After last weeks blood draw debacle, I called the allergist to see if she had someplace else she would recommend we go for the blood draw. She advised me to go to our pediatrician, who sent me to the hospital where Mr. Charm was born to have it done.
We got there and the lab tech was the same one who had drawn my blood for the gestational diabetes test I took when I was expecting Mr. Charm. I know she’s good at blood draws for adults – I remember complimenting her on her skills two years ago.
Still, I made sure to mention that I needed someone who was good at pediatric blood draws. She answered that she was very comfortable with them, as she does them all the time for patients in the hospital, and also our pediatricians patients that are sent over.
I relaxed.
She was incredibly gentle about her attempts, but still, she did NOT succeed. Mr. Happy was NOT happy about it, and cried a lot, but it wasn’t the hysterical crying he did last week. I really felt like he mainly didn’t like being restrained.
On her second attempt, his blood actually clotted in the needle before she could get any blood! Honestly, she wasn’t in the vein for very long at all – is he just a really fast clotter?
After that attempt, she called upstairs to the NICU to ask for someone to come help.
They sent down the nurse practitioner, who happened to be one of the people that took care of Mr. Charm when he was a NICU patient two years ago. So I know HE is also very good, and very gentle.
After listening to our tale of blood draw woe, he decided that Mr. Happy’s little elbows and hands were too bruised up to attempt blood draws there, and planned to do an arterial draw from his wrists.
He did everything he could to ensure success. He turned down the overhead lights and used the red light under Mr. Happy’s arm to clearly see the arteries and veins. He made sure Mr. Happy was tightly swaddled to limit any wiggling. He waited until Mr. Happy was calm and smiling before starting. He used a hot pad to encourage vascular dilation.
Still, it didn’t work.
He went ahead and tried the other hand, and actually got the blood to start flowing.
Then it stopped.
I swear I was right there and he didn’t move the needle a bit when the blood started flowing – it just stopped for no reason!
By this point, Mr. Happy was crying hysterically and I said “OK, that’s it. We’re done.” I was pretty much in tears, too. Mr. Happy cried himself into exhaustion. He slept for almost three hours after we left the hospital!
The lab tech and nurse practitioner were almost as upset as I was. They said to wait until next week to give Mr. Happy time to heal up completely, then come back to try again. This time, they were leaving a note in his file to call the Head Doctor to come take the blood. Dr. W was the one who led the care for Mr. Charm in the NICU, and again, I know he’s good.
But now I’m wondering…is he good enough?
No one seems able to get my sons blood! I know they had great success with IV’s in the hospital, and they also took blood from him several times as well. What is so different now?
I just don’t know. And I’m not sure I want to subject him to it again in any event.
After I called the allergist to report yet another failed attempt, she advised me to hold off on the lab work for now. After all, she says, it won’t change anything about how we’re treating him. It’s just more diagnostic/ruling out work right now, which can wait.
Sigh…I hope this isn’t how lab work is always going to be.
