Wednesday, October 19, 2011

The Fast(ing) and the Furious

8:00 am. The alarm blares. I wake up Brian and tell him he needs to get up and make his own breakfast and coffee and to wake me up after.

8:35 am. We leave for the hospital. It's pouring down rain. I haven't had anything to eat or drink since last night at 9 pm. I didn't even brush my teeth, since I love to drink a glass of water after. I was miserable.

8:50 am. We arrive at the hospital to find out that the outpatient lab is uhm... closed. So we ask hospital staff and they tell us to go to the 2nd floor, first door on the right outside the elevator. We tell them that is the one that is closed. They look puzzled and confused.

9:00 am. Finally in another outpatient lab in the main hospital. We tell them I'm here for my GTT and my name, id and ins card.... no order for me.

9:15 am. They locate my paperwork. Apparently it is waiting for me in the closed lab. Sigh. New paper work is being faxed. I'm given a fancy bracelet even though this is outpatient lab work. I feel fancy.

9:25 am. Finally the new paperwork arrives and I can get my first blood draw of the day- the fasting one. This takes all of 30 seconds. Lab tech is surprised I am such a good bleeder. She uses butterfly needles (really thin, easy needles)

9:45 am. I finally get the glucose drink. 100g of sugar, so it's twice as concentrated as the last. My stomach is rumbling and I'm so thirsty. I chug it.

10:45 am. First of three draws. I'm having them use the same arm for all of them. My right arm is pretty much useless anyway and I don't want to be bruised on both arms.

11:45 am. Second to last draw. I'm so tired, I'm having trouble staying awake. Brian brought the laptop and was watching videos on YouTube. I brought my crochet stuff, but couldn't concentrate on it.

It's somewhere between 11:45 and 12:45 that I am becoming delirious with hunger. I am trying to think of what I want to eat- I've been fasting for 15 hours. It's a tie between a bacon double cheeseburger and a big greasy burrito. I definitely want cheese fries.

12:45 The last draw! Woohoo! Except the tech I was with all morning left and now some old man is doing it. He doesn't talk. He used a bigger needle- it hurt really really bad. And I bled. A lot. Like, a lot a lot. Again, he was surprised that I am such a good bleeder. This one hurt the worst.

We leave and decide to hit up Steak n' Shake. All I could think about at that point was sleeping. I was tired and very sore, and not even hungry any more. I fall asleep on the car ride over.

I order chicken fingers with honey mustard sauce, cheese fries, and a small chocolate shake. I didn't finish the shake. I gulped down a huge glass of ice water. Brian had a Frisco Melt (cheeseburger with Swiss and cheddar on sour dough toast, with Thousand Island dressing), a chili cheese hot dog and 2 orders of fries.

I came home and fell asleep in bed almost immediately. My arm was killing me! I couldn't bend it, I couldn't hold my purse, and I felt like crying. I wake up and already got a lovely bruise blossoming.

I'm told tomorrow I will know the results. I'm anxious to know the results but at this point I also don't care. I'm so over being stabbed with tiny needles.

I could never be anorexic, that is for sure. I could hardly stand fasting for 12 hours and by the time 16 hours rolled around I was ready to kill someone. I woke up hungry. I ate. I'm still hungry. I become ravenous and insatiable.

In exciting news, Drake is head down! I get hiccups in my pelvis region now and forceful kicks near my ribs. Tiny punches somewhere in the middle. So things are moving right along. I'm 30 weeks today.

2 comments:

  1. "I'm so over being stabbed with tiny needles." I can SOOooo relate to this... They NEVER get me on the first stick... EVER... so when I've needed multiple blood draws, I just grin and bear it. Totally sucks though!

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  2. Eek talk about a long bad process. I haven't felt any hiccups or it could be that I'm missing it altogether! :)

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