So, once again...

[shadesong]

I forgot about my PTSD appointment.

Already irritable from this morning and from having been chattered at nonstop during lunch (when we move to the new building, I have *got* to find a secret lunch-eating location!), I get a call from the clinic - I forgot my PTSD appointment.

Fuck.

And I can't reschedule, because the shrink no longer actually works here, she works for GA State, but she's here for a few hours today only to finish out the people in this study. So I hafta go. So fine. I hike up to the clinic, fill out a bunch of paperwork, etc.

And then I find out that I have to give blood. And that the medical doc I've been seeing is no longer there. So I get the rookie. Different rookie from last time. The rookie takes my blood pressure incorrectly. And she fumbles around with the tubes and needles, wondering aloud what this-and-such tube is for.

This does not inspire confidence in the patient, y'all.

*sigh*

So. I survived. My arm is killing me, though. And that was the last appointment. The doc is going to call me in a month to see how I'm doing, but no more office visits. Thank the gods.

Comments

[dslartoo.livejournal.com]

Already irritable from this morning and from having been chattered at nonstop during lunch (when we move to the new building, I have *got* to find a secret lunch-eating location!)

I recommend bringing a book and simply ignoring remarks put to you by other people while you read. If they persist, look up long enough to say "Sorry, I'm reading." Or "Sorry, I'm having my lunch. I'll talk to you later."

Of course, this works only if, like me, you don't care about pissing off the other person. But I wouldn't want to be friends with somebody who would interrupt my reading or my lunch.

cheers,
Phil

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

I *had* a book. I just kept grunting noncommittally and focusing on my book. Didn't work.

[settsimaksimin.livejournal.com]

yes, the secret lunch location!

difficult when it's a stranger sitting next to you on public transport, almost impossible when it's a co-worker who just doesn't get it.

[morenasangre.livejournal.com]

You have my deep and sincere sympathies about the rookie blood lady. I have had numerous traumas with those (still got good scars from the first time I had blood taken - 7 stabs, no vein). I don't like needles in the first place (who does) and when something goes wrong, your worst nightmare begins. "Oh, it'll just take a minute to replace the tube." "But my arm's turning blue." "It's not bad yet." =( I am SO sorry...ouchie.

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

The worst needle trauma I ever had was when I was in prenatal care for the baby I miscarried in '93... I had an idiot nurse who refused to believe me when I told her that the only vein she'd be able to get blood from was the left inside-elbow. She did the smirky "oh, I think I know how to do my job better than you!" thing and stabbed me with the needle - unsuccessfully, of course - all over my right arm before finally giving up and going with the spot I indicated.

[ga-sunshine.livejournal.com]

Being a person who went through fertility treatments and numerous miscarriages...I learned to say "look, it's this vein on the top inside part of the right elbow. You get one try. After that I find someone else." I got tired of looking like a victim of domestic violence from all the bruises...and I seriously have only one good vein to get blood from!