The Christianville Spirit
The Spirit that Sparkles
August 19, 2015-TCS # 462
Well, My Readers, I have had an Interesting Day. I had to get up This Morning to go to go to off all places, The Doctor. Don’t Worry though, I only went for a Physical or a Yearly Check-Up. That is One Thing about PTLS that I have not really hit too much on, Not necessarily The Doctor themselves, but The Anxiety that comes with Even The Simple Thought of Going to The Doctor (or Hospital for that matter). Now, I understand that They help you and help make sure that You are Healthy. In Other Words, They are there when You need them. When I had My Kidney Stones last year, Boy did I need them! Now, Okay, Don’t get me Wrong, Most People are anxious about The Doctors, I, of course was Extra Anxious because of One Thing, A Blood Drawing. The Mere Thought of it, makes My Heart start beating faster. You See, Having PTLS, which I Love having but, It also has it’s Struggles; Means that You have to go to The Doctor to make sure that Several Important Things are checked, like Your Cholesterol (My Good and Bad Cholesterol like to “Swing”) and PTLS Doctors tell me that I do not have to worry about It! For The Most Part, You Don’t. But, Anyway, Gotta Check The Heart Condition, make sure it is running fine (They are concerns with that!) and Of Course, Bone Density (which should be Checked Every 3 Years!). As Far as I know, I checked out Fine, Blood results will come soon. So, How does My Anxiety work with Doctor’s Appointments? Well, I am going to give you a Glimpse into Going to The Doctor when You have PTLS for a Physical/Check-Up (I should clarify here, This Only Happens once a Year! Not that it happens all The Time! Just so You know) From The Minute that I find out that I have one, I start getting anxious. For Example, This Appointment I had Today, I knew about 2 Weeks Ago. The Day before The Appointment, I am anxious about it (What are They going to Do?! The Unpredictability!). Of Course, I keep thinking about it over and over again, Thanks to PTLS OCD. That Night, It is harder to Sleep because You know that Doctors have to Draw Your Blood in The Morning. The Morning of The Appointment, I do things as slowly as Possible and Dragging My Feet all the way from Bed, Shower, Get a Bit Ready, Get in The Car, and Head to The Doctor’s Office. I think in My Head, “I’m going to get My Blood Drawn Today!” Once There, Anxiety goes up a bit, just sitting there in The Lobby waiting for The Medical Assistant (MA for Short) to come open the Door and Call My Name. “I Guess, It’s Go Time. Let’s get this over with!”. This is The Time, I would really love a Life Remote like The Movie, Click. Then, I can click “Fast Forward” to after The Appointment. Some Day, I Guess! They check My Blood Pressure, Squeezing My Arm! Weight, hmm, Not Bad. and, Heart Rate, High because of Nerves, I guess! Walk me to The Room and I sit with My Mom (Thank God The Today Show on TV in The Room) while The MA gets The Needle. My Anxiety is Pretty High Now! Again, The Waiting for It! That is always The Part that kills me! MA walks in, Luckily My Mom has me at The Sink warming up My Arm because It is REALLY Cold in Here! Doctor gets The Needle ready and It is NOT a Butterfly Needle! Now, I prefer a Butterfly Needle for Two Reasons, Growing Up that was The Best Way to Draw Blood and Secondly, The Needle is much Smaller than The Other One. That and I can see it flowing so I know that it is coming out. If it is not, then They will poke more. Anyway, so I sit back down and My Mom being a Nurse and MA check for My Veins, Squeeze The Ball, Drink Water, and Don’t Eat Anything. I don’t understand why, well actually I do. But, I would have it differently. My Veins are pretty sneaky, They see a Needle Coming and They like to Play Hide and Seek. Add to that, My Veins run differently, They run on a curve from The Middle of My Arm. Now, I do Thank God for This Doctor that I had now because They do the following Process really quick, You don’t see it coming! The Quicker, The Better, I say! First, They put on the Tourniquet (which is basically a Glove wrapped around The Top of Your Arm) which slaps you in The Arm, it convinces you that The Needle is in and It really is Not. Next, This is The Point that The Waiting and Anxiety is at The Highest. Some Doctors, Not This One. Take a Pause in between The Disinfecting The Spot and The Needle going in. I seriously hate that! Let Me know when You are Ready and We will Count to 3 and In goes The Needle. Once The Blood starts going through I am Okay because I know it is working. “What was The Big Deal about that?!” My Mind tells me. and, finally about a Minute later, The Needle comes out, Apply Pressure on Said Spot and put a Bandaid on, We are Good to Go, Blood Drawing is Over! You Know, If You have to arrange the Checks on The List, Blood Drawing (which is The Worse Part, compared to Every Thing Else is No Big Deal) should come first because That is The Hardest Part and Most Nerve-racking. Now, Of Course, I do apologize to those, that are a bit squeamish about that kind of stuff and Making You Picture all that, But It helps You understand My Mind and PTLS better. Anyway, After The Blood Drawing, gotta check The Heart and hook up The Electrodes and Make Sure Nerve-Endings in My Heart are Good. Again, with PTLS and a Bit of Weak Muscle Tone, that is a bit of a Concern. Check The Eyes, Good. Bright Light! Check The Throat, All Good, don’t make me open too wide unless You want me to start gagging. (This Usually happens, if This Step comes BEFORE The Blood Drawing). and, Finally, Check The Ears. Now, having PTLS means that The Ear Wax grows Very Fast, just like The Hair and The Nails. My Ears, of course, are clogged with Wax. Let’s Clean them Shall We?! Inject Peroxide and Water into My Ear (I have been told that This is The Best Way to Clean Your Ears). I go deaf for a Short Time. It feels very strange and I now, Know what it feels like to be Partially Deaf, The Sounds and Voices are Muffled. Inject more stuff into My Ears and Flush it out! This is VERY Uncomfortable but, I will be Thankful in The End. My Left Ear was a bit more welcoming than My Right Ear. The Ear Holes are Different Sizes, must be a PTLS Thing! My Right Ear, The Wax was stuck up there and it was like a Scab being pulled off. The Left Ear, We had cleaned once at Home and It came out flowing much better. You should have seen how big some of That Wax was, It looked like a Bug! Okay, Guys! Sorry, Too Much Information here! Anyway, after all that, My Appointment is Over and It is Time to reward Myself with a Milkshake. Nothing cures The Doctor’s Anxiety like a Good Old Milkshake! After that, You should reward yourself with something, right? I have always done that, gotten Myself a Milkshake after a Blood Drawing, even when I was Younger after Crying much. Of Course, It does help a bit to Hug the Person that Poked me as well as Hugging My Mom. All in all, that was My Day. All I can say, is that I am blessed that for the Most Part, I am pretty Healthy and I have been. I would hate to have My Blood Drawn more than Once a Year. Thank God for That! I am hoping that This Newsletter helps you Understand a bit more about PTLS. As Always, I am open to Questions that You may have about PTLS.
Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Hug the One who Draws Your Blood, It will make their Day!
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