Ouch.

I am no stranger to blood work. Over the past ten months, I have become oddly at peace with it all; I'm even able to watch the entire process from start to finish without flinching. That is, with the exception of having blood drawn from arteries. I suppose I didn't know the difference--I just thought blood was blood. But, as it turns out, there is a big difference between the blood drawn from a vein, and the blood drawn from an artery. The difference? Blood drawn from an artery hurts about a BAJILLION times more (and no, I'm not exaggerating). I had some blood work done today to help solve the mystery of the high CO levels in my blood--which meant they had to get blood from the artery in my wrist.

First & second try (left wrist):

(It's hard to see--but a poke mark at the bottom of the "V" and another under the line beneath the "V")

Third try (right wrist):

(This wrist ended up being the winner. It's still swollen though.)

The pictures aren't the greatest, but they indicate poke spots and all. So, the guy would stick the needle into my wrist, and proceed to move the needle whilst in my arm....searching for my artery. Three times. It just makes me stomach hurt thinking about it--and, as I said, I'm really okay with normal blood work---but, not okay with a needle moving about all willy-nilly in my wrists. Ouch.

The results? CO levels = 2.7, which is down from last week--but still above a normal level. And, to top it off, D and I aren't even sure this was the test that was supposed to be done. But, it was interesting to learn my levels are still abnormal. Which means at least this is not in my head.

Speak of in my head....I had a Skull X-ray today also. The X-ray tech let me see the scans afterwards--(too bad I didn't get pictures of those!)--and, even though I've seen all sorts of scans of my insides, I found the x-ray of my skull to be...well, creepy. Oh, and, if you have a big nose (which I do), a side-profile x-ray of your face will only make your nose appear bigger. Yikes.
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On a separate note, we bought Lewis (the cat) a replacement toy tonight. His old version had to be thrown out when he so kindly placed it in his litter box.

It should keep him entertained for ten minutes---until he breaks it, that is.