Let's Try This Again--Bloodwork Take 2!

I put on My Grumpy Old Bear
shirt and did a FB post

Any Medical appointment stresses me out and our annual checkup is no exception.  Yesterday, the technician tried three times to take my blood with no success before giving up.  Not only that, but it hurt too!  She blew two veins and made a scratch on my hand when she yanked it out.  Then, she put a stretchy bandage on my arm and hand so I couldn't even move my arm much.  I took those off as soon as I got home and replaced it with normal band-aids.  I missed playing pickleball because of this appointment so I wasn't happy to begin with, but this got me mad because now I have to try again today at the lab at UH Hospital so have to fast again!  I gave thanks to God that this is my biggest problem, compared to what other people go through, this really is no big deal--actually just a huge inconvenience.

Fortunately, I am also thankful that: 

(1) UH Hospital is very close to my house.

(2) Their lab for bloodwork opens at 6:30 a.m. so I drank 4.5 bottles water after I got up and arrived at 6:33.  I was back home at 7:03 and ate breakfast--Yay!  

(3) I didn't have to wait long at all. 

(4) The Lab person was sympathetic and nice about having to do extra work by calling my doctor's office for a new order because the technician there screwed up and put the labels on the bottles before actually getting the blood.  Consequently, it showed as already being done in the system.

(5)  She got blood expertly on the first try without any problem; moreover, it didn't hurt at all!  Not even a little when she put in the needle.

(6) The whole experience gave me a blog post.

4 1/2 Empty Bottles before 6:30 a.m.

They say it helps to drink water before the blood draw so I drank tons of water this morning before I left, even more than the 2 1/2 that I drank yesterday.  I wanted to do whatever, to be sure they could get it this second try.

This is not the first time this happened.  It happened once to my husband and once to me before so next year, I will ask the doctor for the order and go right to UH that same day to get the blood drawn by the experts there.  Since that's what they do all day, they are way better at it!

Thus, my verse of the day is I Thessalonians 5:18 which says:  In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.  

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Our Worst Annual Chcckup Ever!

How One Phone Call Ruined My Day--Blindsided!

Our Worst Annual Checkup Ever!

Annual checkup time is always stressful and I'm glad it comes only once a year!  This time though, it was even worse than usual!

When I got weighed and the scale showed 143, I said WHAT?  That can't be right!  Granted, I did have on shoes that together weigh 3 lbs., corduroys and a turtleneck under my sweatshirt, but still.  That is a 13 pound difference than my weight at home wearing just my slippers and PJs.  This morning I tested our scale with my 10-lb. weight to see if it is accurate, and it is.  But then, I went ahead and got weighed fully dressed and oops--it showed 140!  Yikes!  Time to cut down on the desserts--the hostess ding dongs, the snowballs and the brownies.  I really don't know how I can possible be more active than I am already, other than playing pickleball three times a week in the mornings.  For that though, I need dry warmer weather consistently.   

The day after, I get a call from the hospital offering to schedule me for a catscan that my doctor ordered.  Again, WHAT!  He mentioned no such thing to me and no, I do not want to schedule one.  This call was so annoying to me because not only due to the content, but because it was a machine calling so I couldn't even talk to a real person.      

One thing we did learn is to always drink some water before going so they can draw blood easily for the lab work and the urine sample.  My husband hadn't drank enough which led to an additional trip to the outpatient building at the hospital after stopping at home to drink a lot of water to rehydrate.  Oh, what a nightmare!  To summarize, he had to wait over an hour and by then he really had to go bad.  Turns out the lab didn't even know he was waiting--something got screwed up when he checked in.  After they did find out, it still took them 20 minutes to get him in and by then he was afraid he'd wet his pants.  Fortunately, he didn't!      

Not only that, but my husband hates needles and in addition to his Pneumonia shot, was poked six times for blood, four at our doctor's office and twice at the hospital.  I felt so bad for him.  My husband only goes for these checkups because he knows I think it's important, but this trip was truly awful.  We spent 4 hours dealing with this annual checkup torture.  He's such a good guy!

On the bright side, there is some good news.  

    (1)  The doctor ordered him that Colonguard test to do at home so he doesn't have to have a colonoscopy!  

    (2)  My blood pressure was 120/80 which is amazing!  Retirement definitely agrees with me.  

    (3)  We got a one-year prescription for our pills that are keeping our cholesterol under control.

Do you go for annual checkups?  If not, don't let this stop you.  It is always helpful if things can be caught early that are wrong and prevention is worth it.  Next up is my annual mammogram.

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I'm On Steroids and Feeling Better! by Spunky Doodle

 

Since mom started squirting some pink syrup (Prednisolone) into my mouth twice a day, I've gotten my appetite back, become more active (even going upstairs) feeling much better and eating without throwing up!  At first I didn't know what was coming when mom squirted the pink syrup into my mouth.  She caught me by surprise and I was off guard, but now I don't much like it and try to escape.  Since the time I shook my head and it got all over my furs, she has been putting a small towel around my throat so I don't get any of the sticky syrup on my furs any more.  I try spitting it out, but she's on to me and keeps my head tipped back longer making sure I swallow it.  

Mom says I have to put up with it because it helps me to not throw up.  She did give me some good news though.  After Sunday, I only have to get it once a day and then, after two more weeks, just once every other day.  That won't be so bad.  I think it's worth it not to have an upset stomach, right?

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4 Things I Learned This Week (Email, Medical, Home, FB)

(1)  One thing I learned is that to get a smiley face in an email, just type a semi-colon, hyphen and a closed parenthesis ";-)."  I guess this is common knowledge, but I didn't know about it until I asked a co-worker this week how to do it.

(2) 

Another thing is that anyone 65 years or older should get a Pneumonia vaccine, a Tetanus vaccine every ten years, and now there is a vaccine for Shingles for anyone over 50.  I can get these at the Walmart Pharmacy with no appointment!  They said Medicare covers the Pneumonia one because it is so important and they want to encourage people to get it.  Well, now that I know this, I need to get it done.



(3) 

Oops, we've had a sump pump in our basement for years and just today I noticed that we were supposed to have a maintenance visit every year on it.  I called to schedule one with Basement Systems this morning, but they are only open Monday - Friday.  See what happens if I don't write things on my calendar?

(4)  I learned how do "check-in" to a place on Facebook when our new Pastor asked the congregation to check-in at church on Facebook.  I had to wait until I got home to do it and then it took me a little time to figure it out.  Once you put in your comment, then click on the 3 little dots at the bottom to open up more options, one of which is "check-in" which you then click on and it brings up a list of places that you can choose.  It'll show a map with the post when you post it.
Only 107 days until I retire!

Hope you learned something from this post!  How about sharing something you learned this week in the comments--anything at all.

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