Medical Mystery

So...

I drove to IU Health West this morning, after fasting after supper last night through this morning, to get blood drawn to test for blood lipids, etc., before my cardiologist appointment on Monday. I got just down the street when I realized that I had forgotten to bring the doctor's order for the test, so I turned around, got it, and headed back out.

I took the newly-opened Ronald Reagan Parkway between Pfield and Rockville Road for the first time.  Pretty slick!  Although it seems like a longer distance, there is a whole lot less traffic/stoplights.  When I arrived, I went to the lab, as usual. They told me that the doctor's order was over a year old, so it had expired. They sent me to the doctor's office (in the same building) for a new one. The place was packed, but I sat and waited patiently for quite awhile for them to obtain it.

Then they called me up to the desk and said they could do the draw right there in the office, if I wanted. It would save me the walk back down to the lab, so good for me. When that was done, I stopped back at the registration desk to give them my new insurance information--because no one had asked for it at the doc's office, then stopped for food andcame home. No problem.

I went about the rest of the day's business.  Then along about 4:00-something, I got a call from a gal in the doc's office saying I would have to come back for another draw because the guy who picks the specimens up to take to the lab had dropped mine. She suggested that I just go directly to the lab tomorrow morning between 8:00 and noon.  Oooookay.

But then I got to wondering if there would be a problem because I would not have a doctor's order in hand and didn't know if they would think to supply the lab with one...so I called them back. Talked to someone different this time after being on hold for about 15 minutes. I explained the situation to her and told her that I didn't want to have to be sent to the doctor's office for a lab order (again) and have to wait for that (again)...and would it be taken care of? She put me on hold for another 15 minutes. (By this time, it was well after 4:30 and everyone there was getting ready to go home...and I'm quite sure Dr. Gill won't be in tomorrow.) While I was on hold the second time, the gal I was talking to called "Beth" at the lab and was told that they would page Dr. Gill and get verbal orders from him for the second draw tomorrow. Glad I thought to call. Everything's fine now, right?

Wrong! A few minutes later, I got a call from Beth at the lab, asking who had called me the first time telling me that my specimen had been dropped. (I couldn't remember.) She was trying to get to the bottom of a mystery because MY blood specimen had already been processed and tests completed. If someone's specimen had been dropped, it wasn't mine--or so she thinks. As Alice in Wonderland would say, "Curiouser and curiouser".  Beth said she would leave it up to me if I wanted to come in for the second blood draw.  If, as she said, my blood tests were completed--and she was relatively sure that the vial was properly labeled--WHY would I want to fast again, drive to Avon again, and get stuck again?  If this were a critical blood test to determine if I needed surgery or something, I would.  This one, however, is just to see how I am doing in the department of blood fats.  (Not good, I'm sure.  If someone else's blood was mistaken for mine, I hope he/she had fantastic test results!)

When I left the house this morning, I was dressed in my signature white Grasshopper shoes, brown slacks, a hot-pink tunic top, and carried a black purse.  I was my very own fashion statement!  Know what?  I doubt that a single other person noticed or cared.  Old people don't count, you know...and it wouldn't affect the results of the blood test.  Blah!  I had grabbed slacks that were clean and a top that had sleeves I could push up above the elbow for the blood draw.  If I wasn't pretty, it's just too bad!

The only other medical mystery of the day is why I wake up with a hip that hurts but feels better after I've been up and around for awhile.  Getting old sure isn't fun!