Julie R. Neidlinger: Lone Prairie Blog

How it all went.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post

I found out that my blood runs slowly.

Oh yes, I did get in the study, for which I am grateful. But my blood runs slowly; it is slow to fill the tubes used in the gazillion timed blood draws that fill my stay at the research center. Some phlebotomists are good, the pain reduced to a minor pinch and nothing more. And some feel like they are driving a Mack truck into my arm and then, when further complicated by the slow flow of blood and a need to keep on time and move to the next study participant, seem to grind the needle around and make adjustments in hopes for more blood which make me want to scream.

The good news is, of course, that I stop bleeding very quickly.

The bad blood draws are the only downside; the medication caused me no problems and for two and a half days I could relax and enjoy reading, writing and drawing without guilt because I knew I was earning money. I could sit and enjoy my favorite pastimes and know that I was doing the job I was being paid to do. Normally, it is difficult to push aside an annoying sense of guilt for sitting on the front step and reading a book or writing in a journal when the constant pulse of "you should be doing some work or earning some money" fills the background. At the research center, that guilt subsided and I was completely relaxed. Nice non-work, if you can get it. Even better if your blood gushes.

My niece's wedding this past Saturday went beautifully. She was beautiful, the wedding party was beautiful - a thing of beauty. In fact, the only three moments of questionable rank were nothing major at all.

My sister Jacqui, while we were eating the night of the rehearsal, turned from her plate of ribs and asked me if I'd ever seen the movie Fried Green Tomatoes. If you've seen the movie, you know why this was an inopportune moment to make the comment. The next day, during the pre-wedding photo shoot, she managed to force me into a huge uncustomary grin by aping lines from the Mother's Day video I put up on this site at, again, inopportune moments.

Queen of Innopportune Moments.

The third questionable moment wasn't much really, and so I won't bother you with it.

Today's holiday has gone quietly, starting out with my morning run (I am now version 1.25 and have been for nearly a month - this is a big deal for me) and then getting to work on an article I agreed to write. My mother, a Kitchen Saint, made a key lime pie for dinner and I tell you what: next to chocolate anything, my favorite desert is key lime pie.

Tomorrow I go to work and then head off for another round of inner elbow jabs, relaxation and free food at the medical research center. I have a huge stack of books ready to take. I'll spend a few of the free follow-up days seeing my friend Molly and taking in a movie. A good week ahead, all in all. Blogging will be, of course, slow.

Like my blood.