surprisingly fun.
This wasn't my first time having to do this, so I knew the routine. I showed up early in the morning, got my number, and waited for my turn (it's not a particularly hard routine). All in all, that whole portion of the interaction was relatively smooth. I always end up wishing that they would call my number faster, but it's not like I had an unreasonable wait. Like I said, it was a pretty reasonable, mundane wait.
The actual blood draw portion, however, was slightly less mundane. The nurse/technician/person with the needle went through the usual pleasantries and asked me for my information. Once that was done, the stabbing and blood draw commenced. Now, the people on the other side of the table know full well that this can be a disconcerting experience. I've managed to get over my dislike of watching the needle, but it's not exactly something to which I look forward. So, people often talk to you while this is going on. Basically, they're trying to distract you while also making the whole thing slightly less awkward.
That's when things started to get funny.
Technician: "So, you have any weekend plans?"
Me: "Yeah, actually. I've got a birthday party to go to." (ignore my bad grammar)
Technician: "Oh, that sounds like fun. Going anywhere fun?"
Me: "Well, he's about one year old, so probably not."
Technician: "Haha. I've never been to one of those. That should be interesting."
By this point, we'd both had a pretty good laugh, so we were feeling fairly jovial. Laughter is magical at taking the edge off, I'll say. The rest of the actual blood draw process went smoothly, and I figured I'd be on my way. However, as with donating blood, your body will be slightly weaker when you have just lost a few vials of blood. So, it's not unheard of to give you something to recover. That led to one more exchange.
Technician: "Do you want any juice or water?"
Me: "Juice would be great."
Technician: "One second, be right back"
*comes back with a little juice box*
Technician: "Here you go"
Me: "Haha, now I feel like a little kid. I haven't had a juice box since I was young."
Technician: "Haha. Well, I might be able to get you a hat for the birthday party from back there, too."
I'm not going to lie, I was very tempted. Alas, it was not to be. Though I will also say that if all blood work exchanges work out like this one (or the previous one I linked), I may start to like this whole process. It's surprisingly fun.
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