Newbie here

[jennazon]

Hi everyone! This looks like a fun place to hang out so thought I'd just insert myself into your little community here and make me some new friends.
M'names Jenna. Just dx'd last October as "pre-diabetic" and recently I've gotten serious about testing everyday and doing something about this diabetes thing (type 2, I guess). So far, I'm not too bad off. Never seem to slide into "normal range" but stay in the 104-139 range.
So learning to finally eat properly is becoming a major issue for me.
A little about me: 39, mom of 4, married 11 years, houseful of fur-babies. Love to read (mostly suspense novels), baking is my passion. Learning now to make-over receipes into sugar-free/fat-free and still have flavor.
I recently graduated from school and am now a certified Phlebotomist getting ready to start my first paid Phlebotomy job. (yea, me! :rolleyes: )
Ummm...well, gosh! Can it be that I've run out of stuff to say? Seems impossible.
Anyway, hoping to get to know all of you so I can learn and maybe I'll even find some information that I'll be able to pass along to all of you.

[TAutry]

Hi Jenna,

Welcome to the forums!:)

I'm sure you will find some good information and tons of support here. Feel free to contribute wherever you feel comfortable.

Travis

[gettingby]

Hi Jenna!!!!!:D Welcome to the "family".

[HeatherP]

Hello and welcome Jenna! I'm glad you found us. If you've been around at all I'm sure you'll agree that we're a friendly bunch and always eager to welcome a new member. I hope you enjoy your time here and I look forward to getting to know you better!

Nice to meet you,
HeatherP
T1 for 13 years

[jennazon]

Hey, thanks for the warm welcomes!
It's so nice to "meet" such a nice bunch of people :)

[nantomsuethom]

Hi Jenna,

Welcome to the forums. There are a lot of friendly & knowledgable people here.

Nancy
son, Thomas, T1 for a little more than a year

[archimeech]

Welcome, Jenn,
I hope your ride through Diabetes is an easy one filled with very few problems and complications.

So far I think that this is the most active board that I have been able to find. Everyone is very informative, nice, funny, and respective of everything that the others are going through. Hopefully you'll participate often, both on asking for and giving information.

As to being a Phlebo' make sure you stick'em once and you stick'em good! Can't stand to get hematomas! lol

[jennazon]

That's very nice of you Archimeech...thanks.

I agree, hematomas suck big time! I do try to only stick 'em once. Patients seem to be much happier that way ;)

[archimeech]

Lol, well, now that you're pre-diabetic, you will begin to appreciate a well experienced, and aptly qualified Phlebotamist! I had a guy that pulled about 8CCs from me in quite a few different vials once, he help the needle so well I never felt it go in, never felt the change-overs, and didn't swell afterwards! I wanted to tip the guy!

[jennazon]

Originally posted by archimeech
Lol, well, now that you're pre-diabetic, you will begin to appreciate a well experienced, and aptly qualified Phlebotamist! I had a guy that pulled about 8CCs from me in quite a few different vials once, he help the needle so well I never felt it go in, never felt the change-overs, and didn't swell afterwards! I wanted to tip the guy!

I hear ya on a having a good Phleb. Nothing worse than being stuck by somebody who seems to have been trained in the fine art of torture techniques.
I will say that during my externship, had quite a few patients who were hard sticks...got many of them on the first try and got compliments from several who said I didn't hurt them.

After several years, many Phlebs seem to forget what it feels like to get stuck. I try to always remember what the other end of the needle feels like.

[archimeech]

When I was first diagnosed I was 13 and still a military dependant. I was in the Navy Hospital in Charleston on the pediatric ward. One night I had a corpsman that had jsut come down from the women's ward. He wasn't used to skinny little teenagers. I warned him that my veins roll. He paid me no heed and stuck a 14(yes I said 14) gauge in and sure enough my vein rolled. he kept trying to stick it and it kept moving. he got so mad at the vein that he took (2) 22ga butterfly needles and jabbed them in on both sides of the vein then stuck it with the 14. the next day he was up on misconduct unbefitting medical personel and spent the rest of the month as a lab runner, until his dishonorable discharge.
I guess we all have horror stories to tell. lol

[TvBabe]

Phlebotomist??? Now there is a word I'm really know :) As a diabetic hemachromatosis patient I know it all too well :) May all your sticks be gentle and not pancake syrup like mine ;)

Welcome Jennazon :)

[Dewey]

Hi Jenna, and welcome aboard. Congratulations on your Phlebotomy job and graduating! :)

As others may have already said, you'll find plenty of good friends and information here, so feel free to post away! :D

I've only had a few bad sticks in my years (luckily), and one was prior to the initial diagnosis. This Doctor didn't have a clue about what he was doing, and the following day, I had a long bruise...All I could remember was going on a field trip and having a bruise from my elbow to (almost) my wrist, and every time the bus hit a bump, I was in pain (ironically, cause I'm usually tough)! Talk about an "Owie!" lol

[koblenz]

Hey Jenna, another Sac Town resident. Horay! Soon we will out number these "Canadians".

:D Oh, come on now, you guys know I am kidding.

Anyway, you are getting a good start coming here. Good folks, good fun, good info. Welcome.

[jennazon]

Oh my gosh...it's terrible how so many phlebs mistreat their patients!
Finally in California we have new laws for phlebs...including a minimum of 8 months training at an accredited school plus 4 weeks externship at a hospital or clinic and we have to pass a national exam before we can receive our certification.
Before that went into effect a year and a half ago, anybody could take a weekend training course and get a phleb job the very next week.
There is a grandfather clause for phlebs who were already practicing that they had 3 years to pass their exam to continue working.
Hopefully, all of this will help eliminate most, if not all, of the trauma that folks have experienced in the past at the hands of the "vampires" :)

[jennazon]

Originally posted by koblenz
Hey Jenna, another Sac Town resident. Horay! Soon we will out number these "Canadians".

:D Oh, come on now, you guys know I am kidding.

Anyway, you are getting a good start coming here. Good folks, good fun, good info. Welcome.

Hey koblenz! Nice to "see" someone from home on here :D
everyone here seems to be incredibly nice and helpful.
think I'm gonna like it around here :)

[Batty]

welcome to the forum :)

[rzrbks]

jennazon, welcome to the most fun dysfunctional family around.

Good people, Good info, Good friends.

Tony has quite the commune going here and we're happy y'all joined us.

[Musqua]

Hi Jenna :)

Welcome to the friendliest forum on the net. I am one of the "crazy Canuks" & proud of it. I am type 2 insulin dependent.

[Shalyndria]

Originally posted by koblenz
Hey Jenna, another Sac Town resident. Horay! Soon we will out number these "Canadians".
Yeah and if you're lucky, koblenz, one day you might even come close to out-classing us!! :p :D ;) :p :- :whistling
Heheheh J/K!
(I'm now picturing myself running from an angry mob of diabetic lynching Americans..........:eek: !!)

Hi Jenna, and welcome to the friendliest Forums on the www! I'm sure that despite our questionable functionality, you'll find everyone here to be super supportive, friendly, and fun! I look forward to seeing you around :)

Happy posting!
Shy

[mg_2204]

Hello Jenna and welcome!

You're lucky for 2 reasons : you're pre-diabetic and you've found this wonderful place! Hopefully you'll stay pre-diabetic and never cross the fine line that separates the two.

Phlebotomist? *hides veins*
;)

Congrats on your exams! It must not have been easy, raising a family and be in school at the same time.

Take good care now,

Marie
:)

[jennazon]

Hehehehe....yeah, I'm gonna like it around here <closes eyes and stops staring at everyones veins> :D all these warm welcomes and warm fuzzies...just makes a girl all tingley (or is that the neuropathy acting up?) ;)

[koblenz]

Since we are in the same neighborhood, the next time I need blood drawn (in quantities larger than a finger stick), I am coming to you! I think the technicians at the hospital I go to interned under Dr. Kevorkian. Geesh!

[gettingby]

LOL koblenz. BTW, like your avatar.

[koblenz]

Then you must know who my alter ego is, right?

[Dewey]

Originally posted by gettingby
LOL koblenz. BTW, like your avatar.

Originally posted by Koblenz
Then you must know who my alter ego is, right?

Hmmm...would your alter ego happen to be "Butters?" ;)
(Just a wild guess...lol) :-

[koblenz]

No, it's Prof Chaos! Ahh haaaaa ha ha ha ha...

[Dewey]

Originally posted by Koblenz
No, it's Prof Chaos! Ahh haaaaa ha ha ha ha...

LMAO, Koblenz...Cool! :D You'll have to teach Jenna your secret, so she can get an Avatar and make it turn into a vampire when she starts her Phlebotomy job..(j/k, Jenna ;)) :D

[gettingby]

LOL koblenz. You are talking to a big South Park fan!!!!!!!!

[gettingby]

BTW koblenz. How did you get a South Park avatar?

[Dewey]

There were a couple of cool sites I saw to find some neat South Park pics. However, you'll need to adjust the sizes of the pics to make them into avatars. If Koblenz has a site where he found his, that would be helpful, too. :)

http://www.ziplink.net/~las/skyle3d.jpg

South Park Images (http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=south+park)

Hope this one helps (as it was the best I'd found for the moment)...:D

[jennazon]

Originally posted by Dewey
LMAO, Koblenz...Cool! :D You'll have to teach Jenna your secret, so she can get an Avatar and make it turn into a vampire when she starts her Phlebotomy job..(j/k, Jenna ;)) :D

LOL...I like it!! How do I get one? :D