Living in the future

I went to see my family doctor today. I've been wheezing and my sinuses are bugging me so off I went. I also needed a PT/INR and planned to get it at the lab next to my doctor's office. There is a woman who works there who has been drawing my blood for twenty years and is amazing. She always gets my blood and she doesn't leave me with five or seven punctures, most of which have crippled my hands.

While we were waiting to see her (Cullen came with me to help me remember everything I wanted to go as I also needed to get the name of the sleep study place I was use for a retest and I keep forgetting to get one of my meds refilled) I heard her nurse saying she couldn't get a PT/INR on a patient because they couldn’t get enough blood squeezed out.

I've been hearing about a finger prick clotting test for years but for some reason my hematologist doesn't have the machine. You can also get a prescription and do your own tests but he doesn't believe in patients doing their own. Frustrating but what are you gong to do?

So I asked about it and sure enough they have the machine and I was able to get my test and get the results immediately. My levels are too high, 3.5, so I'm extra glad to get the results so quickly. The nurse says I can come in there for all of my tests and that there's no point in getting an entire blood draw when they can do the finger stick.

Then to my even greater surprise I discovered they have a machine so you can do a sleep study in your own home. No more having to try to sleep in a strange environment. She said there are three simple steps then you bring the equipment back, they mail off the data and you get the results in about a week. Pretty awesome.

End result: I have a sinus infection, have to see the ENT because it's like the fourth one this year and hopefully my monthly blood tests will be no fuss no muss. Hooray!