A Brave Little Girl

Today's visit to the doctor was a traumatic experience for the whole family. We scheduled this appointment to have blood drawn and tests run as required by our adoption agency. So we knew that needles and a lot of crying would be involved.

The beginning of the appointment went very well with Lydia being weighed and measured. The doctor commented that Lydia was more comfortable with her than the last 2 visits. Lydia was due for her chicken pox immunization, so we decided to have that done today. Lydia sensed that she was about to get a shot when the nurse came in with the needle. She started crying very loudly even before we set her on the table for the shot. (I feel the same way about needles.) It took a while to calm her down after the actual shot was administered, but the animal crackers that we brought along helped. She was fascinated by the Daffy Duck band aid that was placed over the shot site. It wasn't the usual Hello Kitty band aid that Mommy puts on owies.

Lydia thought that the appointment was over when we went downstairs. Little did she know what new pain awaited her. We were heading to the lab for the blood work. (In addition to the tests required for the adoption post placement, the doctor recommended that Lydia have allergy testing done, since she was already having her blood drawn for the other tests. Lydia has had hives on and off for several weeks, and we want to determine what is causing them.) So in the lab, Lydia sat on Katy's lap as they poked Lydia with a needle and drew 2 vials of blood. Lydia screamed and cried the whole time, and Katy was close to tears herself. It took about 10 minutes, but it seemed like an eternity before it was all over.

So we were finally heading out the door when the nurse came running out to stop us because there was one test on the list that had not been completed. Lydia screamed in terror as we took her back into the doctors office. I'm not sure if we will every be able to take her back there after this experience. We hope that this bad memory will fade quickly . . . for all 3 of us.