Shots
-
- February
- 25
We took our toddler to a lab yesterday for what turned out to be an anything-but-routine blood-lead shot.
This is a shot that engenders much fear in parents because it tells them whether their kids’ toys or apartment paint are shedding dangerous levels of lead. But that wasn’t my focus when I realized that the shot would be in my son’s arm and he’d be looking right at the needle. All his other shots have been to the upper thigh, usually just quick stabs. Painful, of course, but not the long, drawn out ordeal he was about to face.
As I held my son’s arm in place, the technician, whose hand was shaking to begin with, wrapped the tourniquet around his upper arm and began searching for a vein. He couldn’t find one. He went to the other arm, couldn’t find one there either, and ended up calling a colleague to help him.
By then, my son knew what was up and began howling. They finally found a vein and he screamed even louder as the needle went in. When the technician switched collection tubes, he tapped at the needle to better draw the blood. Each time he tapped, the needle tugged at the skin a little more. My son was already so upset about the shot that he might not have realized it. But I felt each little tap.
My son was not a happy camper during that cold stroll back to our apartment. But he soon forgot it and was fine within an hour or so, walking around and chewing everything in sight.
Hopefully, all the extracurricular eating he does won’t add up to significant lead levels in his blood.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, February 25th, 2009 at 4:13 pm by Jon Bandler.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Print
| 
Email
