The First Appointment

(April 4, 2008)

We got to the doctor's, checked in, etc.etc. My doctor was very nice. She came in and had a brief look at me, then went to wash her hands. "I had a chocolate chip cookie to get me started this morning, but I heated it up so the chocolate melted all over my hands," she explained merrily. Mom and I laughed. I had made a list of everything I could think of that was wrong, and a basic time-line of everything. (Yes, I am a planner, and I like to be organized.) This she found very helpful. She thought it was really funny that I put stinky feet on the list. And Laura had written in my schedule: "May 30 - My brain explodes because of LOST." The nurse was frowning at it and I quickly told her it was my sister playing a joke. She laughed and said something like, "Weird family." We talked about some other things, and she looked me over, and agreed that something isn't right. Then I was sent off to the lab.

Since I hadn't eaten any breakfast (tummy+breakfast=not good) I was ready for blood work. My dad was in the building, and he came to sit with us while we waited. (It was kind of funny, because all the little Navy folks were like, "*glance at him**double take**jump up* Oh! You can sit here, captain!" And he was like, "Uhhh, no, I'll just stand in this corner, thanks.") Finally the time came for me to come in.

When the nurse pulled out ten vials for my blood, I started getting a little nervous.

Because of all the things I could possibly have, they needed to take a lot of blood. It's not that it hurts, you know, it's just all in your head and your body sorta freaks out. I gripped Mom's hand and tried to breathe deeply. My dad made jokes and stuff to try and calm me down, but that wasn't very helpful because I'd laugh and jiggle the needle. Somehow I survived, though by the end my hand was asleep from lack of blood and I was feeling rather light headed. I almost hyperventilated at one point. I really, really don't like blood, suffice to say.

I got a glimpse of the ten tubs full of blood and then very wisely decided not to look again.