Gas Gauge and Blood Work

Yesterday after work I noticed that our gas gauge was fixed! It had been stuck at full ever since we went to North Bay at Thanksgiving and filled the tank before we left. Yay! And during that entire time (october 7th to January 10th) we only ever ran out of gas once. And it was Jake, on Lasalle, and my dad went and saved him. What a relief to have a gas gauge again!



Today I took Hayden to the hospital to get his bloodwork done. It had been ordered in December, but I hadn't gotten myself ready for the trauma I was expecting him to go through, and frankly didn't want to have to go through all that in the busy time before Christmas. Jake and I got the kids ready this morning, we drove him to work, then I dropped Sage off at Auntie Sandy's house since she'd agreed to watch him while I took Hayden up to St. Joseph's Hospital. I got a meter, which was a miracle, and Hayden and I went in and tried to find out where to go. We eventually wound up in the right department (admitting) however, I had brought with us the WRONG requisition form!! The admitting nurse said "So Krawczuk is the family doctor?" and I said "No, Hayden's doctor is Pluta." She said "But Krawczuk ordered the tests?" "No, Hayden doesn't see Dr Krawczuk at all, he's my doctor only. Dr PLUTA ordered the tests." and then I realized... "Oh.. that's my req." and then I realized further "uh oh... I don't think I have Hayden's req..." and began to search my purse for the requisition I knew was not there. I was very sad to realize the req was probably where I'd left it, on the printer at home. "Oh reggle-skeggle I have to go home and get his paperwork." ['Reggle-skeggle' is the swearing that Fred Flinstone utters under his breath.]



SO Back to the car we went. Buckled up Hayden. Swore for real in the few seconds I had between closing the back door and opening the driver's door. Drove home. Did I mention it was snowing all day and the ploughs hadn't been by yet? Got home. Searched for the req. Found the other Wii remote which had been missing. Found the req. Got back in the car. Relaxed while Toto sang us most of the way back to the hospital about the rains down in Aaaaaafricaaaa. Turned into the metered parking lot, behind another car. Which happened to take the one available spot. Drove over to the $3 parking lot. Full. Attendant waving me away mouthing the word "FULL". Gave him the finger in my head. Drove further away to the free lot at York Street. Parked. Bundled Hayden and myself up for the long walk to the hospital. Considered foregoing the whole thing and doing it another time. Reconsidered and kept going. Walking to the hospital, which is on Lake Ramsey, for those of you who don't know, was very cold and windy. The wind was coming in from across the lake right into our faces. Hayden kept crying and saying he needed a hug. I carried him for about 25 steps, but he's heavy and I'm weak and it's even harder when both our slippery coats prevented friction from helping hold him up. The snow was blowing and Hayden was saying "shoo! shoo!" to it to get it out of his face. I thought that was pretty cute. Eventually we got to the admitting desk and the nurse there had a little laugh at us making it back. She typed in his proper information and we went down to the lab out-patient waiting room.

At this point Hayden said he needed to pee on the toilet. At home when he pees on the toilet, he takes everything off from the waist down. Here at the hospital, I didn't want him doing that. I hummed and hawed and asked him if he could just pee into his diaper this time. A few minutes later he asked again. I asked another patient if she could watch the diaper bag and coats while I took him into the bathroom. She did. I told Hayden he would have to pee with his boots on and his pants and pull-up down around his ankles. I held his hands while he sat on the toilet seat and tried to point his penis down so he wouldn't go all over his leg. And he peed! I'm so proud of him!

A few minutes later it was Hayden's turn to get pricked. Three phlebotomists were there and asked me how his temperment was. I said "Honestly, he freaks out when the dr tries to look in his ear, so I have no idea how he'll be with this. It's his first time getting blood drawn. I think he'll need to be strapped down." They sat him on a bed and one of the ladies said "ok we're going to feel your muscles now! make a fist" and tied a tournequet around his arm. She felt his little anticubital space for a vein to pop up, and located a good candidate. Then they asked him to lie down and one lady explained that a little butterfly was going to sit on his arm for a few minutes and while it did that, a spaghetti noodle inside his arm was going to pour spaghetti sauce into the little tube she had. He only flinched for a second when the needle went in, and while she described the spaghetti sauce and how good it was and how much the butterfly liked it, he watched his blood go down the little tubing and into the vacuum tube. He didn't cry, he didn't fight, he didn't thrash, he didn't puke, he didn't worry, he didn't yell, he didn't do anything except watch quietly and be a perfect little boy! I was very relieved. When the two tubes were filled, she put tape on the cotton ball on his arm, and then gave him two little knitted finger puppets to play with.

We walked back to the car and with the wind at our backs it was a pleasant walk. The snow drifted down peacefully and I was so glad it went well. Now we'll just wait for the results and cross our fingers that the glucose test comes back normal.