#as if glucose monitors don't exist. what the fuck

[freakwiththeknifecollection]

I think the most ridiculous part of my medical journey is that nobody has ever wanted to give me anything to stimulate my appetite. As if being underweight my entire life is not enough of an indicator to me having a legitimate issue. But no I just "need to eat more"

[marmotsomsierost]

Don't lie to your fucking kids. If something is going to hurt, tell them. If it's going to hurt a little, say it will hurt a little. If it's going to hurt a lot, say it will hurt- (some wiggle room, like you don't necessarily have to say it will hurt a lot, but don't minimize it.)

If something is going to hurt, DON'T say it won't hurt. DON'T say it's going to be one thing that has been painless in their experience when it is going to be a different thing that will be painful.

Like, say, telling your kid you're going to put a pulse oximeter on their finger and then doing a finger stick for a glucometer. Congratulations! Now your kid is going to be afraid of both the glucose testing AND the pulse oximeter! And has absolutely no reason to trust you OR any medical person about anything! Glucose monitoring lancets fucking hurt and i'm a grown-ass adult with adult brain knowledge about why it hurts and why it's necessary and mechanically why it hurts, specifically, not a preschooler still learning what the fuck it's like to exist in a body while being entirely dependent on the adults and others in their life to keep them safe during this learning process!

Fuck!

Just as a random out of my hat totally random example, of course. Not at all because my heart is still a little broken from the bewildered gaze of a kid when i didn't let the pulse oximeter close on their finger until they told me to (which was never, because as soon as they touched their finger to the lower side of it they whipped it back out). We were able to examine carefully a neonate one and then be reassured enough it could not be poky that we got it on a finger, but like the kid was pink warm and dry, calm(ish) with normal respirations so it would not have been the end of the world to not have gotten it at that moment. It's a safe time to take the time and also let the kid say no, or not yet.

Yes, of course there are going to be situations where it is not optional. Where you have to figure out how to get three people in a very small area to hold down a toddler so the fourth person can get the IV or get the blood drawn, or when you have to wrangle the sock off and the pulse ox on and then wrangle the sock back on and try to distract further from there so you get a good read. But if it's not that kind of situation, for fuck's sake- treat your kid like a person.