Curse my veins!

Ankles? Feet? Er . . . OTHER things?

I’m torn between relief that they will get the blood out somehow and the thought that this is really going to hurt, isn’t it?

My condolances. Believe me, I understand - when I got my wisdom teeth out last year it took the dentist about as much time to get the IV in me as it did to actually pull my teeth. What phlebotomists have told me in the past is to start drinking extra water a week before I plan to come in to donate blood. Don’t know if you have the luxury of that sort of planning, though.

One tech, two sticks, jackpot!

She did the back of the hand, and heated the area first–not with a washcloth, but with a rubber glove full of warm water. It looked funny, but it did the trick. Didn’t hurt any worse than her first attempt in my arm–possibly because all the prodding had left everything sore. We’ll see how it feels tomorrow, though.

She apologized for taking two tries! Geepers, I almost kissed her!

Thank you all for the sage advice.

WUmite, at least if we every kill anybody, we can argue that death by lethal injection would be cruel and unusual punishment. :wink: