Needles
I had a weird dream last night. I dreamt I had to have some blood drawn but the girl with the needle was a complete ditz and didn't get the needle in my vein. This really bothered me because I have really good veins, they're hard to miss. In my dream, I then refused to let the girl try again and I put the tourniquet on myself and drew my own blood. I woke up thinking about this dream and how strange it was and those thoughts led to reflection.
A year or so after high school I decided I wanted to be a nurse. This was going to be a problem for me because I was deathly terrified of needles. I decided to face my fears and I enrolled in a phlebotomy course. In order to pass the course, I had to be able to perform 25 successful blood draws by the time the class ended. As students in the class, we practiced on each other. This meant that not only did I have to stick somebody with a needle at least 25 times, but somebody got to do that to me as well. Needless to say, I overcame my fear of needles. I don't know if I could actually draw my own blood. I think I'd need two hands for that. But I have given myself a shot before.
I never did anything with that phlebotomy certificate, I never pursued any kind of a career in phlebotomy. But that class sure made IV certification easy for me as an LPN and later, while working on my RN, IV stuff was a breeze. I distinctly remember other students struggling with and being really nervous about IV insertion at the IV lab. I remember being grateful that I wasn't one of them.
A year or so after high school I decided I wanted to be a nurse. This was going to be a problem for me because I was deathly terrified of needles. I decided to face my fears and I enrolled in a phlebotomy course. In order to pass the course, I had to be able to perform 25 successful blood draws by the time the class ended. As students in the class, we practiced on each other. This meant that not only did I have to stick somebody with a needle at least 25 times, but somebody got to do that to me as well. Needless to say, I overcame my fear of needles. I don't know if I could actually draw my own blood. I think I'd need two hands for that. But I have given myself a shot before.
I never did anything with that phlebotomy certificate, I never pursued any kind of a career in phlebotomy. But that class sure made IV certification easy for me as an LPN and later, while working on my RN, IV stuff was a breeze. I distinctly remember other students struggling with and being really nervous about IV insertion at the IV lab. I remember being grateful that I wasn't one of them.
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