Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Just A Wee Traumatized

Last Thursday was Evelyn's 9-month checkup. Steve was home with me, so it was an easy visit - we dropped Bella off at preschool and actually outnumbered the children!

The visit itself was pretty quick and we got a good report! Evelyn is 20 lbs. and 29 inches long. I love our pediatrician and Evelyn loves him, too! Dr. Andrews pretty much coos at her the entire time he's examining her, so what's not to love?

He asked if we would be interested in being part of a research study, and I said sure! I've done this twice before with Bella, and it's always been very uneventful...we're lucky to have children who don't react negatively to vaccines or antibiotics, and in Bella's case, being part of a study meant she actually got less shots! A win-win in my book!

They weren't able to schedule us for the initial vaccination for the study on that day, so I told the woman that I could come back the next day, no problem.

On Friday, I was down to one adult and two kids, but Bella was in a good mood and I brought snacks, so we decided to brave it! I had read in the paperwork that they would need to take a blood sample, but in the past, they've done this through Bella's big toe and it wasn't a big deal.

This visit definitely solidified that a nurse can make or break your experience at a doctor's office. All of Dr. Andrews' nurses have been wonderful, but this was our first experience with the research nurse at this location, and she was definitely more concerned with the details of her research protocol than with being understanding of the parents. 

My first frustrating moment was when she insisted that Dr. Andrews give Evelyn a physical before getting her shot, even though we had just been there less than 24 hours ago. She finally "okayed" everything, and said the lab technician would be in soon to take a blood sample from Evelyn.

When the lab tech walked in, I realized that they were planning on using a tourniquet and IV needle to get the blood. I've seen lab techs my entire life do this same thing on Rachel, and my experience has been that the techs aren't great at finding a vein in children. I asked her what her plan was since Evelyn was so small and obviously wouldn't hold still on her own. The research nurse chimed in like this was no big deal and said the tech would be just fine.

I held Evelyn's body and legs while the research nurse held her arm down and the lab tech tied the tourniquet and worked the needle. Oh my word, it was awful! So unbelievably awful! I know babies don't like to be restricted and I know that they cry when getting shots, but the image of Evelyn with a tourniquet around her little arm and the tech searching for a vein with a needle is pretty much seared into my brain forever.

In her left arm, they were able to fill one vial before the tech "blew the vein" (the tech's own words, not mine), and the blood started pooling under the skin. The research nurse looked at me nonchalantly and said they would need to switch arms. Why I even let them do this, I have no idea, but we did the same process with Evelyn's right arm until I realized that the tech couldn't find the vein and was just moving the needle around under her skin while Evelyn was laying there screaming.

By this time, I was trying desperately not to be the mother that cried, so I just stood up and said, "I'm out." The nurse looked at me, and I said, "She's not finding the vein, so we're going to stop." There was no apology from the nurse at all; she just said okay and when I asked what this meant for the study, she said I had 30 days to come back in and do it ALL OVER AGAIN...if I still wanted Evelyn to be involved! (This was all while Evelyn was still screaming.)

I know that there are mothers who have seen their children go through this over and over again out of medical necessity, and to them, I probably sound like an easily frazzled mother. Luckily for us, there was no necessity. I barely spoke to the nurse after that. I just scooped up Evelyn, grabbed Bella's hand, and walked out of the room. The whole way out to the car, I just kept saying, "Mama's so sorry. Mama's so sorry. I didn't know. I promise we'll never do that again." Bella walked out completely unfazed except to complain that Evelyn had been too loud.

I was able to call them later and tell them that Evelyn was not going to be a part of the study because there was absolutely no way I was going to bring her in for a blood draw again.

So that's our story. (Our very long story!) I'm still a little angry and a little traumatized. I realize that there are probably hundreds of other children involved in this study and the blood sample didn't permanently scar Evelyn in any way. I just have no interest in putting Evelyn through that for three more visits, and I'm perfectly okay if that means I'm a little weaker than I thought.

3 comments:

Norma Wires said...

I don't blame you! Why put her through that when it isn't necessary.

The Clark Family said...

Poor little girl...and poor you!!!

Ashleigh said...

It is totally traumatizing! And while I fall into the category of been-there-done-that-many-times-out-of-medical-necessity I would never ever choose to put my children through that:( You were so right and so strong to walk out. Molly has impossibly hard to find veins and there was one time they had to try SIX times to get an IV in her. SIX!! You're such a good mommy with good instincts. Glad that's over!