My poor baby had to endure well over 5 minutes of the nurse sticking the needle in both his arms.
He was screaming his head off, i and nurse no.2 were restraining him, in the end he was just yelling but had no tears at all, he was as rigid as a board on my lap.
Nurse no.2 was talking to him, and he had lost all eye contact and was so upset. And i was upset to see him like this, that i got 
and told her he is autistic you know, he is upset and he won't answer you! I don't usually come out with it in that way, but she was annoying me, it had written he has autism on his blood forms, she could see he wasn't answering so why the hell was she insisting!! grrr...
Then nurse no.1 announced that she hadn't managed to get the blood needed! 
She said the cold spray used to numb the skin can make the veins disappear! 
She said next time we'll have the cream.
So we have another appointment to repeat the ordeal next Monday.
I'm dreading it as he will remember the hospital and i suspect it will be worse.
DS was sobbing for 45 minutes after when we had got out of the room.
He got a new Space Chimp dvd for being a brave boy.
But i don't feel brave about having to go back next week. 
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SN children
DS 's blood test appointment was awful!!
genieinabottle · 08/11/2010 20:38
I don't know if it was a phlebotomist or a nurse tbh. It was done in the children's blood test room in the kids'outpatient departement at the hospital.
You'd think they'd be experienced.
Next week we'll have a different person doing it she said.
The blood is for genetic testing for Fragile X and something else (i don't remember the neame of it). And it's standard in our area because he has a dx of autism.
So it's not life tretening or health related as such. It's unfair to distress him like this so if it doesn't work next week, i won't bring him again.
Thank you for the tip about the cream.
I wish i had said we'll have the cream instead of the cold spray now.
I asked the nurse which was better and she said they're both effective but the cream is more tricky as the arms have to be wrapped in cling film and left for 30 mins. So i said let's have the spray but it wasn't working, DS was screaming as soon as she tried putting the needle in.
They had a dvd playing but he was so distressed that it was totally useless.
Gawd, i'm worried about next week and having to drag him in there, he was placid and went in ok today, no way will it be the same next time.
I feel terrible about putting him through it again, what will he think of me...
Poor you.
When we took DS (ASD) for one I told the nurse, he's autistic, when he gets stressed do not speak, it makes him worse. I said we had one shot, there'd be no way I'd get him through the doors again if we had to come back.
She was brilliant. Took two of them and OH to hold him down whilst I did my best 'it's OK' face and rubbed his head.
Poor daddy sobbed like a baby though...
Genie, you poor thing and your poor ds. We had a similar thing on the childrens' ward with my nt ds when he was 4, he was seriously ill and its the only thing he remembers about being in hospital.
His was done by a registrar, who basically told us he was rushing because he was going out to party that evening and it was the end of his shift. He didn't wait long enough for the emla to work, couldn't get any on the first try, so tried to take it from just about everywhere where there wasn't any emla anyway. Poor child was stuck in both arms and hands and we were both in tears, with ds absolutely hysterical. The registrar kept bullying me and saying the bloods had to be done there and then as he was so ill they needed the results. I was on my own with ds, eight and a half months pregnant and distraught. I called dh who'd just gone home and he turned round and came straight back, read the riot act to the Registrar and insisted a senior member of staff came to do it. It took the senior phlebotomist all of 30 seconds using some fast acting lidocane cream. Needless to say we put in a complaint about the registrar.
Definitely get the Emla cream. Put in on an hour before your appointment time and really thick, don't squidge it around, just put a huge blob on and apply clingfilm straight onto it. I always apply it to both elbows and both hands, as have experienced them not being able to get it from the first place and trying to take it from somewhere else where there's no cream. I tend to find if the skin under the cream gets a bluish tinge then it has really worked well.
Ds1 (the one who has ASD) has had loads of blood tests done this way and either says it tickles or he can't feel it at all.
If you are going back to the outpatients department, I would also call and ask for a phlebotomist, or even better paediatric phlebotomist to do it. They are in and out in two seconds, no fussing or messing around - I won't let anyone but a professional Phebotomist take blood from my dcs now. My GPs say they always tell people to go to the phlebotomy department to get bloods taken, as nurses just aren't as skilled and its all the phlebotomists do all day every day, so they are expert at it.
Would it be an option to take him to the Phlebotomy Department instead? Just thinking it would be a difference place, so won't have the same negative associations.
Genie, is there a hospital gift shop? Ds1 can always be persuaded into the hospital if he is allowed to choose something from the shop before his appointment (I then use that as his 'before' present').
Our hospital shop sells mini lego kits 2 for 2.99. Since they started doing that, ds1 begs to go to ds2's appointments as well! 
at your ds1.
Thanks for the advice.
Yes they have one, and they have a WHSmith too which has small presies too.
DS loves his Thomas magazines so that would be a good one. 
And if DH was here he would now quote me the 5 Ps. (Prior Preparation Prevents Piss Performance!) lol
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Poor, Poor DD. 3 major attempts, with several jab marks because she moved so much. One needle in one side of the vein and out the other, blood spraying everywhere
Another lady took over and managed.
Oh no Lougle. Your poor DD.
Hope she is ok now. x
Did you go the SG hospital?
I wish they had got another nurse to try it on his other arm yesterday, maybe she would have got it.
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