Eight Tubes of Blood

First of all, I need to excuse myself because I have not been able to update this blog in almost a month. I have been mostly on vacation. My husband had a few days free at the end of May, and then we went on vacation to Puerto Rico for eight days in June.

I want to begin my update with the lab appointment I had on 18 May 2012. The lab technician took eight tubes of blood out of me. Eight! Six of those were the big ones, while the other two were medium sized. I knew they needed to take a lot of blood out so I went prepared to the appointment. I ate a strong breakfast and bought a strawberry-banana shake that I took with me to the lab.

The lab technician continuously asked me if I felt alright while she took the blood samples. She also asked me if I could see her. I was wondering why she was asking that all the time. I was internally laughing at her. “What’s wrong with her?” I asked myself. I felt fine!

However, I started to feel quite funny when she finished. My vision was getting distorted, and I was getting hot down my spinal cord. She called another lab technician, and they acted quickly. One of them put a cold bag in the back of my neck, and the other told me to  put my head between my legs slowly. I was in that positions for more than five minutes until told to fight carefully the hand in my neck and get straight. Then, they gave three or four glasses of tap water. They also called my husband to come and get me. Fortunately, he came with me to the appointment but was dealing with something related to my car inside the base.

One of the lab technicians took me to the waiting area and remained there with and maintained the cold bag behind my neck. I told her that I did not understand why I almost fainted because I had eaten properly. To my surprise, she told me that I did quite well because men whose height is 6’2 faint just after two tubes of blood. I am 5’2 and weighted 105.5 at the time so I did spectacularly. It was entirely normal to get that dizzy and faint after losing eight tubes of blood, especially while pregnant.

Gran Melia Hotel at Rio Grande, Puerto Rico

The doctors tested my blood type, immunity to some diseases such as smallpox, sugar levels, hemoglobin, HIV, and my general health. All were part of common pregnancy health treatment. I got my results during my next appointment on 22 June 2012. The results came out excellent; therefore, something less I have to worry about during this pregnancy.

Nevertheless, it will surprise you that, despite my excellent general health, I suffered from heat stroke and was hospitalized for dehydration during my vacation on Puerto Rico. That story is for my next post.