Junior's Port

I did a post awhile back sharing about Junior's port and how it is accessed.  Up until now it has always been accessed by a RN that came out to the house.  I kept meaning to get a note from his doctor so I could be trained to do it but just hadn't gotten around to it.  I was also a little nervous about sticking my child with a needle.  Needles are just not my thing.  I decided it was time to learn though and overcome my fear.    This will prevent a need for a trip to the hospital if the nurse isn't available to come out or we are out of town when a port flush is needed(flushes have to be done once a month and then when labs are done).  Also it will keep him from ending up with black and blue arms if he needs emergency labs.

We don't ever want to have this happen again.  This pic was after his last labs that we had to have done at a lab a couple months ago.
 

I finally got the note from his doctor and took the plunge.  The RN came out and walked me through it.  I had seen it done so many times that it was really not a big deal.  It was more my getting past the nervousness and fear of putting that needle in.  Junior made it easy since he sat and laughed at me the whole time.  He is usually very serious when the nurse comes out and does it but with me he thought it was quite funny.  Even when I was putting in the needle he grinned at me. 
Never thought I would be learning to stick my child with a needle but happy that I can now do it myself. 

Today we went to see Junior's doctor because he had a bit of blood in his ear.  I suspected it was from coughing too hard but still thought we should get it checked.  The coughing was the culprit and Junior is fine.  He is now relaxing and watching Scooby-Doo.

My project for the evening.  We are finding that Junior definitely needs his weighted blanket to help with seizure activity.  The one I made him for Christmas is made out of flannel which is already way too hot for him.  I can't believe it is mid March and we have all our fans on trying to avoid turning on the air conditioning.  I just finished making him a weighted blanket out of much lighter weight material.  I also made it slightly lighter in overall weight and spread the weight out a bit more to try and keep it cooler.

Have a great weekend everyone.