4/19/11 - Lab Results

So I received a call from my doctor's office today, and they let me know that both tests I had done last week after the ultrasound scare came back negative. That's great news and means that it's even more likely that Baby H just swallowed a little blood that his body was processing at the time of the ultrasound.  I go back to the doctor next Friday for a check-up and at that point they'll give me a prescription for another ultrasound so that they can confirm that the blood has passed and that there are no recurring signs of echogenic bowel.

So, it's "good news," for sure.  However, that does not necessarily mean that we're "in the clear" either.  If the problem still exists at the next ultrasound, they'll then look at more obscure things that might be causing it, if we're interesting in doing additional testing.  I'm not sure where I stand with that, as I feel like we've done a lot of testing.... but for now, we have a few weeks to wait.

Anyway, two side stories about this lab work.

When I went to the lab last week the nurse apparently had a hard time finding a good vein in the middle of my arm.  I'm not sure why this was the case since I've given blood dozens of times and they've never had a problem finding a vein.  But in any case, instead of asking to see my other arm, she decided to try for a vein on the side of my arm.  Holy hell, that hurt!!!  As soon as the needle went in I jerked and slammed my head against the wall and was "Oooh...ooh, ohoh, that burns, that stings!! Ow ow ow ow ow."  (I was clearly really mature about dealing with the discomfort.)

She nonchalantly explained - AFTER the fact - that she couldn't find a good vein so she had to take one from the side, which is always more painful.

Through fits of deep breathing to keep myself from fainting, I said, "Next time remind me to give you my right arm first instead!"

Seriously, nurses - If you KNOW it's going to cause someone pain, you might want to politely ask them if they'd prefer that you check the other arm before proceeding with the known painful route!!!  It wasn't even busy in the lab that day! Needless to say, that woman was NOT my favorite nurse. 

Side note to this side story - did you know that Magee doesn't even do their own lab work in house?  They ship it out to another lab and it apparently takes forever to get it back.  For a hospital as big as that, you'd think they could have someone in house to process their lab work.

Anyway, side story number 2....

I had this lab work done last Tuesday.  One Monday of this week I called my doctor's office to see if I could get the results.  They told me "No news is good news" and that they don't usually call unless there is a problem, but they told me that they still hadn't gotten the results back yet, because Magee ships their lab work out (see above - how stupid.)

So I relayed this information to DH, and the next day, he gets home around 4 p.m. and immediately calls me, informing me that my doctor's office called but that they didn't leave any information the message.  I immediately called them back and they confirm that both tests came back negative.  Great! Except, why did you call when you JUST TOLD ME that "no news was good news?!!?!"  Don't they see what they did there?? Seriously... way to make me panic.  But again, in the end it was essentially "good news," so now we wait....