I got a flashback!

This is actually kinda scary. I have been in nursing school for almost 10 months and today was the first time that I actually drew blood from a real live person - not one of those plastic arms connected to some red colored water! Surprisingly, lots of nursing students go all the way through school without doing basic nurse-ey things like starting IVs, catheters, drawing blood, yada yada. I really want to have the chance to do these things while I'm in school but, truthfully, I am PETRIFIED to do them. So when I found out this morning that I was "the chosen one" to draw blood in clinicals I had my own episode of diaphoresis, tremors, pallor and just plain near-puking.

Although I was a bit panicked and feeling truly sorry for my poor patient/victim, I didn't do so badly. I had to have some serious prompting to find the vein ("Nicole - poke RIGHT THERE") but in went the little butterfly needle and out came the blood. Yippee!!

So now I have gotten this little chore out of the way. The first time is always the worst, right? Now I say bring on those stinkin' IV's, catheter insertion - no problem, NG tube Schmen-G tube. I say all this until the next time I am "on the spot" yet again. Then I might have to find myself a little corner to shrink into. Hee hee.