It has taken me six years to groom the perfect person to give my youngest son, Laithan, his factor. When Laithan received his port my husband started out being Laithan’s holder and I could never transition him to the other side of the needle. I don’t think I wanted him to do it either, since he would yell, “Just stick him!” when Laithan used to fight and squirm during infusions. My husband also didn’t want to switch roles because he didn’t want to cause our son any pain.
So I have had to plan any travel plans around Laithan’s prophy schedule. I hated leaving Laithan on non-prophy days because I still had to worry about an emergency infusion. Luckily, we never had any issues but even so, I was uneasy because I did not have a back up person. Or did I!?
My oldest son, Marques, has been self-infusing for the past five years. He’s almost a little arrogant about how good he is at self-infusing. When I heard him say the words, “I can’t miss!” I knew it was time to challenge him. urprisingly, he was reluctant to accept the challenge. The first few times I asked him to infuse his brother, he refused. Laithan was in agreement; he didn’t want Marques to infuse him either! I explained to them how important it was for me to have a “back-up” in case I needed to travel out of town and I didn’t want to change Laithan’s prophylactic schedule around when I was going out of town.
Eventually, I had to force them to work together and work through their difficulties. The biggest challenge was them trusting each other. Marques had to trust his skills that he could infuse someone else’s veins as well as he could self-infuse. At the same time, Laithan had to trust that his big brother would be as gentle and efficient as Mommy. Laithan did try to stop Marques a few times right before he was ready to stick him with the needle. I told Laithan he couldn’t do that because then Marques has to readjust his positioning of the needle each time. I also knew that with each attempt, Marques had to mentally rebuild his own confidence in sticking Laithan. Once Laithan relaxed a little, it went so smoothly. Both of their faces lighted up with a smile of relief it was over.
The second time Marques infused Laithan, I was not home and it took two sticks. Marques was good because he did not give up. He knew firsthand how important it was for Laithan to receive his infusion. I was so proud of both of them for working through it and knew that I finally had the perfect person to back me up! That gave me a new mental freedom from worry about my boys when I had to travel.
Lovee’ lives in South Carolina with her husband, Charles, and her children, MaRee’, Marques, Laithan and Layla.
*Note: “Infusing Love: A Mom’s View,” is a blog collection of personal opinions and a representation of individuals experiences. While extensive efforts are made to ensure accuracy of the content, the blog entries do not represent HFA or its Board of Directors. The blog is also not intended to be construed as medical advice or the official opinion/position of HFA, its staff, or its Board of Directors. Readers are strongly encouraged to discuss their own medical treatment with their healthcare providers.
