Blood Test Drama

Bearhug’s blood test did. NOT. go. well. It took four of us to hold him down and they had to stick him three times as his veins were not cooperating. If we ever have to do another blood test we’ll skip the lab and take him to the hospital to be sedated.

Instead of calming down once it was over, Bearhug went into one of the worst rages I have ever seen (at least there was no question this time about what triggered it). One of the nurses ended up calling the police. I think the hope was that seeing the police officer would be enough to startle him into settling down (didn’t work out that way, unfortunately). He was that out of control and trying to attack everyone he could reach. Thankfully, by the time the officer arrived, he had calmed down enough to sit in a chair by himself (without me having to hold him back from attacking the nurses), but he was not calm enough yet to actually leave (kept screaming intermittently and wouldn’t get up). Eventually he did calm down enough to get in the car and go, but all in all we were there for about 2 hrs for a 15 minute test.

That evening, Bearhug was fine. You’d never know anything had happened.

What a day :(. It was scary to feel so out of control of the situation and not be able to help him calm down. We were in a catch-22 situation where I knew he needed some space and time to get himself back under control but there really was nowhere to safely do that at the lab :(. I know it was traumatic for him. I certainly hope we don’t have any more incidents involving the police. It gave me a new appreciation for the work of Dennis Debbaudt in training law enforcement to respond appropriately when dealing with individuals on the spectrum, because I can see how a situation like that could have quickly gotten out of hand (what if he was a teenager or adult by himself, in an out-of-control rage without mom, dad, or nurses around to explain the circumstances?).

3runningcircles

I’m a mom of three boys on the autism spectrum — 11-yr-old id twins and their 7-yr-old little brother — and wife to my dh of 19 yrs who is a SAHD. My blog is where I share our story, as well as topics relating to autism awareness & acceptance, twins, the silliness three little boys can get into, and whatever else is on my mind. Hopefully some of what we’ve learned over the years is helpful to others (or at least entertaining).