Hospital Backblip #4

When the Anaesthsetist doesn’t believe you when you say your veins are rubbish.
I went down for a central venous line insertion before the op as I had done the previous week when the surgery was postponed. A different Anaesthsetist looked at my veins and said it was crazy to put in a line when I had such good veins in my hand. I tried to convince her otherwise but she insisted she could put in a needle. SPLAT went my vein and the whole hand swelled up. The photo is several days later after the swelling had gone down. She didn’t want to put in a CvL without sedation even though I had said that they did it last week without. Finding no other veins she said she would try the other side even though it was a lymphedema risk. She would give sedation and then remove it straight after. Good luck with that, I said. Second SPLAT. So, into the SVC under the clavicle but she couldn’t get it in, either. Next try, straight to the Jugular, pun intended. Success. No apology from the young, cocky doctor as she sent me back slightly worse for wear. I did get some encouragement from the male nurse there who said I was in good hands with my surgeon.