what i learned from i.v. lines and spinals

i think i mentioned some time ago about having a terrible day at i.v. lines
well, that day stretched on to become two and then a few more.
it was absolutely nightmarish, i lost all confidence in the first and most basic thing an anaesthetist has to do.
on the other hand, my spinals were going in jsut fine. i was confident of giving spinals and would invariably "feel the give" and see the CSF flow out.
so i decided to place my i.v. lines in God's capable hands.
seriously, i started to say a silent prayer to God before each routine i.v. line!
am i superstitious? i don't think so. along with the prayer, i forced myself to concentrate harder on the tehnique (even if that sounds like too much of a word to use for something as simple as an i.v. line), and it actually started working.
i've been having less trouble with them now
i understand that sometimes, you just may not get a line, and i'm fine with that.
(i remember an incident form internship when i had to take an ABG at the end of a 24 hour duty in medicine. i poked one radial artery and could not get it, so i tried the other. i still didn't get it. extremely tired and irritated, i went for the femoral artery, and I STILL COULD NOT GET IT!!!!!!! worse, i tried the other femoral and managed to miss that too. to this day, i wonder how i managed to miss two femoral arteries. finally, i got bugged and left it to the next day's duty person.)
the spinals were teaching me something new: i had become too comfortable with them, so along came two or three people in a row in whom i could not get the CSF at all.
so, once again, i have to learn to not be over-confident, to invoke God's help and presence in the smallest of things, and to concentrate on the given work, instead of treating it as hum-drum.