----------------------------------- Chapter 4 -----------------------------------

Laura left the exam room and walked over to the nurse's desk where Jo was sitting and writing some notes on a lab work sheet. "Take this with you to the lab, and hand it to the receptionist," she instructed. "Just step off the elevator on the third floor and you'll see their door marked 'Lab Services'. I'm sure you remember how to get there. When you're finished at the lab, come back down here to our office. Doctor Sharp will want to review your test results and begin a treatment regimen."

After she found her way to the laboratory office, Laura signed in and handed the papers Jo had given her to the young lady behind the counter. Again, she found a seat and began thumbing through a magazine.

In just a few minutes, a lab technician came through the door and called her name. As she walked toward the tech, he introduced himself as Bill and proceeded to make idle small talk as she followed him down a wide corridor.

First stop was the restroom where she left a urine sample.

Next, she followed the technician into a room with a long counter and a typical blood collection chair. Various medical looking things such as bottles, tubes, and other paraphernalia covered the countertop, and the chair looked like an old school desk with an extension board off of one side. The tech motioned his patient to take a seat as he took three tubes with different colored caps from a rack and placed them on a small table beside the chair. He attached a covered needle to a syringe-like device, set it down next to the tubes and reached for a couple of alcohol wipe pads.

Laura must have looked disturbed at the sight of the needle in front of her. Sensing her apprehension, the tech reassured her that the procedure only took a minute or so, and would be over very soon. With that, he reached over and positioned his patient's arm on the board, rolled the sleeve of her shirt up as far as it would go, then applied the rubber band tourniquet to her upper arm. It was tight, but not terribly uncomfortable.

Bill opened one of the alcohol wipes and gently rubbed it over Laura's skin as he lightly pressed various areas on the top surface of her arm in the vicinity of the elbow. After locating a proper vein, he took the alcohol wipe and made a few swipes over the area to clean it well. She watched as he picked up the syringe and placed one of the rubber capped tubes in the end of the barrel. When the large needle was uncapped, the rosy pink color in her face almost immediately drained to an ashen gray.

"Are you OK?" the tech asked, "You look real pale."

"I'm fine," Laura answered, "I just hate needles, and that looks like a really big one."

"Turn your head and don't look if this bothers you," he suggested, "I'll be gentle, I promise." With that, the lab tech announced, "big stick," and proceeded to introduce the needle into his patient's arm. As he did so, Laura cringed and winced, and made a little noise that sounded like a whimper. "Hold still for me," he instructed as blood spurted into the tube. After the first tube was filled, the tech removed it from the syringe, and inserted the second tube. He filled it, and then, after removing the tourniquet, exchanged the second tube for the third.

After all three tubes were filled, he took a second alcohol wipe and held it over the needle. As he withdrew it, she felt a sharp, stinging pain, but somehow managed to hold her composure. I'm glad that's over, she thought to herself. The tech placed a small bandage over the puncture site, and told Laura to hold her arm tightly closed for a few minutes.

Next, the technician opened a package of long cotton-tipped swabs and asked her to open her mouth. He quickly swabbed her throat and placed the swab in what looked like a test tube. Laura coughed a couple of times as an involuntary response to her gag reflex as the technician explained, "that was the rapid strep test."

After the specimens were collected, Bill took some paperwork and attached to each tube, placed them in a plastic tray and left the room for a minute. When he returned, he had a folder in his hand, and asked Laura to follow him to the X-ray room.

They walked down a narrow hall to a room marked X-Ray 1. He opened the door, allowing his patient to enter first, followed her into the room and closed the door behind him. "Dr. Sharp has ordered a chest X-ray for you and I need you to stand right over here," Bill said as he pointed to a flat platform on the wall. He moved the head of the X-ray machine and his patient into proper position and inserted a film plate behind the wall platform. "Take a deep breath and hold real still for me," he instructed, as he stepped behind a shielded wall and activated the machine. After a couple of position changes for different views, the x-rays were done and her visit to the lab was finished.