Oh yes, I've just come from a busy morning full of drizzle, fog and a little girl who keeps growing in size day by day but who still cries uncontrollably as if she were 3 years old. Her terror of needles. On this occasion, I took her to her regular paediatrician's appointment, but first we had to go to the clinical laboratory to do some blood tests that the paediatrician had asked for. What can I tell you? Since the night before, terror had invaded my daughter's peace of mind? Because of a bad experience with a nurse when she was more of a child than she is now, she had a trauma that she still remembers to this day?
Her face says a lot. That is why I decided to use these photographs. You can see a child with a marked expression of weariness and boredom. Some of the tests I had to take would take a couple of hours to repeat. Like the blood glucose test. Which is done while fasting and is always prescribed because of the medical history of my daughter's biological father's family? Believe me, no matter how hard I tried to calm her impulses through talks and conversations, it was simple. She just nodded her head, but the moment she saw the needle of the injector, the horror came.
It is a (negative, and not at all recommendable) habit that I have learned to naturalise from the time I was younger until now. Luckily, the bioanalyst at the laboratory had experience with children with the same pathological terror of injections and understood me. Once the blood draw for the medical tests was finished, we went to the paediatrician's office. She was measured, weighed, the doctor reviewed the test results and although her cholesterol was a little high, there was nothing to worry about.
I was lucky to have the same paediatrician since my daughter was born. In my country, they usually leave the public health practice because of better salaries. While my doctor is no exception to that reality either, he has developed a special affection for my daughter and maintains an impeccable ethical relationship with several patients that I am still happy to examine. In part, this post is also a reflection of those things that don't get too much of the spotlight when describing what a mother should do for her children.
A day at my daughter's pediatrician's office.... One more ‘battle’ to make my beautiful daughter understand that it was not necessary to scream and cry desperately for every time she needs tests.... I think I've still failed there, or at least I haven't found a way to get her to normalise that practice. It's also a good reminder that sometimes we mothers have to make decisions and do certain things that are far from popular or to our children's liking. But they still need to be done. A day dedicated to my daughter's health, to my peace of mind as a mother, and unfortunately one more moment of terror face to face with what my daughter fears most, an injector needle?
