rules and regulations.

It is a rule that if you are on Medicaid in Illinois, and under the age of 2, you need a lead test. This seemed to be a good rule. It is important to know if a child is going to have developmental problems, and Lil Bit did live with us in a 100 year old building till she was 9 months. I NOW HATE THIS RULE!

I got a letter saying Lil Bit needed said test in December, and to take her to a clinic in East St. Louis. I had a problem with this. Those who do not understand why, go Google East St. Louis. I will wait. See?

So, after sitting on the letter for a while, trying to decide what armed guard I was taking to a clinic in the worse part of said city, I called Lil Bit's Dr. and asked what to do. I was told he would write me up a script, and we could go to the hospital where she was born, to get it done. MUCH BETTER.

I asked around about the test, and didn't like what I heard. I was told they had to dig around for it, and that it was painful. Why couldn't they do a finger prick like they did for her iron test???

We went today. I took my mother with me for support and directions. She gets way more blood work done than I do. We got the order filled, and went to the lab. Two techs came in, and said that if my mom wanted to wait in the hall to avoid watching both of us cry she could (not kidding). They had me sit in a chair, and hold my child down, while they first looked for a vein in one arm, and then the other. At this point my mother asked why they couldn't do the finger prick method, and we were told that they used to, but are not allowed to any more because of contamination.

They found a vein in the second arm, and went after that, but weren't finding any blood. Lil Bit was being a very good baby, but was telling them already that she was done. Kept saying "I done" They finally found blood after a few minutes, but as soon as they did, it got knocked out... not enough to do anything with. Lil bit started screaming and crying. I was now "done" too.
The second tech started digging in the first arm, found a vein, and got blood. While they were drawing blood, they tried to get her to talk about cartoon characters, and the like, but all she did was cry, and look at me saying "Mommy, I done". I started to tear up.
When we were finished, they gave Lil Bit four stickers. She wasn't really all that interested, but she did take two of them when they handed them to her.
My mother made the decision that good girls that get their blood drawn need suckers. I agreed, so we went to the gift shop and got one.
I really don't want to go through this again, but if I read the paper correctly, we get to get it done again next year.