Yesterday I had a medical procedure which needed an intravenous line to insert contrast dye. My experience at the medical centre was unusually drawn-out as apparently I have what they call “rolly veins” (which have the good sense to slip away from needles).
The workers were wonderful, though. And in the hour it took to get that chunk of hardware into me, I had lots of time to study them. One technician particularly snagged my attention.
Image: Pixabay
Technician
Her pants were green, her vest was blue
her top turquoise and peach
her hair a tidy dreadlock mop
Africa tinged her speech.
She worked with warm efficiency
to get an I.V. started
but four pokes chasing slippery veins
left her a bit downhearted:
“You’re my first patient of the day,
fear it will be a bad one.”
She warmed my arms with towels and sheets
handed me to the next one.
Two more technicians tried their luck
I felt like a pincushion,
with bandaids sprinkling both my arms—
unfortunate condition.
“She left her veins at home,” she quipped.
“She is the one to blame.”
Then kept on checking back until
the I.V. doctor came.
© 2016 by Violet Nesdoly (All rights reserved)
Violet Nesdoly / poems 
archerjl
December 17, 2016 at 8:00 am
Love this! And thankful my guy who regular has to be poked at the clinic does not have the good sense your veins do… Ha!
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Violet Nesdoly
December 17, 2016 at 9:55 am
Aw, thanks! I’m happy this (need for poking) doesn’t happen often!
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Terry Broadworth
December 17, 2016 at 11:46 am
David used to have that problem all the time. He drove across town to ensure his girl was on duty who could poke him ONCE – otherwise he was non compliant. He had renal failure and had to have monthly and quarterly blood work for 14 years of our life together. Great poem to relieve an anxious situation.
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Violet Nesdoly
December 17, 2016 at 6:30 pm
Oh Terry, how awful. I can understand going to great lengths to avoid this.
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margaretsmn
December 19, 2016 at 4:04 am
This is the part of any medical procedure that I absolutely hate. And they tell you you can’t eat or drink anything beforehand which makes your veins shrivel anyway. What’s the logic in that? I hope everything else went well.
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Violet Nesdoly
December 19, 2016 at 5:30 am
Thanks, Margaret. Yes it went well… although my parking had run out and when I was backing my car out of its space (no ticket yet!), I saw the parking attendant in my rear view mirror! (If I wasn’t mistaken, he had a look on his face that fishers have when one gets away). 😅
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