Today I had a blood letting/transfusion at the Ospedale Santa Maria Annunziata near Antella. I have received a lot of good care here in Florence through the Italian health system, but my poor Italian language skills also leave me unprepared sometimes for procedures. Today was a perfect example - I have been going to the doctor about once a month for a blood test to monitor what he says is a high red blood cell count (which was noticed when I had an unrelated illness). Finally (this has been going on for a year) I went to the blood center today for what I thought was going to be the simple drawing of a significant amount of blood (300 or 400 cc's). What actually happened was that I was hooked up to a machine that took my blood, centrifuged it, and returned my plasma. It did end up taking only the red blood cells, and for the moment successfully brought my level down to "normal" range, but the whole process was something I was totally unprepared for.
Anyway - no real point to the story - just a slice of life in the Italian health care system, and something other than travel and tourism related for a change. I also didn't get to write anything today since I was resting (okay sleeping) most of the day after the procedure...