I recall that when I first sat down to donate platelets, the sensation felt a lot like donating blood. After about five minutes or so, I felt the pressure where the needle sat in my arm that was the result of the fluid being returned. It wasn't painful, but it wasn't comfortable. But I had a TV to watch and a friend to talk to, so I could ignore the discomfort, I thought.
Forty-five minutes later, I remember thinking I had had enough. My arm was in a lot of discomfort. Not pain, mind you, but the needle was really beginning to irritate me, like a hair on your tongue you can't remove but can't ignore. Each interval of fluid returning to the arm made the discomfort worse. Moreover, the seat upon which I was sitting had turned uncomfortable about ten minutes prior. Nothing was on TV. The friend was doing her best, but the conversation wasn't distracting me from the feeling that I had that I really, REALLY, wanted this whole process to be over with, already.
Then the tech returned and looked over the machines. "So," I said nonchalantly, not wanting to be a problem customer, "are we done?"
"It looks like you need another ten minutes or so."
"I'd really like this to be over."
"We'll unhook you in about ten minutes."
So I sat. Again, there was never any real pain, so there was no reason to demand the immediate halt to the entire process, or remove the needle from my arm myself. It was just the feeling that I really needed this whole endeavor to be over right away.
This story's been on my mind lately. We're halfway through August and September is approaching, but not fast enough. I sit here, ready for this deployment to be over, but it's not quite done yet.
Medical texts, I've learned, don't really use negative adjectives. If the prognosis for a patient with a given condition is "bad," medical texts don't use the word "bad." The texts tend to fall back on five-year survival projections, letting math tell the story.
It seems like the thing to do (numbers reflect incidences since The Doctor's departure):
Number of viewings of "The Little Mermaid": 5,345,201
Number of viewings of "Sleeping Beauty": 7,356,112
Number of viewings of "Snow White": 118,678,992 (Why is this one so popular? What does Snow White actually do?)
Number of viewings of "Tangled": 33 (It's a recent acquisition, give it time)
Number of viewings of "Ratatouille," Daddy's favorite Pixar film: 0
Number of ear infections: 6 (plus another one coming!)
Number of middle-of-the-night bouts of croup: 1
Number of blisters: 1
Number of boo-boos: 276
Number of vaccinations: 4
Number of bowel movements that required tears and straining: 1
Number of times house has been cleaned on Friday: 30
Number of Saturday mornings where it has been impossible to tell house has been cleaned less than 24 hours prior: 30
Length of nap time on weekdays: 90 minutes
Length of nap time on weekends: 30 minutes, on a good day
Number of times my daughter's favorite bear has been AWOL at bedtime: 5
Number of times my daughter has slept without her favorite bear: 0
I figure I'll come up with some more statistics later. I see the finish line. I can make it to the finish line. I just wish the finish line was closer. Trying to keep morale up is my current goal.
