Venipuncture Lab: Advancing a needle into an arm on a vein you can't see, you can only feel. Feeling for the slight resistance, then give, that signals entry into a vein. Reaching for a vacuumed tube that seems so far away. The lancet starts to quiver under the skin as you fumble to attach the receiving container. You finally manage to secure the container, yet no blood emerges. Questions arise: the needle must have moved! or the container is not yet on. Did it go too deep? Not deep enough? The patient is grimacing. The pressure is on. Despair starts creeping in, daring you to pull out and make it stop.
I was actually sweating and light headed after the lab. What a rush!
I remember seeing you stare at the poster in anatomy lab like you were a crazy person. I guess it's the loss of blood and trauma from sticking needles in people. It seems like phlebotomy was a lot of fun. Med school is really like a roller coaster of emotions. I'm learning to try to be calm and keep a steady hand in high pressure situations that we will have for the rest of our careers.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a nightmare, but phlebotomy really is a great occupation.
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