Something Simple

I didn’t realize how involuntary fainting can be. In my previous post I mentioned that I have hemochromatosis and I have to give a pint of blood every so often to keep my iron levels down. On my first visit to the lab everything was going great until the very end when the nurse took the blood away. I was trying not to pay attention during the procedure, but as she walked away she held up the bag and showed it to me. My exact words were, “Wow, that’s a lot of blood.” Then for some strange reason I started to feel light headed and the lights started to dim darker and darker. I let her know about it and a group of nurses proceeded to try to stick an IV in the back of my hand, which wasn’t successful (in their words “it didn’t thread”). They finally put the IV in my arm and I started to recover with some apple juice and graham crackers. Once my blood pressure returned to normal and I was cleared to leave, I left looking like I lost a fight with a needle. I had three brightly colored bandage wraps around me. The one on my hand was simply to cover up the hideous band aids.

I have had two more phlebotomies since then and have not had a problem.