Had to go to the hospital in Stroud to have a lithium level check. I'm not frightened of needles but by the same token I do not like 'em. Not one bit. I've had my share of blood drawn in my days. Whether it be for a level check or for twenty bucks to buy a sack with, I never seemed to mind those sharp suckers. I've been stuck by some pros and not a few amateurs. You can ALWAYS tell the difference. In fact, there have been a couple who were so good that I didn't even know the deed had been done before it was all over with. Then there are the rookies who can't find a vein on the first try and need to poke your arm again. So I'm no stranger to the pain caused by these sharp vampire teeth.

But Wednesday, when the polite nurse stuck me, I swooned. I got dizzy and swooned. It's a wonder I didn't pass out. I sure thought I was going to. If she'd had to do it a second time I have no doubt I WOULD have hit the floor. I can't figure out what could have caused that reaction, which was so untypical.

It may have been all the pizza I ate directly before having it done. I wondered, even before enjoying my meal, if fasting might have been the thing to do before having blood drawn. No matter. When I'm hungry I'm hungry and there's nothing that's going to prevent me from gobbling down 8 pieces of pizza and a bare-bones salad during Mazzio's all-you-can-eat buffet. It's a good thing I wasn't starving. I sure could have put away more.

Or perhaps the problem is my health. I have no vanity in regards to my physical fitness. I am in lousy shape. I admit it. I don't plan on doing anything about it for the moment, though one can only venture to guess the day on which I will rue that decision. But on the other hand, I've been in lousy shape all of my life. I couldn't even say that I'm in worse condition now than I was 10 years ago because it all feels the same to me: AWFUL. It wouldn't be too awful hard to turn that around, but you know me.

Then it could well have been a combination of my dismal physical condition and my advancing age. This seems to me to be the most logical possibility.

Ah, well. It's over now. I have no idea when I'll have to have another lithium level done. I'm not looking forward to it, that's for sure. I can only hope that Wednesday's experience was a one-time-only affair.

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