We are nearing the end of all the requirements for the Foreign Service. This past ten days or so have been filled with medical, medical, medical. Lots of different doctor appointments. Lots of labwork. The kids doctor’s office has a lab inside so everything could be done there. But the labs on my insurance plan are half the valley away. I finally made it to one last week only to find out that these labs don’t do the test for tuberculosis. So I had to go to a second lab (not on my insurance plan) on another day. And then go back again three days later to have the test read. Meanwhile, the day I chose to do all the kids labs at their doctor’s office was a Thursday. And TB tests have to be read between 48 and 72 hours later. Which puts that firmly in the weekend when the doctor’s office was closed. So we had to go back another day to do the test and then come back again 2 days later to read the test.
Here we are in the waiting room at the doctor’s office. In the middle of the night, the night before, I had woken up with the feeling of somethig in my eye. My eye was watering like crazy. How anything got in there while I was SLEEPING, I will never know. It was super irritating. My eye was fiercely red, but the Hubba couldn’t see anything. By morning I could feel the inside of my eyelid swollen. Every time I blinked it felt like a little pebble scraping across my eye. This happened to be once before on the fourth of July a few years aback when a bit of firework ash landed in my eye as I was looking up. So I knew that the only thing that can be done is to give you numbing eye drops so you don’t feel that swelling/pebble feeling. So I was just powering through the annoyance that day. I asked Wink if my eye was red. She said, “No, but you have eye boogers right there.” So I took a picture to see. I don’t see any.
We were waiting there to take the TB test for a long time. The kids were tired and bored (and some of them were worried). Pink entertained herself with my phone.
Finally, it was our turn. For the TB test, they just inject a little bubble of fluid underneath your skin. It looks pretty freaky but the needle barely goes in. It hurts a lot less than a shot and is a lot quicker than drawing blood. I ordered the children to get their testd done like this: X, Mack, Kelvinator, Wink Pink. X and Mack were the least worried and would be fine. Kelvinator is pretty nervous about needles, but he’s also a big boy and shouldn’t freak out about it. Pink would ultimately be ok, but she wouldn’t set a good example for Wink. So I wanted Wink to go before Pink.
X was fine. Mack was fine. It was actually kind of cute because he was looking away but was surprised by how much it hurt. So he said “ow” like three times–each more emphatically as his eyes got bigger. Wink was freaking out and I was actually holding her in my arms trying to calm her down when it was Kelvinator’s turn. He wanted me to be in there with him for support and comfort but I was wrestling a very distraught 8 year old and couldn’t get to him (the room was crowded with all of us in it) in time. I was, however, able to snap this sweet brotherly love photo of X holding his hand and getting him through it.
Kelvinator was so hilariously grumpy about having to do this again. Also, as a side note, one of the neat things that has been happening with JJ out of the house is this awesome brotherly bond between Kelvinator and X. Growing up, it was always JJ and X. Kelvinator was forever trying to do things with his big bros and they were just so mean to him. Excluding him from everything. So the past year and four months has given them the chance to really get to know and enjoy each other. And they do. I have loved seeing that relationship develop. And I hope there is enough time when JJ comes home (and X is on his mission) before he leaves for school for the same magic to happen between JJ and K.
Pink had been doing ok but when it was her turn she was pretty freaking out. I set Wink down to go be with her. Last time when she had to have her blood drawn she was really nervous and kind of fighting it. Then she said, “I need something to bite on.” So the tech gave her a wad of gauze to put in her mouth. And it sounds silly, but I was really proud of her for knowing what would help her and speaking up to get it. After that, she was just fine. So this time, she got to a point where she said, “I need to bite something.” I said ok. And the (new) tech looked at me like, “What kind of thing can she bite on?” But we got her a wad of gauze and she settled right down. In fact, she actually stopped squirming and completely relaxed WHEN they inserted the needle. It was kind of hilarious. It was clearly a case of her worrying it was going to be awful but then when it happened it was no big deal.
Unfortuantely for all of us, Wink had had enough. She had left the room and was running from me down the hall when I tried to retrieve her. She let me pick her up but was fighting going back in the room. I finally got her settled on my lap but she was refusing to allow us access to her arm. I was patient and tried to convince her to let us. I tried to coax her reminding her that this was necessary so she could come with us if Dad got the job and how she had been so brave all the other times. She would say ok but then when I tried to take her jacket off or pull up her sleeve, she would go rigid and wouldn’t let us get at her arms. It was exhausting. And it was taking a LOT of time. So I tried again. This will only take 5 seconds and then we can leave. Let’s go home and do something fun. The staff brought out the stickers and the otter pops AND the treasure box, too. So we let her rummage through the treasure box to see what she wanted.
Still, she said no. They brought in other staff members who were suggesting that we just pin her down and get this done. I have had to do that once before. We were taking her to an opthalmologist to figure out why she was having eye pain (she still has it intermittently, no one knows why). They had done everything they needed to do except one test where she needed eye drops that were going to sting just a bit. I coaxed and encouraged but she still refused. So finally they brought in a big guy and we all held her down while they forced eye drops in her eyes. It was truly awful and afterwards I felt like I had allowed and participated in the violation of my daughter. And you can say “it was necessary” all you want, but that felt absolutely yucky and I never wanted to do that again.
So here we were. So I said to Wink, “Do you understand what their talking about? Because you won’t let us do this important test on your arm, they are getting ready to just have you lie down and make you be still so we can do it. Would you rather just sit here on my lap and let them have your arm or do you want us all to hold you down so they can get to your arm?” She chose sitting on my lap, but when the time came, she wouldn’t let us get at her arm. So I said, “Ok. Since you won’t let us have your arm, we will have to try the other way. And I set her on the examination table. She was not having any of that and said she would sit on my lap. But the same thing happened. She got too frightened and wouldn’t give us her arm. So I explained what was happening and set her down on the examination table. She said she would sit on my lap and do it. I told her that this was last her chance, if she didn’t do it now, we were going to have to do it the other way.
So she sat on my lap and took off her jacket and rolled up her sleeve. (I was so relieved!!) She was still rigid and tense and freaking out and we did use another staff member to hold her arm to make sure it stayed there, but she allowed it all. X had been becoming so distraught as he watched both girls’ distress. He had the sweetest look of love and compassion and his face while all of this was going on. And he had made his way next to me as I was holding Wink through everything. So when we were finally able to do this, he was right next to her and we were having her look at him rather than look at her arm and he was just saying sweet and encouraging things to her and helping me hold her.
When it was (finally) all over, I was holding Wink on my hip so she could see inside the treasure box that was on top of a counter. But X scooped her up and doted on her. He seemed like he was just waiting for his chance to hold her and comfort her. I was so grateful because I was physically exhausted from wrestling a wiry 8 year old for the past 40 minutes!
Anyway, the hard parts were done. We went back yesterday to have them read the kids’ tests. It was the easiest time we had had. Just run your thumb over the arm looking for bumps. We are tuberculosis-free! In case you were wondering. It’s pretty much going to be awful the next time I decide to take K, Pink, or Wink in for a vaccination, though.
Meanwhile, the Hubba has to be fasting for his labwork. Even though we all have the same forms, the four different doctors we have seen have ordered different labs–I’m kind of worried about whether they’ve done it right!! Some of us had to do urinalysis-es (urinalyses?). Some didn’t. Some only had two vials of blood drawn, some four. The Hubba had to do an EKG, too. Anyway, he has to be fasting for his bloodwork. So he will go in on Monday morning after taking the kids to school and do all his stuff. Then he’ll have to go back on Wednesday or Thursday to have his TB test read. But then we’re done!
It’s the home stretch.
sparkling blue 