Blood Test

I am sick all the time, so I am in and out of the  hospital very often. When I am in China, I always go to the hospital near my home. Therefore, most of the doctors and nurses know me. Every time I go to the hospital, the doctors and nurses will give me a big hug and say, “Welcome to our hospital again.” It sounds like I came to my own home. But for me, I really don’t enjoy it, especially when I think of my dad was dead in the hospital because a doctor’s careless injection, my heart expanded and shrank. The most nervous thing for me is to have an IV or a vein blood test. My blood vessels are very narrow, so when a doctor wants to give me a vein injection or vein blood test, she or he can almost never find my blood vessel that easily. The needle bends and turns in my flesh, I felt it is so painful. Most of the nurses can never hit my blood vessel on the mark, they always have to have so many injections, sometimes they have to change nurses to do the injection for me.

When I was in China, I always complained that Chinese hospitals don’t have good equipment, and nurses need to improve their skills. Since I have been to many countries, I know that all the hospitals still use the old method when the nurses hold the needle, and depending on their feeling, vision, sensation, experience, and luck give patients an IV or vein blood test. However, the technology is well developed now.

Last spring, I went to France. I had a high fever and my friend sent me to the hospital. A young nurse came to me and wanted to give me a vein blood test. She looked very confident and she held the needle tubing and hit it into my vessel. Of course she didn’t hit my blood vessel on the mark, . Then she tried again but she failed again. She felt ashamed, so she went into the office. After a while, another lady came, who was much older than the first nurse, she said to me, “Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you.” The old nurse couldn’t find my blood vessel either. She hit the needle into my arm and pulled the needle out until she was sweating but she failed. Part of my arm became blue and black. My tears burst out. She said to my friends in French, “ I am sorry, I will get a doctor.”

When I came to the United States, I thought this is highly technological country and I might not be worried about my blood test.  When I went to the hospital, the doctor said that I needed to do a blood test but I was so relaxed. I followed the doctor into the room and I saw a nurse holding a needle who wanted to give me a shot for my blood test. I noticed that she was using the old method way, too. My face turned pale. I knew I had to do it, I prayed, “God help me. Don’t let her hit me too much and don’t let my arm become blue.” Then I saw the nurse was using a rubber tube to bend my arm. I thought, “Oh, this is different. I thought this nurse might be good,” On that day, a very tall and big black woman gave me a blood test. She held a needle without thinking and used the needle to inject into my arm. She did so many times and not one was right. I was hurt and very nervous, so I pushed her hands away.  She used her eyes to stop me.  I said to her, “Why don’t you find a doctor for me? Please?” She ignored me. I felt my heart was jumping in my chest, the noise from the room was so far from me, and my body was leaving me. I felt I was going to die. This nurse is reaction was very quick. She took the needle out of my arm, opened the windows, and then she carried me in to the bed. Very soon, three nurses came, they checked my heart and blood pressure. But they still had to give me a blood test.

After half an hour, a lady came and she said she was Japanese. She held my arm and patted my arm very strongly. She watched my arm from right to left and then from left to right, then held her breath and with a lot of concentration used a needle to inject into my blood vessel. Wow, this one really hit my blood vessel on the mark.

After everything that had happened, I always think humans invented so many new technologies. Japan invented so much software and machines, German developed many good cars, and the United States invented many medical machines. The United States even invented instruments to measure the nails on the wall, in case people may stick wrong nails on the wall. I am wondering why people don’t invent some kind of needle, which can hit a blood vessel on the mark. It could save people from suffering and also save nurses trouble.