Legalized Torture

Who chooses to be phlebotomist? Seriously. Why would you choose legalized torture for your profession?

Today was Liam's 12 month checkup. He's reached all of the required milestones and his height puts him between the 25th and 50th percentiles, but the poor little guy still doesn't weigh 20 pounds. I guess he'll be facing backward in the car for another month or two. Sigh.

He got four shots and although I was wary about the MMR and all of the recent media coverage possibly linking it to autism, I went ahead and consented to it. I think I've read two dozen articles on the topic and none of them directly link the two. Sometimes I think the media just likes to blow things out of proportion.

As for the phlebotomist, poor Liam was sent for a blood draw to check for lead levels and anemia (this was after the four shots). The lady tied the rubber band thingy on his arm and tried for a good three or four minutes to find his vein. Then she stuck him and fished around for a while to find it. His arm was turning purple, he was screaming his head off and I was close to tears myself. She sent in another tech to try his other arm. The second lady managed to find his vein within 30 seconds and didn't have to fish around to get the needle in. Two vials of blood and neon orange bandages later, it was all done and poor Liam clung to me as if his life depended on it. Thank goodness the lab requires a second phlebotomist to draw the blood if the first can't find a vein. We'd still be there if it weren't for their lab protocol.

Anyway, it's all over. He's taking a much needed nap and I'm still trying to recover from all of the drama. Maybe a bowl of ice cream will help.