Education Manager
SAEM
Des Plaines, Illinois, United States
I grew up a poor child in California. I came to Illinois to go to the Univeristy of Illinois in Urbana, IL. The reason I came was because my Dad, who was living out her at the the time, said he would help me pay for college. My mom and dad divorced when I was 8 years old. My dad worked forn United Airlines all his life When I was 15 years old, United Airlines moved his job to Mt. Prospect, IL, and he moved out here. I graduated in Biology Pre-med, but I never went to med school. I faint at the slightest sign of blood. They assured me that I would get over it. At 50 years old and 3 kids later I'm still not convinced. I still faint at the sight of blood. I fainted out cold just wathcing my daughter get an IV put in. That was a funny story. My daughter had a bladder infection that went into a kidney infection when she was about 4 years old. She had a leaky valve between her bladder and kidney. She used to get bladder infections a lot. Anyway, it went into a kidney infection one time so i had to take to the hospital. My husband stayed home with the baby until his mom got to the house. Then he was to follow me to the hospital. Well, when we got to the hospital they put in an IV right away during which I had to hold my daughter down, and I saw them put it in. I started to feel faint so I told the nurse I was going to step outside the room a second. By this time the IV in was in and my daughter had calmed down. Well, I went in another room and initially fell back. I had tried to catch myself by taking a step back, but ended up turning my ankle as I went down. When I woke up I was on my back. They were putting me on a stretcher, and my ankle was swollen. I wanted to go back to see my daughter, but they insisted I go to the Emergency Room to get some xrays and recover. When my husband got to the hospital they told him what happened. He spent the whole night going between my daughter in the Children's Ward and the Emergency Room to see me. I can laugh about this now, but it felt like a disaster when it was happening. At the time, I felt kind of embarrassed and ashamed that I not only wasn't a comfort to my daughter, but I caused people, especially my husband, a whle lot of trouble. I used to try to deny how much of an issue I had with blood when I was younger, but now I have just accepted that I can't stand the sight of it. If I am not lying down I will faint if I have to have blood drawn.
I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.