blood

Yeah, the last post was about urine. As you can see from the title, this one is about blood. No video tonight. You'll thank me later.

Randy has been sick all week. Very high fever for the past few days. Not many other symptoms other than the fever. He had to leave school early on Wednesday because of being sick, so Cari took him to the doctor. The doctor really couldn't diagnose anything and sent Cari to the hospital with him. Cari called me at work and had me meet them at the hospital.

They wanted to take x-rays of his chest to check for pneumonia and they also wanted to draw some blood and check for bacteria.

I arrived just after the x-rays were done. We headed back to have some blood drawn.
Randy doesn't remember ever having shots or stuck with needles before, and he had no fear of it.

The chair looked a bit like a high chair. He sat down and a tray was placed in front of him to rest his arms. The nurse said she needed two samples and would like to take one out of each arm. As she prepped his arm, he started looking a bit nervous. Cari held his hand and talked with him as they stuck his left arm. He winced and moaned a bit, but didn't cry. Cari bragged how brave he was being.

Me? I stood in the doorway quietly watching. As the nurse finished drawing the first sample, I started to feel a bit warm. By the time the nurse was prepping his second arm, I was sweating. I started to feel a bit weak. I walked into the hallway and sipped my water. I was about to pass out.

Something about needles and drawing blood just does not work for me. Anytime I have been with Cari and she had to get stuck, I always turn around or leave the room.

So, I stood in the hallway turning pale. I could hear Cari talking to Randy still. I was not getting better. Cari pointed out how much braver Randy was behaving compared to dad. I leaned on the wall and felt no better. Finally, I walked back to the waiting room and slumped into a chair. Slowly sipping my water and trying to calm myself.

Cari came out just a minute later with Randy. He wasn't crying. Cari smirked at me, "you are green." I didn't even reply. Maybe she wasn't laughing, but it sounded like it to me. She asked if I could drive home. It took just three minutes before I was ready.

With all the violent video games and movies I have witnessed, I'm not sure what it is about seeing blood drawn that breaks me down. Next time Cari calls me to meet at the hospital, I'm staying in the waiting room until the blood work is done.
---Randy is feeling much better today. Fever much lower. Don't know what the cause was.