The 3-hour.

This morning I went in for my 3-hour glucose tolerance test with the mindset that I should just get it over with. I won't have the results until next week and if I wait until my next appointment, I won't have the results until the week after that because of the holidays. So I went.

I packed a bunch of things to work on, including grocery ads, my coupon accordian folder (it's small, don't worry), my laptop, 2 movies, headphones, not to mention my jump drive (AKA 1/2 of my brain). 7:45ish I mosey into the doctor's office, which was completely empty. They send me straight back to the lab, which is abandoned. A couple of minutes later, the friendly lab tech appeared and took me back. She felt bad I was having to do the test right before Christmas and when I told her my result last time, she too was surprised they were making me do the 3-hour. She drew my blood and then handed me my bottle of double concentrated glucola. It had double the sugar as the first one, was thicker, and was more difficult to get down. It wasn't horrible, but about halfway through, I could hardly take the sugar. I made a "bitter beer face" as I chugged, but finished it and off I went to the waiting room with the instructions to come back in an hour exactly. (My doctor's office evidently skips the 30 minute draw.)

The sugar hit pretty quickly like last time and I needed a distraction. Enter George Clooney, Matt Damon, and Brad Pitt, amongst others. I hadn't watched Ocean's Eleven in quite a while so it luckily kept my interest. I wrote out a quick grocery list, but I was finding myself feeling nauseous and looking at food in the grocery ads wasn't helping. I focused mainly on the movie with my feet up on one of the bench couches they have. (Thank goodness I went to that particular location because the other waiting room is teeny and the chairs very uncomfortable.) My stomach wasn't too happy with the sugar high and Kaelyn was bouncing all over the place, but I kept telling myself if I got sick, they'd make me come back another day to do it and that was enough to keep me determined to stick it out.

Blood draw. Cranky lab tech returned, but she seemed to be in a much better mood than last time. She's not as gentle with the needle as the friendly one.

I returned to the boys (and girl) of Ocean's Eleven. By that time, there were more people in the waiting room and I was getting some odd looks, sitting there with headphones and the laptop. I'm sure they were wondering if it were going to really be a long wait, seeing as I was so prepared...and had made myself at home. Feet up, all zipped up in my hoodie. I didn't care. The second hour can be described as my sugar crash. I hit a wall and felt exhausted, nodding off every so often. Brady called toward the end of my waiting period and I almost got to the end of the movie.

Blood draw. Cranky lab tech again. She had to go on the side of my arm because my veins weren't cooperating. Ow.

The tattooed (and I do mean tattooed) couple who had been waiting with a whole group of people to have their big ultrasound had returned (and sat at the end of my couch). I moved more in the corner of the couch and eavesdropped to hear they were having a girl. The mom-to-be feared the baby had her nose. I finished the movie. I wasn't feel as tired as during the second hour so I pulled out the good old jump drive and started working on my plans for freezer meals days, while listening to Taylor Swift. "The Best Day" makes me tear up so I listened to it about 4 times throughout the hour. Laptop battery died about 10 minutes before my last draw.

Blood draw. Cranky lab tech was in a much better mood. Friendly lab tech returned from Christmas shopping and looked surprised I was still there and started talking about bad drivers. She had to stick the side of my other arm this time. Again: Ow.

So basically my morning was as exciting as it sounds. The drink was definitely worse than the 1-hour and I wouldn't want to go through that first hour as my body tried to deal with the sugar rush again. Otherwise, the time went by pretty fast for me. I think having plenty to keep me occupied was the trick. I would have brought socks had I known how cold they would have the office this time. (Last time I was "sweating bullets," as my cousin Luke said all the time growing up.) I am crossing my fingers and crossing my toes that I passed. I think I did. My body seemed to be doing what it was supposed to be doing to process the glucola. I should know by my appt next Tuesday!