swollen, discolored skin from blood draw

Tests and investigations
1

I was at the hospital on the 30th around 2 am(panic attack), and the nurse who was not specialized in phlebotomy messed up a blood draw in the right side of my right hand. The blood started to sputter in the tube and leak out at the needle, and it hurt really bad. She didn't apply a whole lot of pressure and just kinda threw a gauze patch on it and tried again somewhere else. 

Around 1 pm I woke up and realized that the area had swollen a bit, and was somewhat tender. It's not horribly swollen like a balloon or anything, but the area is clearly raised as I can no longer see the all the tendons with perfect clarity. Namely, my ring finger's tendon is somewhat obscured and my pinky's is almost completely obscured. I pressed on it and it doesn't really seem hard, but the skin looks green there. Once in a while I'll get a somewhat dull but annoying shooting pain in that area, or my wrist, or my forearm, and I'll panic because what if it's some sort of awful infection that's spreading? The nurse line at my clinic told me to ice it but that doesn't seem to be doing anything. What should I do?

2

Did you ever find out how to make it better? I am in the same boat 2 weeks later and I still have that shooting pain you described and I’ve noticed new bruising on my upper arm as well. Just like you my nurse poked me the wrong way. 

3

Yes, as it turns out it was a hematoma. It was bruised for about two and a half weeks, but eventually the swelling died down and the pain subsided. My pinky was stuck in a strange position for a while but that's healed, too. I would definitely get it checked out if it's spreading, that's generally not a good sign though it's typically nothing to be horribly worried about.

4

Yes hematoma it takes a little bit for the blood to be absorbed back into your body. I've had several veins blown out by nurses. I've even had several medications, blown out under my skin and even blood products such as platelets. They all get absorbed back to the body, meanwhile it's a painful wait. Most infections would cause a lot of pain and fevers. Glad you got it all worked out.