Red Elastic

Well, I know that many of you have been waiting with baited breath to find out what profound things I have to say about red elastic. I have gotten more feedback on this post (or lack of post) than anything I have written in a long time. In fact, I have decided that from now on I am just going to post random titles and let you come up with your own blogs. I believe that will be more exciting for all of us.
I also know that nothing I could now write on this topic will ever live up to your expectations. I am sorry to disappoint you now with the whole story.
First of all, the title of this blog is actually suppose to be Red Elastic Medical Tape. I'm not really sure where this partial title came from or how it got posted. I have another draft saved on my computer with the appropriate title.
There are certain items in this world that fascinate me. Elastic medical tape, that they wrap your arm with after you get blood taken, is one of these intriguing items for me. I love to play with the stuff. Whenever I visit the doctor for lab work I am actually excited to receive the gift of a piece of this amazing invention. I can't just wad it up and throw it away after it has served it's purpose. I have to play with it awhile first. I love the way it stretches. I love the way it sticks to itself and then unsticks when I pull on it. I love the amazing variety of colors it comes in.
On Monday my oldest son took a trip to the podiatrist to have his ingrown toe nail looked at. He returned home with his surgically repaired toe wrapped in red elastic medical tape. That stuff is so versatile!

It reminded me of Rudolph's red nose and I was a little bit jealous that he got some tape and I didn't (but I draw the line at playing with goopey, smelly toe tape).
The next day however I went to have some lab work done and I got some red tape of my own. I was pretty happy. I folded it and unfolded it and stretched it to my heart's content. As I was playing with it I began to wonder who created this cool product and if it made them rich. I tried to search the Internet to find the answers to my questions, with no luck. That's when I typed the title for a blog post and saved it as a draft.
This morning my youngest son went to donate blood at the Stake Blood Drive. His brother is our usual family representative, but he has a 1 year deferral due to a dental graft that he received, and so the small one had to step up to the plate. Since he is only 17 I had to go with him to sign a release form.


While I was sitting at the church watching all the generous people part with some of their blood, I once again began to muse about the medical tape that they were all being given as a parting gift. I started discussing it with the lady in charge of the Stake Drive. I thought since she has worked in the medical field for many years perhaps she would know who invented it. She couldn't answer that question, but she did tell me that it is called Coban, which we thought might assist me with my Internet search for information. Most of the victim's arms were wrapped with red tape and I was all set to take a photo of my son, wrapped in red, for my blog. However, when he was finished he ended up with purple tape and refused to let me take his picture. When we returned home I spent some more time on the computer searching the word Coban. I learned that 3m manufactures this product and I also found a 250+ page online book published by this company that I am pretty sure includes the answers I am seeking, but I wasn't curious enough to spend my entire Saturday searching for the info and gave up after skimming the book.
I don't know who invented Coban elastic medical tape, but I hope they got rich because of it. In my opinion, it is one of the world's greatest inventions and entertaining too.


I'm not sure the youngest son agrees with my assessment. On the way home from the church he told me that the phelbotomist told him to leave the wrap on for 45 hours. I questioned if that was really what she said and finally we decided she had said 4 to 5 hours. That sounded better, but that was still difficult for the son. Apparently this son is allergic to the Iodine they used to clean his arm and in the 5minutes it took him to donate his blood his arm had broken out in a severe rash. The technician cleaned off his arm and told him to take a Benadryl when he got home, but his arm still really itched and having the tape wrapped around it didn't help. He finally ripped it off after about 3 hours and was very happy to wad the offensive item up and immediately throw it in the trash.

Today I am grateful that

even though I can no longer donate blood, I have children who carry on in the service.
I got to visit with my sister on the telephone.
Heavenly Father has a plan for each one of His children and that I don't have to know exactly what that plan is. I just have to trust him and have faith that there is a plan.

One year ago today - Employee of the Quarter