Not REALLY angry... just REALLY ticked! | Arthritis Information

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5 sticks, 4 blown veins and still no closer to answers!
 
So... I went for the bubble test aka bubble study. I was there for an hour. MIL was there too, as she was there for a stress test, she is having chest pains. We both had an appt with the same cardiologist for testing.
 
I get back there, and they have to start an IV for my test. The guy starts looking for a vein. I told him my left arm is best for veins. He goes for my right arm. He says I see a good one right there. I said "It likes to blow." He said well I will try it anyways. I was like OK.
 
A few seconds later... it blew.
 
Then he said "I guess you know what you are talking about." I said "yep." Then I pointed out the vein on my left arm that is good, but I had blood drawn from it like 20 mins before, so he said it would probably blow too, since it had already had blood drawn out of it.
 
Then he finds a vein in the middle of my left arm. Then he tried a vein in the crease of my left elbow. Then finally I told him to try my GOOD vein, which is my Remicade IV vein, it never blows and Remicade nurse always gets it on first try, except that one time when I did not drink enough before my infusion.
 
Yeah... he blew that vein too!
 
So... FINALLY after 4 failed attempts and 4 blowed veins... he gets another nurse to come try to start my IV. So... she gets it on first try and in the right arm.
 
Then they send me back out to waiting area and then about 15 mins later they call me back.
 
ONLY TO TELL ME...
 
that I had already had the bubble test done.
 
The lady who attempted to do the TEE on me awhile back, remembered my name and told the others that I had already had the bubble test done back in June. Yeah...
 
You should have seen it! All 3 of them were standing there. Looking like they were scared, and then the one who tried to do the TEE on me in the hospital, spoke up. She said...
 
"Ummm.... Do you remember me? I am the one who assisted in your TEE you had some months back. You were the one who could not fit the mouth guard between your teeth because your jaw was so badly swollen. Well... you will not have to have the bubble test done today, because you had that done the day we could not do the TEE. That was the other test we talked about."
 
I was like ok. Then the guy who stuck me 4 times said he was so sorry for all the sticking and problems getting the IV started.
 
Then I just sat there and said that is fine, don't worry about it.
 
Then the other girl said... "She is so calm and taking this so well. If I was you I would be mad and not anything like you are now."
 
Then the other girl said "Being stuck 5 times and 4 blowed veins and all for nothing... I would be VERY MAD!"
 
I just sat there, and said much of nothing. Just thinking of all the bruising I will have on both of my arms tomorrow. 3 of the attempts were done with a large needle, I mean it was HUGH! It was not a butterfly needle, it felt like he stabbed me with a knife. and you heard the "pop" sound when it went thru my skin. The other needle the lady used was just a little prick and no "pop" sound.
 
When I was leaving out of the room... I told them "Thanks!" and smiled. I bet they all thought I done took too much pain meds or on crack LMAO! Because I was just so... not what they thought I was going to be like.
 
I just have to let things like that not bother me. I mean even though I am afraid of needles and got stuck 5 very painful times, I have no reason to be upset about any of it. If it was not for that lady remembering me, I would have just had it done anyways.
 
The person I am upset with is my husband! He was the one the cardiologist, at the hospital, that tried to do the TEE on me, talked to after he was done with doing what he was doing to me. My husband did not even ask or care to know what the name of the other test they done, and only knew it as "another ultrasound thingy." Like that really helps me!
 
So I blame my husband for my 5 going to be BIG ass bruises that will be on my arms tomorrow. I mean what is the use of bringing him along if he cannot even be your eyes & ears when you are knocked out cold from anathesia? I just might as well of went for the TEE by myself and then had him pick me up after he got off work.
 
joonie2008-09-25 13:24:22Sorry you went through that Joonie .  What a nightmare!
 I would be beyond ticked!  As for hubby, don't be tooooooo mad
 
Hey, do you still love to eat those tubs of cheesecake filling?
Now'd be a good time for that and remember candy corn is just around the corner When I first started getting Remicade, there was a real nice nurse in Oncology, who always got a vein, first time, she'd help me get out of the chair, sat and visited. Then she left and I went through a couple of nurses who had trouble getting a vein, but now I have Kim, who gets the vein everytime, first time. I always ask to be scheduled when she's working. I'll even wait to go until she gets back. One time, she wasn't there and the nurse who was trying was on stick #3, then Kim walked through, I told the nurse, I hope you don't mind, but I want Kim to do it, she was humiliated, but some people are better at finding and keeping a vein than others. I just hope my one excellent vein doesn't go south with scar tissue. I don't know why hospital personnel don't want to listen to a patient, especially one who has been there done that so many times, why wouldn't we know what we're talking about.

Hope you don't bruise too badly Joonie, and I agree with the way you handled it, there would have been no point in throwing the fit after it was over with, maybe they'll be more careful next time. I bet your insurance would have had a fit about being charged twice for the same procedure.

Thanks, Pam... it was a nightmare! I guess when I finally do fall asleep, I will not have any nightmares, as I just lived one LOL!

No, I have not had another tub of cheese cake filling since the first one I tried. I just cannot bring myself to spend that much money on it. I have not even bought a cheesecake since last year I think. I LOVE cheesecake, but they cost too much for just me to eat, as I would not share!
 
I do have candy corn still! I hid the bag. Abby Kitty even tried to eat the candy corn! She was chewing on the candy corn bag the other day, and she drooled all over the bag
 
My hubby is talking down about my GP, because hubby went to him a few weeks back when he was sick, and my GP told hubby he might have COPD. And hubby just thinks he is full of crap. So... he has an appt with a lung Dr next month, and he is going to that appt just to prove to everyone my GP is a quack and he does not have COPD. I think hubby dose have it, and if he does he willnot treat it, he will just pu tup with it until it gets bad again then we will have to beg him to go get seen about.
 
My hubby does not go to my appts with me, he takes me to them, but he never comes in. He use to, when I first started seeing an RD when our daughter was 2. BUt he was no help, he ratfinked on me all the time. I would not mind if he came in to one of my RD appts now, he can ratfink on me all he wants. But he will not.
 
My mom is doing VERY GOOD! She is getting around good and her incision is starting to heal, after having a wound vac installed. She is off a lot of her meds they put her on after the surgery. She has been galvanting about with my sister and she even went to a baseball game or was it practice of my great nephew the other day. She sounds and acts like her old self, but she still has her bad days.
 
Tuesday... my mommy and my other sister are taking me to get my Remicade infusion. So she will be out and about for close to 5 hrs. I just hope it dose not cause her to overdo, or not feel well being out & about for that long.
 
Thanks for asking about my mommy, SnowOwl!
Joonie, if you are taking Prednisone, your veins will be bad and blow. Ask them not to use a tourniquet when starting iv's. Aw Joonie - well, it sounds like you handled yourself gracefully and with dignity.
 
Let's see, I have the 1) mysterious moving tumor in my right hip which was typoed in the MRI report, had to be repeated; and 2) being MRIed in one section and given a drug to slow down my intestines for the test, then being taken over to the next office to test how fast I eliminated.  My pointed question of "does the fact that I just took a drug to slow down my intestines might effect this elimination test?"  Durn straight, rescheduled a week later, and blamed the doctor's office for not scheduling the tests in the right order.   I snorted over that one.  Oh, and the recent barium test where no one thought about giving me the barium to drink two hours before the procedure.
 
It never ends Joonie, medicine's technology and complexity has outpaced its wisdom. 
Boy Joonie.....I was going to say that it sometimes seems like you can't catch a break.  But then I thought that it is a break that you didn't have to have the bubble test twice, right?  What happens when a vein blows?  I never heard of that before.  Doesn't sound pleasant.
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