Blood Test

I have had many a blood test in the past 3 1/2 years. I think maybe I am getting a needle stick for every time I ever stuck a needle in someone else during the course of my nursing career. That would be a lot. It certainly is something to see your own blood go shooting into the little red and yellow top tubes. The yellow top tube carries the blood that goes into the special machine that tests for the cancer antigen that will tell me and my doctor whether or not the chemo is working. I kid around with the nurse as she puts the label on it, and I know she knows I am nervous about what information that little tube will tell. It looks like anyone else's blood, in any other yellow top tube. But it is mine.  I have had this test done dozens of times. Still, each time, as I dial the phone to get the results the next day, like today, I feel the butterflies in my stomach. I wait for someone to answer the phone, I wait while they check the computer, I wait sometimes for the nurse to get on the phone. When the nurse gets on, the news is usually not good. Today I did not have to wait for a nurse. Oney, the secretary, told me my test result was normal. We were both glad. Normal is always good.