A bridging anger

There was another incident of medical anger that helped me get mad about the insulin.

Yesterday I mentioned an A1C test. Technically, I should not have capitalized the "c".

It can also be HbA1c. It checks the amount of glycated hemoglobin, which is hemoglobin chemically linked to sugar. 

It was not considered a good diagnostic tool for diabetes back when I was diagnosed in 2000, though they seem to have decided that it's fine now. Previously, the diagnosis would be based on high fasting blood sugar scores, and maybe you would take multiple of them at different times. The A1c gives you an idea of your blood sugar level for the past 2-3 months, as your blood cells all die off and are replaced over three months. That seems like it would be indicative.

Regardless, it is used to monitor diabetes as well, and I get tested every 2-3 months.

Here is something I don't believe I have posted about before: I am a terrible blood draw. 

That was not always the case. Once I was first eligible to give blood I felt like I should do it as often as possible (there's that overinflated sense of responsibility again) and I gave regularly for several years. 

At some point, phlebotomists started having a harder time with me. It appeared that my veins had gotten all thin and stringy, where the needles would bounce off, or they were shy and would cringe away from the needle, or something like that. They would definitely see a vein, but then being able to draw blood from it was not guaranteed.

The worst time ever -- at that walk-in clinic -- the assistant tried seven times. Fortunately it was one of the good doctors that day. She got me on her first try, but cumulatively, it was eight.

(She also used a smaller, butterfly needle. That seems to be pretty standard now, but in the early 2000s it wasn't, at least not there.)

I am not particularly squeamish and I don't have any needle phobias, but the multiple pokes don't feel good. Even worse is that sense of being defective right down to my veins.

Recently one lab tech asked if I used to donate blood a lot, because it might be scar tissue. Possibly, but the question that they ask most frequently is whether I have had any water.

Yes. Always. I always drink water. Clearly I was not drinking enough. I mean, what other explanation could there be?

With this a blood draw shortly before I got mad at my pharmacist, I was determined to do better that day. I use a 25 oz reusable water bottle. I emptied it once, then twice; my veins were going to be plump and full. 

I emptied it a third time. I drunk so much water I literally felt sick to my stomach. I made myself sick, and I was still a tough draw.

I didn't get mad at the phlebotomist right then, though she was a jerk and I did not have warm feelings toward her. When I really got mad was when I found out that the excessive water drinking had messed up my sodium levels.

I was hurting my body to try and make it conform to someone else's preferences, and all it did was mess more things up. 

Even I have to learn sooner or later.

There was something else that was off too. First, I am going to drop some more medical knowledge.

Sometimes (more frequently lately), when I get my A1c I also get a CBC: Complete Blood Count. It literally counts the amount of oxygen-carrying red blood cells, infection-fighting white blood cells, and clotting platelets in your sample. 

It also measures the concentration of hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein in the red blood cells,  and hematocrit, the proportion of red blood cells to plasma.

My mother had a round of anemia combined with a blood clot that was affecting her oxygen delivery, which led to many procedures and medication that can impact clotting. I was really boning up on the red blood cells and platelets three years ago. 

I could have drawn upon that knowledge if that were my problem. I guess I am still a bad draw.

And I am probably not going to get to that until next week, because music reviews and also have room to follow-up and rant a little. For now, let's just say I have a little white blood cell problem.