fainting
On Tuesday this week I had a toxicological blood screen. I get these through my employer because of potential exposures to some of the chemicals (isotopes, mercury, etc) that I handle. So far over 11 years everything has been good.
While I was waiting my turn, a girl in her 20's was getting her blood drawn. There's a sort of screen between the waiting room and the testing area, but it doesn't really give much privacy. I could see the girl wincing and averting her eyes as the technician was giving the needle. When they were finished, the girl stood up, glanced down at the vials of blood, and promptly collapsed.
The technician caught her on the way down, set her down gently on the floor, and called the campus emergency response team. Even before they were there the girl was concious again and talking; the paramedic gave her some glucose and asked her all sorts of question to assess what the problem was. After about 15 minutes she was up and walking with the medic and seemed fine.
She explained that she is terrified of blood and often has that kind of reaction. I've heard the expression "faints at the sight of blood", but I never knew it was something that actually happened.
While I was waiting my turn, a girl in her 20's was getting her blood drawn. There's a sort of screen between the waiting room and the testing area, but it doesn't really give much privacy. I could see the girl wincing and averting her eyes as the technician was giving the needle. When they were finished, the girl stood up, glanced down at the vials of blood, and promptly collapsed.
The technician caught her on the way down, set her down gently on the floor, and called the campus emergency response team. Even before they were there the girl was concious again and talking; the paramedic gave her some glucose and asked her all sorts of question to assess what the problem was. After about 15 minutes she was up and walking with the medic and seemed fine.
She explained that she is terrified of blood and often has that kind of reaction. I've heard the expression "faints at the sight of blood", but I never knew it was something that actually happened.