I visited a Theranos 'wellness center' over the weekend to get my blood drawn - it blew away my expectations

Melia Robinson/Tech Insider

I've never been afraid of needles, but giving blood is no trip to Disney World.

Anytime a phlebotomist tries to sink a needle into my arm to collect blood, my plump veins roll away. Doctors stick me again and again, and I leave their offices with enough bruises on my arms to pass for a junkie.

So when I first heard about Theranos, a laboratory startup that claims to use smaller needles and require fewer samples to perform its revolutionary blood tests, I was thrilled.

But the company, which is currently valued at $10 billion, has recently come under fire for allegedly not using its secret in-house technologies for most of its blood testing. The news stories piqued my interest in Theranos even more.

A doctor recently recommended I get some routine blood work done, and I opted to visit one of Theranos' few dozen blood-drawing sites, which it calls "wellness centers."

Here's how my Theranos blood-testing journey played out.