Pin Cushion

Well I went to the clinic this morning. I was late but they didn't seem to mind much. Not many people were there. I sopke with a doctor first. We talked about the study and how it could impact the diagnosis of lupus or other autoimmune diseases. After that it was time for the blood draw. I told the doctor that I needed their absolute best person because I am a hard stick. Well, needless to say, it didn't work out well. When I told the nurse about not being easy to The nurse tried twice and missed both times. The second time she was digging around alot. I began not to feel well. After her second try the doctor and nurse were talking about sending me somewhere else to have my blood drawn. I didn't want to do that and neither did my mom. So my mom offered to try. She is a nurse so they said go ahead. She got it! They didn't get all the blood they wanted but they were satisfied with what they got. Now I'm off to babysit tonight.

















Pic 1: The nurse tried a heating pad to make the veins in my arm easier to get.
Pic 2: The first stick. Yikes!

Positive ANA

A couple of weeks ago, I had my blood tested for autoimmune diseases or disorders that may be the cause of all of my pain. The doctor called and said that I tested positive on the ANA test which means that I may be at risk for getting lupus in the future. So tomorrow I am going in to participate in a study. They want to find out a way to more accurately determine if my positive test will result in lupus or not. I'm not too excited though because they want blood. I have horrible veins so I expect to be treated like a pin cushion. Hopefully it goes better then I am prepared for!