The pro

I picked up his arm and ran my fingers along the courses of his veins, silently hoping he had some good veins left. In this situation I knew he was the pro and I was the amateur.

"So which vein are you going to pick?" he drawled.

I raised the only eyebrow I could control - my right.

"I don't know. You probably know your veins better than I do," I replied seriously, staring at him straight in the eyes.

He laughed softly and began pumping up his fist quickly. He then pointed to about a centimentre length of vein, barely jutting out of the skin.

"There." His nonchalant tone amused me.

I palpated. Good. Bouncy. A bit curvy but it will do on this guy.

I inserted the cannula, missing the wall as the vein moved out of my way. I pulled back the cannula and redirected and got the the vein this time. As I retracted the needle and began attaching the bung to the cannula, flushing it with saline - I was aware he was watching my work with curiosity.

My grim thought was that he was probably thinking where he could secure some IV stash of his own for future use.I was wondering how he would survive the next few days in hospital without getting his daily hits.

As I looked at the IV access with the satisfaction of a proud mama (what can I say I'm a fresh intern and will grab every ounce of confidence I can get), I knew that access was probably going to be a well-used one.