Evil Phlebotomist!

[Sidney]

Thanks to some health issues, I have to get my blood drawn a lot - to the point where I feel that I'm practically a human pincushion. :lol: The first few times I've had to get phlebotomy done, there were a lot of mistakes made because we didn't know what my veins were like. Mine are thin-walled and needles will pierce completely through the vein with them easily, so for the initial draws, I ended up with massive bruises and had to be stuck about 3-4 times. I found out I have difficult veins, so the errors were completely understandable! Over the years, I grew to learn which veins were good and wouldn't rupture, and what type of needle works best on me.

So, today, I went to go see the phlebotomist I normally see for my Family Doctor. She's not very good; she's made a lot of mistakes on me, usually the same mistake every time of using the wrong vein and a wrong needle. We always end up using the butterfly needle. Not feeling like being stuck 4 times or walking away with a massive bruise, I tell her:

"Do you mind if try this particular vein first, and use a butterfly needle? We usually have to end up going to this vein with a butterfly needle anyway. My other vein usually ruptures."

She suddenly got incredibly pissy.
"You're not old. You don't need a butterfly needle. We only get a limited amount, I can't be wasting money on someone who has decent veins; I save them for the eldery patients. I know you have a medical background and all, but let me do my damn job."

At that point, I was too shocked to say anything. I didn't make my request sound rude, I simply pointed it out to make it easier on both of us. No, I do not know more about phlebotomy than her; that's obvious. But, I do know my own body better, and I know what has worked and what hasn't worked over the years. The butterfly needle the vein on the left of my right arm are the winning combo that haven't caused me any trouble; it has worked everytime. The phlebotomist over at my rheumatologist does it this way, and I've never had to be stuck more than once or have ever walked away with a massive hematoma.

So, the phlebotomist grabs the normal needle and goes for the vein I told her not to use. It goes straight through my vein, I start bleeding under my skin. The draw is no good. At that point, I couldn't help but notice the irony that she was trying to save money, but ended up wasting more money going through a regular needle and then the butterfly needle she subsequently used to draw blood - without a single problem - from the vein I asked for.

It was awful. :lol: She was silent the rest of the time.
I just hate people who take a suggestion and morph it into criticism. I wasn't trying to be a bitch to her, I just know my veins better, being as, I dunno, they are mine and all. Anyone else have any bad blood-draw stories? I totally had to get this story off of my chest!

[Kylie]

Ugh. My arm started hurting just reading that. :-P

I, too, have had lots of blood drawn in the past, but I fortunately have great veins. Phlebotomists (is that what they're called? Learn something new everyday...) have told me so. I don't mind getting pricked in the arm, but they've never had to do it more than once in a session. I imagine I'd get annoyed in the same situation.

Also, boooo @ know it alls.

[MetaZedlen]

I had to click on this rant...

Ugh, if I were in your shoes Soubrette... (well, I wouldn't want to be because of my deathly fear of needles...) I would have been asserting myself a little more about your vein problem, being that I wouldn't want to walk away with another "trophy" like the ones you have gotten in the past.

Also, I would have complained about the doctor, being that she put you at a high risk of internal bleeding...

[Tessu]

Maybe I'm a little more passive-aggressive, but as soon as she got done drawing the blood after the whole needle incident, before leaving I'd say something like "Waaay to go." and walk out.

But that's just me. Yeah, getting your blood drawn is no fun. I used to get semi-regular blood draws (because of all the doctor visits I had, I'd be tested for something blood-related at least once a month) and they were okay, I guess. My veins are pretty good for that.

EDIT: OH except the one time. Okay, well, I go through the same routine each blood draw/needle encounter: I ask them if I can look at the needle first, take a 5 second cooldown period to calm myself down, and then turn my head away and just say "Okay go."
Back when I was a little girl it was the same thing. Well, one day, when I was about... 8? 9? I said to the lady, "Let me calm down for a second and then we can do this." She conspicuously rolled her eyes, and called for someone to come in and hold me down. Now THIS didn't help me calm down very much, as you'd think, so I said "No, you don't have to, I'll only be like a minute." And she just COMPLETELY ignored me. No response at all. Then the lady to hold me down comes in and immediately starts going through the whole JUST RELAX OKAY? ^_^ thing, while, you know, grabbing onto my arm and restraining me. Being a little kid all I could do at that point was cry and beg for them to stop and let me go. :\

But they didn't. And I got my blood drawn. And then the lady pat me on the back and left. Man, I was so pissed.

At least my mom yelled at her afterwards, but she didn't really care. Her excuse was something along the lines of "Well I have a lot of work to do and I didn't want her to waste my time". Ugh. What a cranky person. ANYWAY.

Your situation sounds like my mom's, though. She used to have to get her blood drawn a lot (as well as some kind of shot in her wrist or hand or somewhere around that area). And she has very small veins that like to roll around. Dodge-needle anyone?

And another needly story:

This wasn't with a blood draw but with IV. I was going to get an MRI and I asked to be put under so I didn't have to sit still for an hour and listen to the loud machine. They were nice enough to give me some numbing cream for my outer skin (in the shape of a bunny rabbit, even!) but they ended up not leaving it on long enough so I still felt a poke. Oh well. Anyway, the little IV thing leaked like, 7 times, and blood squirted all over the place. I'm not sure why it leaked, but it was probably pretty gruesome looking at all the blood spatters on the floor/bed/my arm.

Good times.

[DreXxiN]

Wow, that's bullshit.

I'm consistently losing more and more trust in medical professionals these days ever since staying with Seo at the hospital. Incompetence galore.

As far as crappy blood stories go, I have one which involved attempting to donate my blood (O-, everyone wants it!), but wasn't allowed to for a rather embarassing reason back in my childhood.

[beatrixkiddo]

I give blood more or less every month, but I've never had a problem. The vampires tell me I have beautiful veins D:

[CupOfCoffee]

Geez soub, you must have good nature coming out your ears to put up with that! I never knew so much went into drawing blood. I guess I always subconsciously thought of people as sort of like water bloons, full to the brim with the red stuff, and that any old poke with any old needle in any old place would be just fine for getting blood (that's what happens when most of your early knowledge about the human body comes from watching older kids play Mortal Kombat 3).

Apparently I have really good "runner's" veins. I only run in the summer and even then maybe 10 miles a week at best, so I must have inherited them. But when I was getting my wisdom teeth out, the doctor put on the laughing gas mask thing and went to sedate me, and whispered very creepily, "You have wonderful veins." I mumbled, "Thanks" and suddenly realized that was the funniest thing in the world, so I started cracking up. The next thing I knew my mouth was full of blood and gauze and I was leaning my head against the passenger side window of the car staring at trees whiz by. And another time, I was shooting pool with some buddies, and we were playing teams. I was lining up my shot and stretching out over the table to do so, and the guy on my team suddenly yelled, "Jesus Christ your arms are veiny!" and I burst out laughing, scratched horribly, and we lost. My "great" veins have been nothing but trouble so far.

[Syl]

I think the phlebotomist might have taken it offensively since you knew what you wanted. Some people who are in careers can't stand someone knowing more than them so they do whatever it takes to prove to themselves they're right. Even if they're wrong :/

I've only donated blood once. I had the experience of getting all anemic because I hadn't ate for a looooong time. As soon as they took me off the IV line, I was like dghklaserklgvaerghh. At least the nurse was really nice enough to watch over me while my head landed back on Earth :)

[Leviathan]

Carter Bloodcare comes to my school every few months and boy do they gather tons of blood. I call them

Carter Blood Vampires.

I have no idea wwhy so many people give blood to them. They don't know what they are doing half the time. Everyone that goes past them has a ugly bruise to match it.



However, I'm fairly sure people go there just to get free Nutter Butters and Gatorade...especially since they leave the cooler unattended.

[Sidney]

Wow, from these posts and stories, it seems like one half of phlebotomists are bitchy, and the other half have vein fetishes. :lol: Probably true. I think Tess's story is a bit more awful than mine. Poor Tess! *hug* For bonus lulz, I once had the same phlebotomist that I mentioned in this story get mad at me because I had an appointment later in the day (due to school), and she bitched at me that I prevented her from going home on time.

I've never given blood to donate before - all of of my blood draws have been for medical testing. I'd love to donate blood, but I've never weighed enough, plus, my blood probably wouldn't be taken anyway. It has issues! :lol: But from what my friends tell me, blood donation can be awful! For some reason, it seems the phlebotomists the Donation Centers seem to hire are all horribly underqualified. Back in high school at a blood drive, there was some music playing, and I saw two phlebotomists grinding on eachother in the middle of the blood-draw room as they waited for people to come in. Then they proceeded to gossip to the students about the drama in their workplace. :roll: They were awful!

[Nai_Calus]

Ahh, blood drawing. I'm a freak and love it. I enjoy watching the needle go in and the blood squirting into the tube, or the bag slowly filling with it.

I used to give blood(O+, not quite universal but close), but I kept having problems and eventually wound up just forgetting to go. Half the time they'd have to poke me multiple times(They all loved me because I was perfectly willing to *be* poked repeatedly), had one time where the flow started but then stopped and apparently enough had already come out that they couldn't try again. I tried doing a double red donation once but there was a problem when it got to the part where the machine was putting the plasma from the first batch back in my arm and it got backed up, I had a great lump from that for a few days, rofl. Ah well, at least the first bag got taken fine on that one. So yeah, problems and then I was working full time so I couldn't get to the place most of the time anyway and I just stopped.

I've moved since then, maybe I'll have better luck with the blood bank here? I kind of miss watching them stick that giant-ass needle in my arm. >D

[beatrixkiddo]

I do double platelets in the spinny machine. It takes a long time and I get really cold, but eh! I can't even read because if I have even one arm out from under the blankets my body temperature gets too low and the blood won't flow fast enough to keep up with the machine.

[Randomness]

Some people who are in careers can't stand someone knowing more than them so they do whatever it takes to prove to themselves they're right. Even if they're wrong :/

Yeah. Some people are idiots.

[Sidney]

I do double platelets in the spinny machine. It takes a long time and I get really cold, but eh! I can't even read because if I have even one arm out from under the blankets my body temperature gets too low and the blood won't flow fast enough to keep up with the machine.

Dang! :( That sounds awful. At the place where my dad donates platelets, they gave everyone a portable DVD player with headphones and he was able to watch a movie. Wish they could do that for you! You could just plop it on your lap in relax. :)


Ahh, blood drawing. I'm a freak and love it. I enjoy watching the needle go in and the blood squirting into the tube, or the bag slowly filling with it.

I used to give blood(O+, not quite universal but close), but I kept having problems and eventually wound up just forgetting to go. Half the time they'd have to poke me multiple times(They all loved me because I was perfectly willing to *be* poked repeatedly), had one time where the flow started but then stopped and apparently enough had already come out that they couldn't try again. I tried doing a double red donation once but there was a problem when it got to the part where the machine was putting the plasma from the first batch back in my arm and it got backed up, I had a great lump from that for a few days, rofl. Ah well, at least the first bag got taken fine on that one. So yeah, problems and then I was working full time so I couldn't get to the place most of the time anyway and I just stopped.

I've moved since then, maybe I'll have better luck with the blood bank here? I kind of miss watching them stick that giant-ass needle in my arm. >D

You sound pretty badass! I bet the phlebs love you. :lol: Sounds like you are like me though; I tend to coagulate fairly quickly, which stops the flow into the tube, and I'll have to be re-stabbed.

[beatrixkiddo]

Well there's a TV on each of the extended donation beds, but I don't really watch much TV :P

[Sidney]

I feel you. Every time I go to a doctor with a TV in the waiting room, it's usually showing Spongebob or some awful Keanu Reeves movie. :lol: (Or at my rheumatologists' office, Cirque De Soleil.)

[CelestialBlade]

Aww, Sou, what is *with* all your doctors lately? First your hawt rheumie becomes a jerk, now this? You so don't deserve this :( I think your rheumie's beard is beginning to control the minds of every doctor on the planet....

Your veins sound very, very similar to how my dad's were, and we know how similar you are to my dad in terms of medical stuff. As for me, I have really strong veins from being a runner. I've given blood twice in high school, and I ended up racing one of my guy friends to see who could pump out a pint of blood faster XD I won, but, didn't feel too good when I went to Track practice that day :P I have no problem with needles, but what does get to me is feeling a tube drag off of a needle stuck in my body. Feels so weird.

[Alnet]

Blood-draw stories, eh? Aside from the countless episodes of my vampiric escapades, well... :wacko:

A long time ago, I had a really bad skin condition, one that I don't think has fully healed, but it used to be a hell of a lot worse. I was prescribed some kind of special medicine I don't know the name of for several years, from the end of middle school to the middle of high school. It was the most horrible thing I've ever ingested - it was 2 pills 2 times a day, and they would give me terrible stomach and intestinal cramps. I swear they had to be toxic.

Owait, that's what this story is about. They WERE toxic! :wacko:

Monthly (or sometimes weekly, even), I would have to go in to have my blood tested. I didn't really argue at first, but after being tested again enough times while I was still wearing the same freakin' bandage from the previous visit, I got curious. Apparently, this stuff had the potential to just ruin my liver if I wasn't taking it right (yeah, I'm really gonna OD on something that makes me want to throw up constantly), or if I just reacted to it badly. So they were constantly checking my blood to see if it was becoming septic or something.

One particularly agonizing time (fortunately, one of the last times), the technician was having some trouble getting the syringe in the right spot in my right elbow. In fact, I swear she had jabbed right into a nerve. Oh, you're not drawing anything? Well, except my poor nerve endings. I was trying to be as stoic as I normally am (in person anyway), but I could feel that my face for once in my life accurately displayed the emotion I was feeling - something between wanting to slap her away and vulnerability from how much that hurt. And then she looked up at me and asked "Oh, does that hurt?" I ended up shouting "YES.", even though I hesitated a moment to try to keep from yelling it.

On the plus side, thanks to those years, I'll never be afraid of syringes now. Not that I was afraid of them before (if someone posts a "Shots SUCK!" thread, I might post there though).

Oh, and... that same doctor tried to prescribe that medicine again later when my condition was shown to not have improved all that much even after all that mania. We took the prescription note, walked out of the office, and it was never seen again.

-lolend-

[Inazuma]

i dont have a blood related story but reading this topic reminded me of something similar.

around 6 years ago i had some minor surgery and was put under for it. when i woke up, the first thing i noticed was a baseball sized bulge in my left arm 0_0! apparently they missed my vein w/ the IV so the fluid was just being pumped into my arm. i told a nurse and she took out the IV but the bulge lasted for a day or so. it didnt hurt that much, just felt uncomfortable. im lucky my skin didnt break considering how much it was being stretched.

[CupOfCoffee]

^ Jesus Christ, man! Talk about inattentive doctors.