Donna had a colonoscopy today. She needs to get one every 2 to 3 years due to her Ulcerative Colitis. This is because of the increased risk of colon cancer in UC sufferers. Everything was peachy internally, but externally, that was a slightly different matter.
In what turned out to be an omen of things to come, it took two tries to get the pre-procedure IV started. She had an 8 o’clock start time and by 8:45 I was called back to see her in the recovery area. After she was almost entirely lucid they needed to take a couple vials of blood for some tests.
Donna has always had issues giving blood, as she has small veins and to complicate matters, the chemo she received as treatment for breast cancer in 2006 made those small veins more fragile. Now, cut the number of available arms for sticking in half, because of the lymph nodes removed from her right arm during the lumpectomy back then. Piled on top of that, she was dehydrated from the prep and not being able to drink anything past midnight, so you are really talking big challenge finding a nice vein.
The recovery nurse tried first with no luck. She went and found another nurse who tired a couple sticks without results and she left. The fellow who was her anesthesiologist checked in, noted the trouble and offered to give it a shot as he worked his way through medical school working in a lab. He too failed a couple of times. They were running out a spots to try because they needed to stay below her IV.
Nurse #2 returned and they started trying to get a vein in her left foot. No dice. Now the anesthesiologist left because he had to go put somebody under for their procedure, but he was replaced by one of the doctors on staff at the surgery center. After another failed draw from a foot vein, the three of them concocted another plan. Seeing as they were done with the IV they thought they could flush it and then draw the blood from it. This too, predictably, failed.
By now I am watching from across the aisle in another curtained recovery area lounging in one of those hospital recliners. I can’t get anywhere near the proceedings as there are 3 to 4 medical staff surrounding Donna and her bed is littered with syringe packaging, gauze pads, unsuccessfully filled vials of blood and rubber band tourniquets.
Fortunately for all involved, Donna is still slightly loopy from the anesthesia and is keeping her sense of humor in the forefront. The head nurse for the surgery center shows up and after a confab they try sticking her in the top of her left foot. But because he has been stuck so many times before they opt to give her a shot of lidocaine to dull the foot first. As you can guess, two sticks and two small veins blow out after doing nothing more than coating the inside surface of a vial.
Yet another different nurse appears and Donna asks, “Are you here to stick me too?” “No,” she says, “I’m here to report something to her (pointing at the head nurse.)” In an act of desperation, the staff doctor convinces Donna to let him try getting blood out of the taboo right arm. She agrees because what he said makes sense. You would never want an IV in that arm because the compromised lymphatic system would have trouble draining the fluid, but taking blood out of a vein would not be a problem. The logic was sound, but the results were not.
The original anesthesiologist, now through with another person, wanders by, looks in, and keeps on walking, shaking his head like a beaten man.
The staff doctor and nurse are not about to admit defeat, it has become personal. They are tapping on limbs, tying rubber tourniquets hither and yon searching for a spot they haven’t tried yet. A new player arrives, a slightly older man in scrubs. What magic does he bring?
Donna asks, “Are you here to stick me too?” “No,” he says, “I’m the director here.” He came to apologize for the trouble she was having. She graciously accepted his apology and complimented his staff as they we all very nice, and dare she say, fun to deal with during this whole episode.
Finally the Doc and the nurse found a vein on her left arm that they stuck and very carefully using a syringe, slowly and steadily managed to get a vial full of her blood. Originally when they started they were supposed to get two vials, but everyone in the whole surgery center knew that that was never going to happen. So they took the vial, placed it in some ice and got an aide to hand deliver it to the local lab and instruct them to be careful.
After too many needle punctures to count (best guess being somewhere between 12 & 15) they wheeled Donna out the door at about 10:30 AM.
