I felt the needle pierce my skin, and let out a slight yelp. I've had IVs done millions of times, but I still let out a cry every time. The nurse pushed the needle in, pulled it out while leaving the tube, and taped it down. I rubbed my tired eyes with my free hand. She continued attaching the rest of the stuff to it.
"How much longer until you're out of school?" She asked, trying to divert my atention from the gathering blood flowing through the tube.
I looked at her straight in the eyes, "Too long...three days." I felt my head starting to get dizzy. I started to swing my legs to keep the blood flowing.
"You look like a girl who'd like school." She said, watching my pulse readings.
"I used to," I grunted when my arm started to tingle. "Not a very big fan anymore." She then finished up, and I sat in the chair trying to regain my senses. I looked at my Band-Aid, Spongebob. I smiled, and got up slowly so I didn't get dizzy. I followed the nurse to the regular check up room where my mom was waiting. She smiled at my mom, and left to get the blood analyzed.
"So," Mom brushed her shirt off. "How was it?"
"It was a blood withdrawl." I replied in a bit of a smart-aleck tone. She just nodded, and went back to texting or e-mailing someone. I picked at my retainer, flicking it in and out. Mom glanced up at me with an annoyed look, I stopped.
After about a half hour, my doctor walked in. "Miss Viewegh, how was it today?"
I looked up from my iPod, "Fine."
"Everything looks...about the same when we started therapy. Have you been taking your iron supplements?" He asked, writting some stuff on a clipboard.
"Every day," I replied.
"Want to start taking two a day? We can see if that helps, and maybe put you on a different antidepressant to help with the increased anxiety."
"Sure," I didn't really care. He looked at my mom who just nodded her head. I was in no mood to talk at the moment. Nothing we were trying was working. He then took his glasses off and turned to me.
"There...also seems to be something going on with your red blood cells, it's very low and we may be forced to take a bone marrow test." My face soon turned from uncaring to distraught. This was what I was worried about. I fell back on the examination table, trying not to cry.
"Are you sure there isn't anything she can take?" My mom asked, trying to help.
He sighed, "It's not for sure, but we just don't want to take any risks. We can't let this get any worse." Of course, but I didn't feel like going through a bone marrow withdrawl, blood was bad enough. He rolled over to the small desk, and started to fill out a slip.
"Will she be going back to school today?" He asked.
"No," Mom replied. Inside my head I was cheering, get to skip sixth and seventh period. Why couldn't I skip the periods with people I hate?
We got into the car, driving to McDonald's like we usually did after a check up. I never got anything but a small fry though, and Mom usually got a coffee. We sat in the parking lot, this time sharing a medium fry. I was reclined back in my seat, with one of my iPod's earbuds in my ear.
"Well," Mom wiped her hands with a napkin, and handed me one. "Do you want to talk?"
I turned over onto my side to face her, "I'm not doing it."
She sighed, "It may help, if it's a problem with your marrow, we can get that fixed."
"We'll see," I grumbled, in a slightly bad mood. I didn't mean to be like this, but the mood was part of it believe it or not. Anemia can cause strong changes in mood, which is what's happened to me. Whenever I tried to tell my (former) friends that, they didn't believe me. I was just a sick girl who would die, and no one would miss me. No one, but my two friends I still had.
I flew upright in my seat, "Puke!" Mom veered over, I hopped out, and up came the fries and Coke. I stuck my finger back in my throat, relieving myself even more. After my stomach was empty, I stumbled back to the car. My mom was fighting hard not to puke, she had a light stomach.
The rest of the ride home was spent in silence. I wanted things back to normal, I didn't want to be sick anymore. I wanted people to like me, but that wasn't going to happen.
