Blown veins and contrast on my clothes...good times.

Had my 2nd MS HINT observation today.  Only 3 more to go before the actual trials.  I always have to have blood drawn for these observations.  Until now it has been fine, but not this time.  They decided to just have my blood drawn in the Research Lab.  That is were things went wrong.
Instead of doing the individual tubes the lab nurse decides to just draw out my blood with one big tube and then separate it in individual tubes.  This means she has to draw the blood out instead of letting it flow naturally.  Plus, she used my left arm which is usually not the best.  I prefer my my right for all needle excursions.  I started to get very nauseous and dizzy.  The needle was also right on a nerve so it hurt A LOT.  I stuck it out as long as I could until I just started to pass out.  She stopped drawing the blood, had me lay down and drink Juicy Juice.  We were done drawing blood for that day.  They said I looked pretty pale.  I mean more pale than usual.  They decided to switch arms for the catheter.  She got it in and then it wouldn't work.  So she had to take it out to see what was wrong.  It was bent.  That was vein number 2 that was now useless.  She tried again on a new vein and started to put in the saline (to flush out the vein) when my arm started to feel like it was on fire.  My eyes started watering and I told her to stop.  She knew she had blown my vein.  That was the 3rd useless vein and my first blown vein.  She took her gloves off, put her hand in the air and said "we are calling a pro. to come in."
He had to come from the hospital lab so it took awhile but when he got there he found a viable vein in my right arm and got that catheter in in no time.  He put gauze over the needle tapped it on and I was off to the MRI.  Now they do the first round of test without the contrast.  I just lay in there with the tube connected to the needle in my arm.  As usual, I fell asleep.  I woke up when she announced they were putting in the contrast.  I've done this many times before and it's normal to feel the cool liquid flow up the tube and into my arm.  This time however, I felt it flow up the tube but my side started to feel wet.  I squeezed the emergency ball and told her I felt wet and suspected the catheter fell out.  She was flabbergasted and shut the machine off to come investigate.  She pulled me out, looked under the covers and felt my wet clothes.  The best part was when she lifted the catheter and it started spraying contrast all over the place!  Mainly on me, the machine, and the floor.  We later came to the conclusion that the reason the catheter didn't stay in place was because of the gauze.  Normally they tape the needled right to my arm.  Nice tight seal.  This guy had a different approach.  One that doesn't work well when liquid is being pushed in. That was vein number 4.
A new nurse came in and asked if I wanted to still try and do the rest of the MRI ( I only had 3 more test to go).  I was game.  She looked at my right arm and said that one was spent.  She was going for the left.  She gets the needle in and starts putting in the contrast.  It felt like someone lit my arm on fire.  I told them to stop.  That was vein number 5 and the 2nd vein that was blown.  They were done trying.  The rest of the MRI was canceled.  It wasn't a complete wash though.  The images they got without the contrast can still be used.
The ladies in the research lab must have apologized a hundred times.  I told them I was going to take pictures of my bruised arms and bring them the next time I come for my MRI.  And because teasing doesn't translate well in print I will clarify that I was joking with them.  We did have a good laugh about the catheter debacle.  I'm glad I'm in this study.  The people at the UW research lab are really down to earth wonderful people.  I'm not just doing this research for me but for them.  They want to cure MS as much as I want it to be cured.  And I'm glad we all could have a good sense of humor about days like this.