Observations at the laboratory

I spent 3+ hours today morning at the Quest Diagnostics laboratory in town. I had to be there for a 3-hour GTT (Glucose Tolerance Test) to diagnose Gestational Diabetes. I failed the 1-hour test and hence I was asked by my doctor to go through this torture.

I say torture - because I hate getting poked on my arms for blood draw. Not that it's painful, but I always get rude and cold comments from the lab technicians as I have small veins, and they find it hard to find one for the purpose. I also bruise very very easily, and they don't like people like me.

{Left and Right hand bruise pictures after the test.}

Today was the worst, coz I had to be poked a minimum of 4 times in the 3 hour duration. They were as worried as I was by the time I walked up for my last poke :). Three different technicians had to work to complete this test for me, and to my horror, when I was done, the technician who withdrew the last sample asks me:


Tech: "Are you going to work after this"?
Me: Yes
Tech: "You should cover up your arms in that case. People will think you are taking drugs if they see so many pokes on your arms". She was serious, I could tell!
Me: "I'm like, what?"

First of all, I fasted 15 hours for this test, then went through so many pokes at different places on my arms, missed important stuff at work on short notice, and then I would be accused of taking drugs? I told myself, "Whatever" and walked out of that place :).

As I was waiting in the lobby for that time, I made some interesting observations:

- Most women who walked in were carrying a coach purse. I never used to notice it before, but ever since my sister gifted me one and I use it, it is always the first thing that comes to my attention. Coach is indeed very popular among women out here.
- Half of the people who came either forgot their lab slip or their insurance card.
- Today was not a busy day at the lab. Even when there was no queue, people walking in would ask questions like - "I didn't make an appointment, can I get the lab done"? or, "I am few mins late for my appt, will you still take me"? - LOL!
- I met a 72-year old lady, who had come for a similar test as me. She had 48-year old twin boys, and when she was pregnant with them, she kept telling the doctor that something is different with this pregnancy (she had 2 older kids) but he didn't listen to her. There was no ultrasound at that time. When she delivered her twins 4 minutes apart, everyone was shocked :). Her story left me wondering, one more time, how our grandparents and older generation dealt with so many pregnancies with little or no information on how everything was going. Science has advanced so much, and it's great to see lower infant mortality rates and higher survival rates of pre-term babies.
- Most people who expected to wait at the lab brought a book with them. Today, most of the book covers I saw were self-help books :).
- Elderly people who could not understand English very well were ill-treated by the lab staff. I observed this last Saturday as well, when I went for my 1-hour test. I helped one of them today, but I feel this needs to be fixed, so I think I will send in a comment form online regarding this issue.

I was able to connect to work using an unsecured wi-fi network, so my time went by quickly. However, I hope I don't have to go through another round of this painful procedure :).