Larry The Blood Guy

When we were  wrapping up the appointment with the geneticist yesterday,

the reality of where I was going to get Bradley's blood work done hit me.

Dr. Morris needs to rule out more things to pin point the syndrome through blood tests.

And so I asked her if these labs could be done with a heel stick.
She said one could and one could not.

DANG!

I told her how hard he was to draw. That his blood doesn't flow.

 That the only people who can get him are nurses.

I asked her to admit us to the ER.

She told me to try first; to try find someone who could do it.

I came home and mulled it over.

And prayed about it.

And I thought about all kinds of options.

About going to the ER on my own.

Going to the pediatrican and seeing if they could flush an IV line.

Even asking a phlebotomist friend if she would flush an IV line at home with us,

and purchasing those IV lines online.

And then the answer came:

Go to your regular lab, where he gets his monthly heel sticks

 and have the phlebotomist, I do not like, do it.

That was not an answer I wanted.

So this morning I came down and told Tom I was going to do his blood this morning.

That I was going to go to the regular lab and "try".

That I had some other ideas of how we could get blood out of him,

but that I would "try" this first.

And I showered and dressed and the prompting came that

I didn't have time for my hair and that I needed to go NOW!

So I skipped the hair thing and drove down.

And the place was empty.

And the phlebotomist I love, took my papers and said we'd "try".

And then she yelled "LARRY!"

(which is the one I was not fond of)

"Bradley, that hard kid is here and we need even more blood this time!"

She kept calling his name and he did not come.

So she took us back.

And she got out SIX big vials.

And my heart sunk when I counted them.

And then I remembered that God had said Larry would get it.

And Larry finally came in and his eyes got big when he saw us and the vials too.

AND I TOLD HIM THAT I HAD BEEN PRAYING

AND WAS TOLD THAT HE COULD GET THE BLOOD FROM BRADLEY TODAY!

And he said nothing and got out the butterfly needle and tourniquet.

And as soon as the needle hit the vein, blood came flying out!

And Larry was careful not to lose it. If he moved it ever so slightly it would stop.

And he filled almost all the vials.

And I kept telling him that I had been praying and he was the one!

The last vial was a little short and the spirit told me it would be okay

 and that the lab could be careful with it and stretch it out.

So I told the girl who was entering the blood on the computer
 and she marked it as "HARD DRAW".

Sometimes life is NOT fair!

But I am finding that the more UNfair it is, the more God is willing to help;
I just have to ask.

God has prepared a way for Bradley and me and for all of us.

And all we have to do is ask.