poked and prodded

"the veins in my left arm are tiny and blood flows slowly."

that's what i told the phlebotomist last time i went in. that's what i tell the phlebotomist every time i go in. the saturday morning phlebotomists already know me and know my veins, so there's usually no confusion. but this last time was a tuesday evening. the tuesday-evening phlebotomist didn't believe me.

"well, what about this vein right here?" she asked, pointing to a tiny vein in my left elbow pit.

"they usually can't get that one; it's too tiny."

"i think i can get it ... see it there?"

"well, you can try, but the last time they tried, they couldn't get it and it flowed too slowly."

"i think i can get it ..."

"you can try, but it usually doesn't work. usually they just poke this vein here in my wrist or the one in my hand."

"i think i can get it."

with that, she started sterilizing my left elbow pit with the iodine and betadine ... okay, we'll try it!

and she got the needle in! that was pretty painless. so she opened the valve and let the saline solution begin to flow into the vein. the vein was flowing slowly. interesting. and oddly surprising. i kinda wish someone had said that the vein is too tiny and flows slowly. wait -- i think *i* actually said that. lemme check ... yeah. i did. i said it. i told her. i warned her.

because the vein was so tiny and flowing so slowly, the saline started to fill my whole elbow pit area, forming a growing lump ...

so, as i sat there watching my elbow get larger as it filled with saline, i could do nothing besides just chuckle on the inside and listen as the phlebotomist suggested that maybe we poke the vein in my wrist or in my hand. which she did: she pulled the needle out of my left arm elbow pit and put a new one in my wrist, where i happen to have *huge* veins. pronto. the rest of the platelet donation visit was pretty uneventful. i watched the other boleyn girl (great movie), and enjoyed many snacks.

that night, i took the bandage off and the lump was still there. so i put the bandage back on. in the morning the lump was still there. and i started getting a big bruise. fun times! so i called the red cross, y'know, just to check. the phlebotomist told me that because "we" had ruptured the vein (i *love* how she included me as one of the culprits), i should expect the lump and the bruise to remain for about 10 days.

after 10 days, my elbow still looked like this:

so ... the bruise has now healed and my elbow has returned to mostly normal. there's still a bit of a lump in there. it's been a month. oh, well.

don't you fret, though: this experience isn't keeping me from donating platelets (i went again last night) ... but i *am* going to be more adamant with the tuesday-evening phlebotomists, that's for sure.

(p.s. -- is there an actual name for the "elbow pit"? i feel kinda dumb calling it the "elbow pit".)