Vein hopes

I give thanks today wasn't all about going to hospital for a venogram! I wasn't sure what to expect and when I googled it and the first suggestion was that the following word might be 'painful' I decided not to do any more research... In my head it was just going to be a needle and a bit of contrast in each arm and the main problems were a) that it had to take place in a hospital room I associated with a great deal of previous trauma and b) that they might not find a suitable vein to work with. But that was past and future and I give thanks for trying to make the present moments as bearable as could be...including forgoing a lie in to go into the city centre beforehand and buy myself a couple of little presents!

I give thanks for seeing a man tugged along the station platform by an eager Westie I assumed was keen to meet a family member stepping down from the train. But when they went past us the other way, sure there was a woman walking with them but also another little terrier and the first one was bounding along beside it turning its head to share a canine grin every couple of steps. Made me grin too...

I give thanks for remaining pretty calm when I turned up for the procedure...until the man who gave me my preparation instructions seemed to think I should remove all garments 'as you don't know where they'll want to go in' and also remarked that he didn't like getting too chatty with people as he might get to like them and he knew if they were in that department things were probably not going to turn out well. What??? I give thanks for the woman who turned up after and rubbished the first part anyway so I could leave some clothes on and panic behind. The Prof and his team who did the work were clearly perturbed by this introduction too and I give thanks they were as reassuring as they reasonably realistically could be, and as gentle...though if my veins were easily accessed I wouldn't have been there in the first place and my hands are pretty bruised and sore.

I give thanks for all the cooking and cleaning I did yesterday, so I don't have to do much tonight...eating, snoozing on the sofa in front of the TV and reading a book in the bath are all on the agenda. You might imagine being seriously ill they'd be on the agenda rather often. I guess to be honest I give thanks that they're not...