You want me to stick that needle where?

Here is something you should know about me.  I am afraid of needles.  When I have to get my blood drawn or get a flu shot or other needley things I have to utilize the relaxation techniques I learned in my childbirth classes to keep my muscles from tensing up.  (I'm pretty sure that if I do tense up the needle might break off and be stuck in my arm forever.)  Oh, also... I don't look.

It has occurred to me that as the mother of a hemophiliac this is somewhat of a liability... and that it makes me a huge hypocrite since every time my baby has his prophy I hold him down and tell him "It's just one poke.  Just one poke".

 We have decided that we want to avoid a port for Harris.  My nephew Jack has one and it has been great for him, so it is not that I am against ports in general.  We just feel like if we can become proficient with accessing Harris' veins it will make for an easier transition when he hits the time for him to do it himself.  Plus, I'm not big on surgery.  This brings me back to my needle problem since eventually (like within the next year) we will be doing this at home, (and when I say "we"  I mean "me").

I decided that I want to be the "really old granny who just came to the big city and is getting on the freeway for the first time in her life" of do-it-yourself prophy.  (ie - I want to enter this world very slowly).   I asked my HTC if they had any fake vein kits that I could start practicing on.  That's what I called it "a fake vein kit".  They hooked me up with something even fancier - a self-infusion program (the one I have is called the "Bay Cuff" made by Bayer) ... and yesterday my sister and I gave it a go.

This is what I learned.  The kit is really useful for practicing good sterile technique and learning an infusion routine before attempting the real thing.  Also, if hitting Harris' veins is anything like sticking a butterfly needle into a really easy to find plastic tube full of fake blood covered by a thin piece of pleather - then I'm all set.