Port Nurses

Woo hoo! My hemoglobin has been hovering in the nines for months, and yesterday it was eleven. No wonder I have been feeling so good! Twelve is the low end of the normal range, so you could say I am almost normal now ;^)

Duke Clinic 1C was jam packed yesterday, probably because of the holiday week. All those Thursday and Friday patients have to be seen at some point, Monday through Wednesday. I sat around for 50 minutes waiting to have my blood drawn. Yikes. Sure, I was reading an Agatha Christie paperback, printed in 1971, that I bought at the Wake County library sale for a buck. The title is something about chimneys. You have to be gentle when you're reading a paperback that is 38 years old.

Turns out that the nurses who draw blood through ports were really backed up -- but the nurses who draw blood by sticking a needle in your arm were less backed up. Lesson learned: in the future, I will tell the desk clerk when I check in that I will take the first available nurse, that it does not have to be a port nurse.

Ooooh, maybe I shouldn't call them port nurses. Makes them sound like they are in the Navy.

Anyway, all is well. I am continuing in the clinical trial.

Etiquette question: Yesterday in the clinic waiting room, I saw someone that I work with. This person seemed to be accompanying a parent. I did not go over to say hello. I was not sure if it would be appropriate or intrusive. Plus to be honest even though I say hello to this person every day in the hallway at work, I do not know their name. Hard to say hello when you do not have a name. Plus, I always wear my wig at work and always wear my baseball cap at the clinic. What if I was not recognizable? That would have been extra awkward.