Hi everyone,

Well I got a copy of Chelsea’s stim test and her level before stimulation was 1970 and after stim it shot up to 8975. So I guess that puts her on the "high" end of LOCAH. Anyway, the doctor took much more time with me this time and really made her condition, his concerns and her treatment very clear. He also answered all my questions.

My problem is AGAIN the phlebotomists in the lab! We had this issue before with a different one and I simply CANNOT believe we went through it again yesterday! The woman (a different one) took Chelsea’s left arm and proceeded to put the tourniquet on and wipe her arm with the alcohol swab and get ready to take blood without ever looking at her right arm!!!!!! Chelsea has a VERY weak vein in her left arm, and a VERY prominent one in her right. I tried to stay calm, and said to the woman, "Please look at her right arm".....she ignored me and started to proceed. I had to stand up, go over to her and tell her to STOP and I said again, "Please look at and use her right arm, we have had trouble with the vein in that arm"....She very snottily said to me "I do this 100 times a day and there is nothing wrong with that vein."  She snatched the tourniquet off Chelsea’s arm and huffily moved to her right arm. I said "Thank you for switching arms" as politely as I could while grinding my teeth. She again said "There was nothing wrong with the other vein". I didn’t say anything. When she was finished she says nastily "Have a nice day"....I said "Thank you again for switching arms and YOU have a nice day" and we left. This is the second time this has happened!!!!! I am appalled! How can people who deal with children all day long behave in this manner? (We use a Children’s Hospital for our endo needs).  What should I do about this? I know they are supposed to check both arms and use the best vein and this is the second time this was not done by two different people in this lab. GRRRRRR!!!!! And the attitude! Like this isn’t hard enough on the kids to begin with? I’m so angry I could spit.