Don't Judge Me for My Good Days: Psoriatic-arthritis.com

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  (This was posted Feb 16, 2024 - but I thought it was such a great topic that I wanted to repost it.) Please don't judge me based on my good days. Looks can be deceiving for someone with a chronic illness. What looks like a good day might actually be a good day. Or it might be a good few hours. Or it could be someone doing their best to function through the pain. You don't honestly know what someone is going through, especially when they have lived with the pain for a long time. You'd be surprised how much pain people can learn to smile through. Read the full article at psoriatic-arthritis.com
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Blood Draw Smiles

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I don't mind getting needles much.

I'm not scared of needles. I don't make a big deal about the little pain. I don't even loathe them at all. This isn't because I get blood tests somewhat often. This isn't because I give myself Enbrel shots twice a week. This isn't even because the pain of arthritis will always exceed a little poke.

It's because of a boy with a lovely smile.

A few months ago I was waiting in paediatric phlebotomy to have a blood test. The waiting room was empty when a woman pushing a little boy in a pram came in. The pram was packed with all sorts of things a mum would need on a busy day, but what was different was that there was medical equipment as well. I looked at the boy and despite being obviously ill, he wore a large smile. His mum was quite stressed out- having had a long day- and we got into a chat. She told me she really wasn't looking forward to her son's blood test. Not just because she couldn't bare to hear him cry. Not because it pained her to see him in pain.

But because his blood would be taken from a vein in his scalp.

I couldn't believe that, but it was true. I saw from the door as two people set up for this child's blood draw. I had gotten my blood drawn before it was the little boy's turn. As I was leaving,  he was being brought into the room. He gave me the loveliest smile.

When people tell me they hate injections with a passion I would never understand, I remember that little boy. It's because of him I do not feel bad for myself. I feel like I don't have the right to be upset because I met a little boy who was so ill and got blood draws from his scalp vein, but had the lovilest smile anyway.

Comments

  1. AriannaAugust 23, 2013 at 11:12 PM

    That's what I try to tell myself when I'm nervous/scared/dreading a doctor visit or test or treatment of some kind... I remind myself of all those brave little kids way younger than me who are going through the same thing I am, It makes me realize if they can still be pretty happy, then so can I! lol.

    (I also agree blood draws don't hurt that badly when you have arthritis. This week when I had blood taken, the nurse was on the second tube before I noticed the needle was in. I didn't even feel it!)

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    Replies
    1. ElizabethAugust 24, 2013 at 10:27 AM

      Sometimes I feel like since the kids are so brave, I am too. Haha. :)

      As long as the nurse knows what she or he is doing, it really isn't painful at all. I've been lucky and have barely noticed the poke for a few months now.

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