the blood draw that wasn't

7-6-11

I tried. I slept. I ate. I drank. I meditated. I went there.
I told myself a story of how I wanted the results and this was the way to get them, for someone to extract my blood and read it like a story.

And then the very nice phlebotomist said she hoped I had a big vein and she showed me an entire sheet of labels of all the tests that needed to be run and I asked her to count how many vials that was and when she got to 11 oe 13 and they were not little lavender tops but like large tubes, I simply shook my head. No way.

This has been a year of dreadful blood draws.
I am exhausted, anemic, bruised, and traumatized.

Back to the drawing board. I will have to ask Dr. Taylor to prioritize them and break them down into 2 or 3 lab visits.

I know most of them are either for lupus or the entire stroke panel portion of the lab requisition. She did say if they came back positive she would be sending me on to the rheumatologist.

I need a vacation though. Since I was 14 they have been looking for a diagnosis. 27 years of tests. I really can't do anymore. If I ever even get a diagnosis I think at this date I would hardly be able to stand a treatment if it involved a needle, pill, or loud machine.