I ignore when the cold hurts my hands, and this time it's a problem

I learned something yesterday, and I hope this is not the second or third time I've learned it. So I'm going to put it down here in hopes I'll remember and you can also learn from my errors.

If you're going to have your blood drawn, keep your hands and arms warm beforehand. Don't scrape the frost off your windshield without gloves and jump in a cold car to drive over there a few minutes before the draw. I ended up getting stuck four times, and two of those were AFTER I went back out to the waiting room for ten minutes and worked my hands to get the blood moving. The tech found the veins, but the blood WOULD NOT FLOW. (I asked her if I should have done exercise, to get warmed up, but she said no, because where it was fasting bloodwork I might pass out.)

Keep warm, folks.