I am running out of veins to have my blood drawn from. With all my past medical history, the ones in my inner elbow have scar tissue in them, so it has gotten to the point where blood draws have to be done from the top of my hand.

Unfortunately one time when I was in the hospital for a kidney infection an IV was being inserted and the vein got "blown" and that hand has been useless for blood draws ever since. So, now I only have the left hand available for blood draws. Two veins were still usable.

But, with all these weekly blood draws, they are flattening out. So, now the blood has to be drawn from the middle of my forearm.

I used to be very unaffected by blood draws and IV's. But as the years have gone by, more problems have occurred and they have taken their toll. So now, I go for a blood draw making sure my hands and arms are warm to keep the veins puffy, they say. I do a relaxation exercise and try to live through the new found pain. Why did they never hurt in the past? Why do they hurt now? I don't get it.

To get to my point...

There is a specialized blood test the doctor ordered called a BCR, and that's what has now been ordered!