Let's start with the blood work the boys had on the 9th. I figured I'd take them then since Liam didn't have school and we'd have the whole day to
Liam decided to "let" his brother go first since he had had blood work done last year and remembered it too well. Ethan never had blood work done before, so didn't know what he was in for. Liam had worked himself up into quite a tizzy. I had hoped that if I had told him about the blood work and reminded him that, while it hurt last time, it didn't take long and he survived it. I'm certain had he been on his regular medicine I would have been able to reason with him and calm him down. Unfortunately he was NOT to be reasoned with.
So he was sent off to the Sibling Center and I went upstairs with Ethan. Ethan *danced* up the stairs... singing "I'm getting blood work done! YAY!". Needless to say, people were very amused. We checked into the office and he got all excited. The registration girl asked if he knew what was happening and I said nope. He saw the lollipops on the desk and asked for one. The girl told him that he'd get one when he was done.
So we went to the waiting room and played with Liam's Leapster Explorer. When they called him into the office, he ran in and was all excited. The Phlebotomist saw on the paperwork that the doctor was Dr Faber, so asked if Ethan was Autistic. I told her we were unsure and explained that his "current diagnosis" was Disruptive Behavior Disorder NOS, Rule Out of PDD (Pervasive Development Disorder), Sensory Issues, and we're not totally sure on other things. She asked him to go into the room that was 1+1. Ethan looked at her. Laughed, said "That's two" and walked to the second door. She asked him what 2 + 5 was and he immediately answered 7. She just smiled like she totally knew what she was dealing with.
As an aside, the girls at Children's Hospital are *wonderful*. They always have two girls per kid. One is changing the vials and the other stays only with the child and the needle. This makes it perfectly wonderful for kids who fight. I love it :)
Anyways, so Ethan DANCES into the room and jumps into the chair (it's like a normal adult chair for blood collecting, but it's double size so the parent can sit beside) and starts playing the Leapster Explorer. I sit down beside him and the first Phlebotomist tells the second one that he'll be a bit interesting of a case. She said that he probably won't notice the needle at all or he'll over react. Second Phlebotomist seems to not believe her. I told them that they could do whatever they needed to -- don't worry about hiding blood from me or making him cry. I'm used to the routine *lol* (My Godson used to be quite an experience to get blood draws from... *shudders at the memories of 4 adults laying on him to do a blood draw at 3-4 years of age)
First Phlebotomist starts to explain to Ethan what they're going to do. He won't put down the Leapster Explorer, so we have to take it away to get him into position. He looks at them a bit odd when they put the rubber band on his arm, but nothing big. When they put the needle into his arm he says "ouch." and then does a bit of "ehhh" and mild whining. First Phlebotomist puts her hand up and covers the needle so he can't see it. He acts like nothing is happening. At all. He starts to try to get up and we have to remind him that no, he has to sit. I pull out the Leapster Explorer and told him that he can play it with his left hand. He then proceeds to play with his left hand like nothing is happening.
It was almost freaky to watch him. At one point I almost got up to video it with my cell phone because I was in such shock. First Phlebotomist looks at me and says "He's Aspergers isn't he?" Second Phlebotomist couldn't believe it at all. She says she has been doing this for years and has never seen a kid act like nothing wrong. She's seen them be calm and do the "Ok, it will be over soon" routine, but never acting like nothing is going on as they move the needle. They did approximately 19 vials. Yes. Nineteen. Dr Faber's first blood work is extensive.
I'm pretty sure he did the same initial work up as he did for Liam's initial work up a year ago. This is what he checked for on Liam's: Serum copper, plasma zinc, lead level, selenium level, T cell subsets - CD3, CD4, CD8, CD19, CD4/CD8 ratio, quantitative serum immunoglobulins, CBC and diff with platelets, ESR (Sedimentation rate) , Tissue transglutaminase (tTGA) IgA antibody, antigliadin antiboties, antigluten IgG antibotides, anticasein IgG antibodies, antisoy IgG antibodies, total protein, albumin, calcium, phosphrous, alkaline phosphatase, ammonia, iron, TIBC, percent Fe saturation, ferritin, free T4, cholesterol, AST, ALT, electrolytes, BUN, creatinine, random glucose, amylase and lipase, and DNA for fragile X.
So anyways, Ethan sits still through the whole thing with no flinching. I asked First Phlebotomist to uncover his arm at some point since I wanted to see his reaction. She waited a minute or two and then moved her hand. He looked at his arm and did a reaction of "Ehh.. ehh", almost like a reaction of a bug or something being on his arm. She covers it and he stops. When she takes the needle out of his arm, he made no movement, until she uncovers his arm and he sees the band aid. Then he begins to pick at it. We tell him that no, he needs to leave it on. She takes off the band from his arm and he makes the "ehh" sound again.
She tells him he's all done. His reaction? He jumps into her arms and gives her a big hug and a kiss, then DANCES/moonwalks out of the room and up to the reception desk and asks for the lollipop. The receptionist actually thinks that he hasn't had his blood work done since she never heard him make a noise. The Phlebotomist had to come out and explain that no, he did have the work done. The office ended up amazed.
Liam was the opposite and about killed the nurse when she touched his arm to look for a vein. Cried all through the draw and most of the rest of the day -- even to the point of freaking out tonight when he took the band-aid off and saw the "hole" from the blood work.
I'm not sure which is worse -- Mr OverReaction or Mr UnderReaction! It was nice not having to hold Ethan down kicking and screaming, but was disturbing to see him SO relaxed....
