I just arrived home from the lab to have the tests done that the nephrologist ordered. What an ordeal! To begin with, I had to drop off my twenty four hour urine sample. Boy, was that fun to do. We don't have a private bathroom at my work. We use the same bathrooms as the kids. That means I had to collect my urine in a bathroom with five year olds knocking on the door saying "Miss Michelle? Are you still in there?" In addition, I had to come up with an explanation of why I was carrying a big orange jug that said "Biohazard" on the side. Fun. Also, because I had to collect all of my urine for a 24 hour period, I had to plan very carefully when and where I peed. Not easy when you have to go to an hour long appointment straight from work. At least it's done with. Now back to my lab visit. The receptionist had a fit when she saw my lab form. It had fifteen tests marked off on it, as well as copious amounts of writing from the doctor. She started complaining that she had never seen so many test requests, and that the doctors never fill out the codes properly, blah blah blah. Like this is my fault or something! Then she starts going on and on to her co-worker that she is not staying late tonight, that she never gets out of there on time, and this is just what she needs at the end of the day! Hellooooo....I'm standing right there! I got there at four and they closed at five. It's not like I showed up ten minutes before they closed or something. How unprofessional and rude! So after standing at the counter for close to twenty minutes, she finally has all of my tests recorded in her computer and I am ready to have my blood drawn. The phlebotomist takes me into the back(she was very nice) and says, "Oh, you'll have to lie down for this" and I'm like "What?" I don't need to lay down. I'll be fine." And she says "No, you will have to lie down. I need to take twenty tubes of blood." "WHAT?!!! You have to take TWENTY vials of blood?" "Yes, so you'll have to lie down." So I lie down on the table and she puts the needle in my arm and it hurts! I tell her that it hurts and she says, I know, but I have a good vein here and I don't want to take it out so if it doesn't hurt too badly I need you to hang on and I'll go as fast as I can. Ummmm...O.K. I guess. What choice do I have? So I'm flat on my back on the table looking up at the ceiling and she's asking me if I am O.K., when all of a sudden I don't feel so good. I start feeling nauseated and a little dizzy. Keep in mind that I have been feeling both of these for quite some time and they are side effects of the high blood pressure. But now it seems like the room is getting dark and I start feeling lightheaded. I have no idea why. She didn't take that much blood. Meanwhile the needle in my arm is really starting to hurt. At about the point where I couldn't take it anymore, she was done. But she wouldn't let me get up. She said I had to lay there for at least fifteen minutes. At this point all I want to do is go home, but again, what choice do I have. So I lay there f0r what seems like forever and she doesn't come back for me, so I sit up, get my purse and head for the door. As I'm walking out she is calling after me "Wait, are you sure you are O.K.?" I turn and nod at her and smile and get the heck out of dodge. What an exhasuting trip! Glad that's over. Now I just have to wait for the results. I pray that they tell us exactly what's wrong with me and we can begin treating it.