I took baby Ben to the hospital last week to get his blood re-drawn. After getting checked in and waiting, the lady at the lab came out and asked very nicely if it would be OK if she just did a finger poke.
Are you kidding me? I am sure I stared at her blankly as the steam was coming out of my ears for a moment.
I said that would be just fine, but asked her to please double check to make sure she would get enough blood from a finger poke for the TSH test. I had been told at Children's that the TSH test required more blood, so a finger poke would not be sufficient. She came back and said that a finger poke would be fine.
She got two small vials out of the first finger she poked, and only after she poked and squeezed the second finger did Ben start with the scrunchie face. There was maybe 30 seconds of crying this time, and at no time did he stop breathing.
I feel so bad now for not insisting on a finger poke in the first place. It is definately not a mistake I will make again in the future.
Sorry Ben! Mommy is still learing how to be a good advocate for you.
This blog lets you keep up with the W family. Our three boys are John and Noah who are college students and Ben, who is growing quickly and in high school. He has Down syndrome, Autism and Celiac disease, and sure makes life interesting.
So glad it went well!!!
ReplyDeleteDon't feel bad. I think some places do it differently. For one of the TSH tests my Benjamin had, they ran three different numbers and had to have more blood than a fingerprick would allow, but for another, it was enough. We're all learning this together. I'm so glad it went better. Blood draws are so hard on our little guys!
glad that it went better this time! Happy for Ben he didnt have to go through all that again and you too.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know they could get enough blood out of little fingers! I'll be sure to ask next time. They had such a hard time finding JM's vein in his arm for thyroid levels.
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