I had a follow-up appointment with Dr. Goh this afternoon (he's my sports injury specialist). He's of course happy to see me walking normally, especially considering he'd never seen it before. Poor guy had only seen the raptor stance!
So I get in there, we chat a bit, and onto the ultrasound table I go. The muscles are improving, though he can still see a bit of damage. I'm allowed to get back into the gym, "light exercise" only as he says. We'll find out tomorrow around lunch whether or not my CK and liver enzymes are back to normal. He's certain they will be - says I'm making a good recovery. So I'll find out mid-day tomorrow if I'm allowed to attempt spin class in the evening. Oh boy - I can see it now. Me. On a spin bike. After all this time. Holy lord.
Speaking of blood work, I have to go to the diagnostics lab on the fourth floor of the medical centre to have my blood drawn. This is my third visit in two weeks, so I'm not exactly worried about it. So far the two women I've seen knew what they were doing with a needle and it was a totally smooth process. Well...not tonight! No way!
I get called into the blood cubby, as I like to call it. Not a room, just a cubby. There's a desk and a chair and some kind of medical table thingie. No door or anything. The woman in the lab coat smiles and puts the band around my upper arm, tells me to make a fist. This is nothing out of the ordinary...though the previous two times I had a fun squeeze toy. Not gonna lie, I wanted the squeeze toy! She taps on my vein, wipes the area with an alcohol pad, and then she just grabs the needle.
Whoa whoa whoa lady! What the hell do you think you're doing? You're going to pick up that needle, shove it into my arm, and draw my blood? YOU DON'T HAVE GLOVES ON WOMAN! Nor did I see you wash your hands. You've been fondling all sorts of crap in here and you haven't even washed your hands! Who the hell do you think you are?!?! Who taught you that AIDS are a lie???
I say nicely, "Are you going to use gloves?"
"No, do you want me to use gloves?"
"Uhh, yes, when blood is involved I would most definitely like gloves. In fact, I'll take gloves at all times please."
"I don't use the gloves because I can't feel your vein if I use gloves."
Who are you? Do you even have medical training? Is this going to be like a 5-year-old sticking needles randomly into my arm until my blood shoots out???
"Ok well I would still like for you to use gloves."
At this point another lady, who happens to be standing in the cubby and also happens to have drawn my blood before (quite well if I say so myself), turns around, tells the stupid disease-loving woman to leave, washes her hands, puts on gloves, and gets to work.
She tells me "the other lady is a lab technician, so she doesn't really know to use gloves".
Are you telling me that a lab tech was about to operate on my inner elbow and you were just going to LET HER???
Moral of the story - I miss America.
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Unbelievable! Lab techs are the ones who should ALWAYS wear gloves, they handle all the blood specimens usually. Oh, Sarah, it is often lab techs here who draw the blood, they are trained in phlebotomy techniques before they are let loose. Nurses also draw blood but not for routine stuff in the hospital. Someone w/o experience will have difficulty feeling the vein, so...you find the vein and then put on the gloves! Strange folk... but just think of all this would have cost you 'in America'. You are getting excellent care at a fraction of the costs.
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