April 23 - Blood Work
Oh what a morning it was. Comedy of errors all around. Levi woke up late which means we were running behind. Then at some point in the getting ready process Jay told Levi that if he got moving then he would find him donut money. We do donuts on Thursday usually, not just because it gets us thru the week, but also because I have early morning meetings on Monday at work and am always running late, but this had not been properly communicated to Jay. So I come down the stairs and am running around trying to finish everything, we need everything on Mondays, gotta fold the blanket and sheet, find the stuffy, pack the gymnastics bag, need a breakfast cup, and the regular morning stuff, so its chaotic. Levi looks at me and grins. I asked what was up and he said "Daddy gave me donut money! Look!" and shows me that sure enough there are 6 quarters in his jacket pocket. I asked him if he wanted me to hold them so we wouldn't lose them, but oh no, he needed them, because Daddy gave him the donut money.
So we finally get on the road and I swear get stuck behind every slow person on the way to the highway. Levi and I have a good chat on the way and then he watches his movie. We get to the lab and I am watching the clock thinking I might just squeak by and make it to the 9am meeting on time. We are walking into the hospital. Levi was in a super good mood and starts jumping over all the cracks and paint. No problem, he's being cute, and still holding my hand. We go to cross the road into the hospital and he jumps one more time and I don't know how this jump was any different then the 50 he had done in the parking garage, but suddenly all of his quarters come flying out of his pocket in 6 different directions. Levi loses it as that's his donut money. So there I am hunting down quarters while holding Levi's hand in the middle of the road, with people staring at me, and Levi melting down because his donut money is gone. I grab them all and get him to the sidewalk where we count them to make sure there are enough and this calms him down.
We get inside and for the first time in awhile Levi is all about stopping and staring at his fountain. Seriously kid, you haven't paid that thing attention in a month, and today you do. So we stop and look at it.
Then Levi goes running over to the lab and abruptly stops with this look on his face. I catch up to him and am not sure what has made us stop, until I look and the waiting room is FULL! Are you kidding me?!?! We haven't had a wait in months! The world is against me today. So I go up and sign him in, and for the first time ever I use the trick to jump him to the front of the line by writing "Levi - STAT" on the sign in sheet.
We sit down to wait for the person that is in there. Levi takes some cute pictures.
Then Levi plays on the tablet that P had brought out to him when she saw us coming in. He was "cutting hair" and having a blast!
It wasn't long before the person who was in their comes out and the person who was clearly next stands up. P calls "Levi" and the person whose turn it was glared at me as Levi goes running into the lab. P saw that and said "He's a child with a stat order, I have to take him." It didn't stop the glare, but I just kinda looked away and went in. Sorry lady, but sometimes there is a tiny "privilege" to being sick if you get to skip a line. I don't use it often, usually I would make him wait, but honestly I just don't have time today. And yes, you may be on a schedule too, and need to get to a work meeting too, but there is a slight difference between being late to work once in a great while because of medical stuff, and being late/waiting twice a week! Skipping the line is what we all needed today.
We get inside and Levi climbs up into the chair after getting his band-aid. He goes right back to his game and I figure today is going to be a super easy day.
But again the world was against me. P goes to put the needle in and Levi grabs his arm, above his elbow so not where she is putting in the needle, but above that which was enough to move his veins. At this point we are struggling with getting the blood. We finally get it going when Levi releases his arm so he can use his hand to keep coloring and that of course moves his vein again. So P gets the blood flowing, but it's at trickle rate and we are just trying to get enough to go in the tube. Finally we have enough in both tubes and get the band-aid on.
I try to quickly send Levi over to the treasure box so we can keep the show on the road, but today he wants a picture with his tablet drawing.
Then he is off to the treasure box. And we can't make up our mind. Everything looks awesome. Finally I told him he had to pick so he did. I honestly can't even remember what he settled on, but something and he was happy.
We stopped and got his sticker and we were out of there. I took a quick glance at the clock and did some mental math, figured if i grabbed his donut and carried him to the car I might make it to work just 5-10 minutes late for my meeting. At this point he is off and running to the donuts. We get there and of course there is a line. We must be the 8th person back. UGH! And they are all getting special coffee's so it takes forever. Finally we make it to the front of the line. He is so proud to have his donut money and to pay T (yup I finally learned her real name!) all by himself. He gives his hugs, grabs his donut, and we are out of there.
We got to school to drop him off at the time my meeting at work started. Then I had to clean his face and hands, bring him inside, and then drive the 14 minutes to work. I was 25 minutes late to my meeting. That is the life of the mom of a sick kid, nothing ever goes right. Everything takes longer and adds more stress then you would expect. Thankfully Levi was in a fairly happy mood.
Counts came in within 35 minutes today just like they always should. His counts were 203. A great increase from last week!
Next plan: Do blood work again on Thursday, and hopefully have it be a little less stressful! :)
