Needles and Owies

Today I took Keira in for all of the lab work that was required before her biopsy on Friday. I can't even begin to tell you how horrible it was. We're used to Keira having to get lots and lots of blood taken whenever she has tests, but this time was very different. Someone forgot to tell her veins that they were supposed to cooperate with us.

The same thing happened like it always does. The person taking blood calls us in and they ask if I'm the one that they will be taking blood from. Once they realize that it's Keira, they suddenly go bug-eyed and their jaws drop to the ground. They always end up going into the back to consult with the computer again and the doctor to make sure that they weren't reading the request wrong or to find out what the doctor was smoking when they decided to order this much blood from such a small child.

Normally she needs anywhere from 6-8 vials of blood for tests. Most of the tests can work with smaller amount of blood, but this time, there were at least 2 vials that needed to be full... as well as about 6 others that had to be about half full. It was just crazy. Does she even HAVE that much blood in her little body???

The nurse took me in the back to "bag" Keira for a urine sample. She had already filled a diaper, but I wasn't worried about whether we would be able to get her to pee since she most likely would once she saw the needles! If any of you aren't familiar with "bagging", it's what they use to get urine samples from babies and toddlers. Obviously you can't squeeze out a diaper to get the sample (ok...I'll admit that was what I thought they expected me to do the first time they told me they needed a sample lol), so they have a special bag for little girls with an adhesive that sticks directly to the skin so that the pee will go in the bag instead of the diaper. It really looks VERY uncomfortable.

After that, we were called into the back to start the blood drawing. The second that we bagged Keira, she started to get a little suspicious. Once we went into the room and she saw the empty vials, she realized what was about to happen and just started to scream "NO!!!! MOMMY NO OWIE!!!" Tears just started to stream down her face. I just felt so horrible....but it had to be done to prep for her biopsy on Friday. They brought in a few people to help since she was so small and they did their first poke. The blood started flowing as well as the screams and the tears....everything was going quickly thank goodness, but all of a sudden...the blood flow just stopped. They had to move the the needle around a bit which of course caused more screaming...but still nothing. They moved over to the other arm and started the second poke. The screams and crying were so loud and sad...It just broke my heart. I started to cry as well feeling so horrible for what was happening to her. They told me that it's actually a little easier to get the blood when they are crying because the blood flows faster (adrenaline). Next thing you know....it stops again. After the third time with the blood flow stopping as well (she for some reason was clotting very quickly)we had to stop for a bit. It was just too much.

I took her out of the room and cradled her in my arms while she drank water from her sippy. They wanted her to hydrate a little and rest for a minute before we tried again. She was drinking her water and tears were still coming out. After a couple of minutes, she started to fall asleep probably from being so tired from all of the crying. I had to wake her up to try and get more blood...this was so horrible. They were finally able to get just enough blood to fulfill the amount that they needed for the tests. There was one other test that they needed- but it was one that could be done the day of the biopsy, so we were fine with waiting until then.

Now for the urine sample. Believe it or not...through all of this, she hadn't peed! We waited for a while longer at the hospital, but she was falling asleep. I asked if I could take her home so that she could take a nap at home and I would bring her back for the urine sample. They were closing at 12:30, but were fine with that. We left with her still bagged and she went to sleep.

I woke her up after her nap and she STILL hadn't peed! I brought her back to the hospital and talked to the nurse for a bit. She said that she wanted to double check if the urine sample was really necessary and it turns out that it wasn't. Not only did Keira have to endure having all of the blood drained out of her poor little body, but had to have the adhesive from the bag pulled off a VERY sensitive area of your body for nothing! OUCH!!! Through all of this, she was such a trooper and was showing everyone that would listen where her owies were on her arm.

I'm so glad that the tests were over and hopefully the biopsy will go smoothly with this being the worst part of it. Time will tell...