Blood work

Had to have blood drawn for testing this morning.  They asked me to fast for 10 hours beforehand, so I wasn't in the best of moods when I set out for the clinic.  The nurse had some trouble with the veins and actually couldn't draw from my left arm (after sticking me) and then I started getting a bit woosy.  So they had me lie down and they eventually got it from the right arm.  She actually suggested that people that used to donate blood sometimes had more problems.  No question I have had problems occasionally giving blood to the point where it is now a bit of a psychosomatic issue and if there is any snag at all, then I really start to feel faint and even get a bit ill (of course, the fasting didn't help).  I haven't been a particularly regular blood donor for 10 or so years, and I think given the problems I have had the last few times, it is time to just skip it.  There are plenty of other things I can do to help.  What I do dread a bit is that I get older and I get one of those illnesses where you do need a lot of blood testing or other blood work.  Well, can't really be helped if that is my fate.

On a more positive note, I will link to a performance of one of Billy Strayhorn's compositions (Blood Count).  This was among the last things he wrote (1967), from the depths of his illness (cancer).  This version should be the one from Ellington's And His Mother Called Him Bill (a tribute to Strayhorn).  I hope that I can find a way to be creative until the very end (and remember that occasionally great art can emerge from tragic circumstances).  I thought U.M.M.G. (Upper Manhattan Medical Group) was from the same time, but it is from a slightly earlier period (late 50s) but is still a nod to the clinic that took care of him periodically.