3 hour glucose test
What a morning! I rolled out of bed with 30 minutes to shower and head out the door to the lab just a few minutes away. I hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since 10 PM except for some water during the night. The lab opened at 7 but only had 2 people on staff that early and about 8 people all trying to get in early and get out early. Didn’t work. I signed in at 7:10 and didn’t even have my info processed until 7:45. Luckily (for me) by that time people were getting highly irritated and leaving and at 8:00 2 more technicians arrived. I admit, I too was starting to panic, about not eating until 11:00 but decided since I didn’t have anything else to do I would just hang in there. So at 7:55 I had my first vial of blood drawn and I had to drink the orange sugar soda and go sit again for another hour. I had blood drawn again at 9, 10 and 11. Of the four times I had blood drawn, only one of the technicians did a good job, and luckily she did me twice. The other two ladies, the first and last, left red track marks going down the vein - one on each arm. Brad joked on the phone this morning that I’ll look like a junkie and he’s right, I do. They were in such a hurry because it was so busy and didn’t seem to take the two seconds in advance to calm down and pay attention to the needle they are sticking into my VERY prominent veins. Granted I don’t know how to do their job but it still amazes me that as much as my blue veins pop out, anyone can hurt me. Neither was as bad as the lady in Dallas last year who left a HUGE bruise, though, so I am only whining a little.
So for 4 hours I sat and read a good book (starting the Philip Pullman series). I had brought a pillow and put it back behind my head so that I could sit comfortably and was aware as others came and went and were frustrated by the hectic environment of the lab.
The first hour after drinking the glucose was tough. On an empty stomach that stuff is evil and I struggled several times not to get sick. Much easier to drink after being allowed to eat all day like the 1 hour test, then I was just a bit jacked up. But since that test didn’t give a good result I understood the need for this new test with a baseline and all. But whew! Several times during that hour I had to put down my book and do something to get my mind off my body and how it felt.
The office was so busy, probably because it was a Monday, that they usually forget to call me on the hour. Luckily there was another lady there also doing a glucose test (not for pregnancy though) who would keep an eye on the clock and remind them and me when it was time (I was pretty lost in my book). We talked a few times and it turned out that she was a twin; fraternal with a brother. That was neat to talk with her about to forget about the pain of the needle sticking in our arms.
I finally made it home and was able to eat but the sugar crash was intense and all I wanted to do was sleep. So I had my nap at 1:00 and just woke up to eat and rest some more. I feel like I ran a marathon today instead of just drank pure sugar and sat around all day. At this point I don’t much care what the results of the test are as long as I don’t have to do that test again.
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