Physiology

This class has been my life for the past week and a half, and I study all the time for it--Jessica can testify. It didn't help that I had a test exactly a week after classes started and have been studying like crazy for it. I have it for an hour and a half every day, and then on Tuesdays I have a lab right after that lasts another two and a half. If it wasn't for my institute classes I think I would die.

Tuesdays are particularly long, and the labs are fairly interesting. Today the lab was taking blood pressure and doing blood typing. I have been dreading it for seven days.

When someone takes my blood pressure I hate it. I feel like they are going to squeeze the life out of my arm and I'm going to die as a result. Yesterday I learned that they really do cut off your circulation and find out how much pressure it takes for the blood to push through. That's comforting. Needless to say, it scared me to death.

Also, I found last week that for the blood typing lab we have to do our own blood, and to do this we have to prick ourselves in the finger. Ourselves.

Last year during the UofU Blood Battle I tried to give blood. During that crazy consultation where they stick your finger I fainted. My body didn't like that too well. And today I had to do it to myself.

I was terrified. Beyond words. But I wore pants and a jacket so that I didn't get cold, and I made sure that I had food and plenty of sugar in me, and I prayed really really hard.

I put on a brave face for the lab, and it went pretty smooth. The sphygmomanometer (blood pressure cuff) didn't scare me, even though she did it twice--not in a row. I probably took too long taking my partner's blood pressure, but it was a success! My pressure was about 120/80. I feel so smart because I know what that means!

I tried not to freak out when it came time for blood typing and I just forced myself to do it before I thought too hard. I watched my partner do it first, and I backed out only once because the button wasn't very sensitive. But I did it! I pushed the button, and dropped my blood on to the slides and bandaged up my finger. My hands didn't shake too bad, I kept a cool head, and it wasn't as horrible as I'd imagined. I realized I'm a pretty good bleeder so I didn't need to try very hard to get the four drops of blood I needed. My test indicated that I am O positive, though I'm not exactly sure how accurate it is.

You cannot imagine how happy I am! I was so afraid for today, but with help from my Father in Heaven I made it! Alive! Unscathed! and without fainting!