Almost daily diary!

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

At the Doctors

Tall Girl is tired and run down - aren't we all? But it's been a while so I thought I should get her checked out so that she can enjoy her 6 weeks off school. I'm sure it's just the teenage stage of wanting to sleep all day and wake up in the evening. Anyway I rang the doctors just to be sure and she said to book in with the nurse for a blood test.

Poor Tall Girl is nervous of needles, she's nervous of lots of things, wasps, moths, strange men, big dogs, hospitals, the dark....you name it, she's scared of it, almost. Though she is much better now at 14 than she has ever been before. However needles are probably her Room 101. So as she came down stairs on Monday morning, the first day of the holidays, all chirpy and asking if I'd spoken to the Doctor, it was with great trepidation that I told her about the blood test.

She cried, she shouted, there was much gnashing of teeth! "I'm not having it!" She declared several times. And on it went. In the end I persuaded her to go to the appointment and talk to the nurse about it. She agreed. At least I could get her there, I thought, and perhaps the nurse could persuade her to go through with it.

So at 2.30pm we entered the surgery, Small Sprog in tow with his iPod to keep him busy. We sat in the waiting room for a short time, and just as I thought she was about to come apart at the seams we were called in.

Nurse Debbie was an angel. She was the kindest most caring nurse you could wish for. She started to reassure Tall Girl and tell her all about what would happen and showed her the needles and explained how she would do the procedure. Tall Girl warmed to the idea. A little.

All of a sudden I realised Small Sprog was very quiet. I looked across at him. He was turning green. It was the sight of the needle. "I think I'll just wait outside" He said in his best grown up voice, and off he went out into the corridor. The nurse on the other hand spent ages with Tall Girl, who was still refusing. The best we could get from her was to agree to come back in 2 days time.

When Tall Girl and I left the room we went to pick up Small Sprog. He didn't look any better.
"Are you ok?" I ask him, trying to hide a grin
"No!" He replied "I just thought I'd escape to the waiting room, but then I had to listen to 6 people discussing their diseases!"
Poor Small Sprog, escaping one graphic medical drama only to find another waiting for him in the waiting room. It's shame he has such a weak stomach, he had to be rushed home for an emergency toilet visit as soon as we left, it had upset him so much. Perhaps he has too much empathy!

As for Tall Girl, she did go through with her blood test today, though it was a bit touch and go. I won't go into details, save to say that the stress of it all made her vomit into the washing up bowl, once back home. But it's done now and that is enough of that!



17 comments:

Rubye Jack said...

Good for tall girl. So she is 14. Interesting, because she reminds me of myself and I'm 64. Ha. I think it is so cool that you let her take a stand on this rather than forcing her to "do as you say".

Rob-bear said...

Oh, dear! What a terrible experience for TG.
I have to "feed the vampires" on a semi-regular basis, and I'm still not that keen on it, but I survive.
Now, for the results of TG's "misadventure."

Maggie May said...

Oh dear...... this is how my oldest granddaughter behaved when they had to have flu jabs before they could go to Japan when the bird flu was at its worst, some time ago..
My grandsons are not any better, either.Seems they have all an inherent hatred of needles.

Hope the results of the test are OK for TG.
Maggie X

Nuts in May

Alice said...

hi!

l'm back but indifferent place

luv Alice (fff)

Steve said...

Not liking medical stuff can have a positive effect if it promotes a healthy lifestyle so that you permanently avoid doctors!

Rose said...

I do feel for Tall Girl--I don't much like needles either. Glad she finally went through with it and hopefully all is okay.

Akelamalu said...

My eldest son is terrified of needles. I remember once he had to have a blood test and then go into the chemist to pick up a prescription, he had to ask a little old lady to vacate the only chair in the chemist so he could sit down as he thought he was going to pass out! LOL

Furtheron said...

I thought my one was bad enough but she does normally just grit her teeth and go through with it... my son did nearly pass out on me just after a blood test blood extraction which surprised me, he is normally good at these things...

cheshire wife said...

Poor TG.If the problem is the fear of pain. EMLA cream which can be prescribed or bought will numb the area.

nick said...

Well, I feel like one of those old fogeys saying, Goodness, we were all much tougher when I was young, we weren't bothered by needles, we knew it was necessary, we just got on with it blah blah. Nevertheless, if people are scared, you can't just force them into it, you have to make allowances.

I admit I'm a bit blasé about needles, as I've given blood 33 times!

Working Mum said...

Poor girl. I hate needles too, but not quite to her extent. I certainly can't watch when anyone hast to inject me and I think taking stuff out is far worse than injecting things in. All I can say is that she needs to find some sort of distracting technique to help her cope. Our nurse gets me to count backwards from ten in French!

Looking for Blue Sky said...

I held my breath reading this...I had an absolute terror of needles as a teenager, so much so that I evaded at least one vaccination, so I think you've done so well getting Tall Girl to have the blood test. I know she vomited, but hopefully she'll realise that's it wasn't quite as bad as she'd feared x

Liz Hinds said...

Well done, Tall Girl! Bless Small Sprog. I can empathise totally with him.

Kitty said...

I can TOTALLY relate! When No.1 had to have a tooth out earlier this year, she too refused at the first attempt. It was only with the help of a sedative that we got it done on the second attempt, so I really do know where you're coming from. Well done to you all on getting it done though - fingers crossed. (By the way, if they say her iron is low - as is common with teenage girls - drinking nettle tea puts it right back up again!) :) x

Letty - A Little Girl With A Curl said...

I am so so sorry to have been so absent from the blog world, life has kinda taken over here. Just checked my blog and discovered it is over a year since I posted on my blog!! And so much has happened.

Just wanted to put my few penny worth of thoughts in for Tall Girl.

My daughter has a total and utter phobic fear of needles too. She is now 32........but a few years ago suffered what is quaintly known as a Quinsey. Or more modernly known as an infection of the tonsils.

Many many bouts of tonsilitus....and finally she was admitted to hospital with infected tonsils, so bad she could hardly breathe.

It got worse, for the needle phobic daughter, they had, at one point to inject the Quinsey (or swollen tonsils which were causing her breathing probs) through her mouth.........

I made my excuses and left. She has still not conquered her fear of needles. Stangely.

I guess someone advancing towards you with a syringe through your mouth does not help in any phobic situation!

Hope Tall Girl is ok now.

and one day I may blog again, but don't hold your breath LOL!

J xx aka Letty xx

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Anonymous said...

Hope everything is OK? x