Don't kill me before I die

Yesterday, I kinda blacked out during my class.

Annual blackout day. Damn, it's time for another haemoglobin test.

It's bad when you have anaemia. Worse when it's the genetic kind. Worst when you have thalassemia on top. Genetic diseases are like annoying relatives. For most of the year, they don't bother you, but you keep bumping into them at family weddings and you have to politely say, "Hello, how are you?" knowing fully well that there's no way you can shrug them off for good.

I am plagued by memories of my last haemoblogin test, which followed last year's blackout.

Firstly, the lab guy could not find my vein!

"I can't find your vein." He said to me, looking puzzled.

"Errr... " What was I supposed to do??

"Let me try the other arm." He took my other arm.

After trying the needle in several directions, he looked distraught.

"I can't find your vein."

"Well, I'm sure it IS there, isn't it?"

He wasn't amused. Finally, ten minutes later, he found it. Drew some blood out in one of those tiny evil bottles.

"Oh no."

"What now?"

"Air bubbles. I need to draw again."

"Jesus Christ!" I thought to myself.

Repeated the whole painful process again. I felt like telling him, "My anaemia is because of you people, man! I can't donate blood to the Red Cross, but every year, I donate loads to such clinics! What a waste."

The following week, I went to pick up my report.

The lab guy refused to give it to me!

"The doctor will give it to you himself, he needs to talk to you first."

"About?"

"He will tell you himself." He looked at me nervously. Even I wasn't nervous and he was?!

I went into the doc's room.

"Oh hiiii!" He gave me a nervous plastic smile. Why was everyone so nervous, man??

"Hello doctor, you wanted to talk to me?"

"Errr... yes, you want to sit down?"

"No, I'm good. Thanks!"

"Are you sure? I think you should sit down."

I sat down.

"Ok, so what's the bad news?" I smiled. (I was having fun!)

"Yeah... so we tested your blood... and..."

Long pause.

Dammit. I was getting hungry.

"Doc, is this about my thalassemia?"

His jaw dropped. It literally dropped.

"You know about it??"

"Yeah, I do."

"Ohhh...." He looked so disappointed at the apparent lack of any need for the long lecture he must have prepared on "how to break the news to the poor girl".

"So you know what it is?"

"Yeah, I do."

"You know the implications? Your red blood cells die faster than other people's." He looked kinda horrified.

"Yeah yeah!" I thought to myself. Why was he making such a big deal outta it? It wasn't even a glamorous illness, the kind used in movies like Mili, where the central character is like everyone's jaan, and then she has this rare and terminal blood disease, and then she dies in the end. And everyone walks out of the theatre in tears.

"You must be careful, you know?" The doc jolted me back to reality from my filmi world.

"Careful about?"

"Because your red blood cells die very quickly, your energy level is very low, you know?" He said with a very serious face.

"Hahahahaha! Ooopss... " I was grinning like an idiot. Low energy level indeed!

He gave me a strange, worried look.

"So? What have you been doing about it so far?"

"Well, nothing much. It's genetic, so I can't control it. When I get my annual blackout, I get tested that it's still under control. The docs give me some folic acid, and that's it. Till the next time."

"But there's something else. Do you know that you can't take iron tablets for your anaemia because they will interfere with your thalassemia?"

"Yeah."

"So it's kind of complex."

"Yeah, it is."

The doc was lost. I was bored.

Dude, I'm doing fine. Don't kill me before I die.