January 19 - Blood Work

January 19 - Blood Work

We got to blood work this morning and had to wait a few minutes in the waiting room. Levi did a pretty good job waiting. The waiting room was empty so he bounced around from chair to chair. Nurse St was there, we have seen her before but not often.

 It wasn't long before it was our turn to head in. Levi ran right in and picked out his band-aid. A "Minjen" turtle (aka TMNT)! Then he climbed up in the chair. Nurse St came over, she asked if we needed to call someone or if he was good, and I said, he's great, should be fine to do by ourselves. This is where it all went down hill. Nurse St picked out a purple tube and a yellow tube. Now Levi knows that his tubes are supposed to be purple and green and he will not hesitate to tell any nurse that! Technically the nurses are not wrong to pick yellow instead of green, yellow is just the non-stat version of the test, however since his purple tube is stat his other one should be as well. So he starts trying to tell her that it should be green. I am not sure if she didn't hear him or didn't understand or was just ignoring him but she kept going. Then the hospital had gotten in new children's tourniquets, they were orange instead of blue. Levi did not like that she was using this. He kept telling her that he wanted a blue tighty tight, a blue one. Again I am not sure if she didn't understand what he was trying to say. P and him had their own language of things which he continues to use. So Nurse St got the needle and prepped to start. She wasn't overly excited about the vein, but she was gonna go for it. I was holding Levi and we did our standard attempt distraction thing. Levi was not impressed that I was holding him and kept saying "No, Don't hold me Mommy, Don't hold me!" I still do not know exactly how he did it, but he got his left hand out of my hand that I was holding him, in the same way that I have held him for a year now and grabbed the needle just as Nurse St was getting ready to put it in his arm. It stuck his finger just barely before she could react quick enough to push the button to retract the needle. At this point she said we need to call one, and I didn't disagree. I told her that Nurse Pa can usually do him pretty well and they are starting to have a decent relationship, so she said she would call for her.

Nurse St asked if I minded if she took someone else in the other chair while we waited, I of course said no that was fine. As soon as the other lady walked in Levi was all about needing to go potty, so in to the bathroom we went.

It wasn't long before Nurse Pa came down from wherever she works. She had brought Levi stickers so that made him smile. He climbed back up in the chair and looked at his stickers. Then she looked at his tubes and said "hmm... something isn't right" and he was like "no, purple and green!" so she switched the tubes for him. Then she looked at the tighty tight and saw that it was orange and asked him if he liked it, he said no he wanted a blue one and she pulled out two blue ones. One for him to play with and have and one for her to use. She is definitely learning that he is a creature of habit and she plays to that! Nurse St helped to hold Levi's arm and Nurse Pa got ready to stick him. She was almost there when he lost it again yelling "there's no tube, mommy there's no tube". She hasn't put the tube in to the end of the needle line yet, it isn't actually necessary until after the needle is in and blood is flowing, but he is very used to it being there. Nurse Pa wasn't even phased by this and just said, "oh right, silly me no tube, it's the purple one right?!?!" and he said "no green first!! green first!!" so she said "oh right, and put the green one on". After that he settled right down and she got the stick on the first try! The draw went quick after that.

Levi headed to the treasure box happy as a clam as if none of the above drama had gone on, and that we hand't been at the lab for close to 30 minutes at this point. It always amazes me how fast he can bounce back! He picked out a yellow squishy frog and was super happy.

While Nurse St was attempting the draw and he was yelling for me not to hold him I had bribed him with a donut so I had to honor that, so over to the cafe we went. He saw the sprinkle donuts and was super excited by them, but then he saw the fruit cups and asked for one of those too. I said, you have to pick, you can have a donut or a fruit cup but not both, you wont have time to eat both on the way to NS. And guess what he picked:

Yup a fruit cup!!! Not the choice I would have ever thought a 2 year old would make, but definitely the healthier of the two choices!! I was very proud of him. And he ate all but three pieces of that fruit on the way to NS and I think he would have finished it, but he ran out of time.

Counts were late in coming in, however Seneca was also having internet and phone upgrades being completed so its hard to tell if it was an issue with the fax being sent late or the fax being received late. Counts came in at 265. Still a great number but it is a 100 point drop since last week.

Next appointment is an infusion on January 24.