Blood Work

Please look me in the eye before removing blood from my body.

I have a health condition that has to be monitored, but impacts my daily life not at all.  So, when I go to have blood drawn I am not overly concerned.   I don't like having blood drawn - I can think of any number of  better ways to spend my time - but it is a relatively routine occurrence for me and I am not terrified about what the results will be.

For many people, though, lab tests provide life changing news: they confirm a tough diagnosis or lead to enormous relief after a long period of uncertainty.  The results lead to changes in medications and are the basis of medical decisions.   I arrive at the lab inconvenienced; others arrive terrified.

So why is going to the lab such an impersonal experience?  If your lab talks to you like a human being as oppposed to an insurance card, count your blessings.  I know it happens, but I just can't imagine what it feels like.

"Insurancecardplease.  Writeyournamedownontheformandwaitforustocallyourname." 

Maybe it was the fact that I was still fasting, but I couldn't stand it.  So I smiled at the girl, who was looking down at something much more important than me,  and said.  "Good morning.  May I please have a pen?"  The girl looked up at me. She did.  And she even smiled.   But I should not have had to shock her into taking me seriously. 

For all she knew, the results of what her company was doing today would tell me how long I could expect to live.

Of course, once we were actaully looking at each other, she gave me a urine cup to fill, and of course I had to walk across the entire waiting room with the damn thing.  I am not a prude, but architecture matters.  Everyone in the entire place did not need to know that my urine was being tested!

So I am really frustrated by the time I meet up with the woman who is going to remove the blood from my body.  I will give her this - she was very skilled at blood retrieval.   It has gone very badly for me before, so I apprecaite the skill - but she did not so much as  look at me either.   "Nameandbirthdate" was all she could muster.    So I looked at her - mostly to drive her crazy -  and said,  "Hello, my name is Kate and I was born on June 26th."   Naturally, a complete sentence shocked her out of her coma.  So she looked at me, but could not be bothered to smile.

I would have left in tears if my testing had been about a serious matter.

It seems so simple.   It is not okay to forget to look people in the eye; it is not okay to forget that everybody is fragile in some way; and it is absolutely not okay to put paperwork or convenience ahead of personal interaction.  

So there.  Thanks for listening!