Phoenix: Live Love Laugh

One thing I wish healthcare providers would truly understand is this:
Sometimes, doing the job isn’t enough—you have to listen to the patient too.

As someone living with a chronic blood-related disease, I already face more than my share of battles.
But one of the parts I absolutely hate the most?
Being a hard stick.

My veins are tiny—small, fragile, and often nearly impossible to find.
And the struggle isn’t just physical pain; it’s the emotional exhaustion that comes from not feeling heard.

Tomorrow: Surgery Day

After countless medical clearances, tomorrow is the day:
Left shoulder replacement surgery.

While I’m grateful we finally got the green light, I know the road to healing won’t be easy.
(And I may be offline for a few weeks, but I’m hoping and praying to come back with a praise report and a story of great healing.)

The Hard Reality of “Hard Sticks”

I usually try to advocate for myself.
Before any IV insertion or blood draw, I politely warn the team:
“I’m a hard stick—you get three tries, max.”

But that was my old rule, before the coma.
Now?
Now it feels like endless pain and frustration—just get it over with.

Last year during one hospital admission, this was the result:

• Bruised arms.
• Damaged veins.
• A healing process that took nearly a full year for my veins to recover.

(If you’ve ever been through it, you know it’s not just about the bruises—it’s about the trauma it leaves behind.)

Final Thought Before Surgery

I don’t share this for sympathy.
I share it to say:
Listening matters. Advocacy matters. Compassion matters.

For anyone walking this journey—know you’re not alone.
And for any healthcare worker reading this—please listen a little closer.
Sometimes what patients are saying isn’t resistance… it’s survival.

Someone has to come up with a better solution and it’s not the vein finder or through sonogram because neither of them worked or has ever worked on me. So any future inventors out there reading this .. desperately seeking a better why of doing phlebotomy. No person should leave a hospital looking like a pin cushion or a drug addict.