This morning I've come to have some blood tests done.
The main reason is because I've been suffering from the most horrid and debilitating sweats and hot flushes. It doesn't have to be warm and I don't need to be rushing about to end up coming over all hot and dripping with sweat. It's got so bad that I have to carry a flannel everywhere with me to wipe down my face. I'm panicking that I'm going through 'the change'. (Make sure you avert your eyes and whisper this phrase. One cannot be seen to be talking about such vulgar things in public 😉)
And no, before you say anything, I'm not that old but since my operations my periods have been very erratic so maybe I'm going through it early or maybe it's as my doctor thinks. He says that the sweats are a side effect of my medication. But I've been having them for months now and to be honest I'm really getting fed up of them. It's embarrassing to be in a shop and suddenly start dripping over the merchandise. Or to have to start fanning myself with whatever is at hand and seems vaguely fan-like. And I'm also fed up with everything being attributed to my medication. I know I'm on shed loads of medication but I do sometimes think that it's the easy scapegoat. If I had a pound for every time someone has said to me 'oh it's bevause of your medication' then I would have enough money to come off benefits!!
So I insisted on having a blood test to check and if the bloods come back as normal then I know it is my medication and it will put my mind at rest. I do worry that one day I will go to the GP not feeling good and my medication or my pouch will get the blame but then it will turn out to be something serious and I will be given weeks to live or something!! I know that sounds terribly over dramatic but after having been so ill it's always in the back of my mind that I will end up being that ill again.
Anyway, I booked my appointment before half term and they are actually running to time. This is a huge contrast to the deli style ticket system in Hertfordshire that can see you sitting there waiting for hours on end for your number to be called out! But what is exactly the same is that the waiting room is full of old wrinklies and that I'm the youngest one in there by at least 30 years!!
As I go in and sit down the phlebotomist (blood taking person) asks if I'm ok having my blood taken. Erm, yeah. But I am difficult to bleed I tell her. She gives me that look, the look that tells me 'I hear that from everyone and I always gets blood first try so just sit down' kinda look. But I really do have bad veins and after 15 minutes of trying to get blood out of me she gives in and tells me that it's like trying to get blood out of a stone. So hah! In your face lady! I told you so!
In the end she manages to get the tiniest trickle of blood which she said only just made the minimum mark on the bottle so there may not be enough for them to do the tests. Hopefully there will be but what's the betting I get a call in a few days telling me I've got to go in again as there wasn't enough? Pretty high I reckon.
On the way out the phlebotomist calls out and says "next time you book an appointment tell them that you need a double, no wait, better make it a triple appointment. You're a nightmare to bleed". Yes I am. Welcome to my world!
NB x
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