Brave Boy!

Porter will be starting school this fall and needed to get his kindergarten 'Well Child Visit' exam. It was a full physical that included a blood sample, a urine sample, weight, measurement, and then shots. The doctor asked him a lot of questions and Porter was happy to answer them. He was having a great time of it for while. That is until they pricked his finger for the blood sample. He said, "That kinda hurt!" But he was glad it wasn't too bad. That is until I told him this wasn't the shots he had to get, but just a blood sample. I have been talking about the shots for about a week now and trying to get him ready for them. I told him they would probably hurt and they wouldn't be fun but they would help to keep him from getting sick while he was at school. Grandma Hurren was getting some shots for her upcoming trip to Guatemala so he went with her to see what all the fuss was about. She didn't cry so I think he figured it would be ok. The following picture was taken when we first got there and Porter was pretty excited to show me how tough he could be at the doctors!

When it was time for the shots Porter was very brave. He watched Davian (our awesome nurse) get the shots ready and found it pretty interesting. He was given the choice of having Davian and her helper give the shots at the same time or taking turns. Porter wanted them to take turns and since he had to get FIVE shots it was going to take a while.


To distract him, Davian asked Porter if he knew his ABC's and if he could sing them to her. He started singing and the shots started. He did so well! The first two shots he didn't even flinch!


Things started to go downhill at about "Q" in the Alphabet Song. This is when the third shot was administered and Porter didn't like that one at all. I guess it had to go in on an angle and Davian told us that those hurt a lot worse.


Until this moment Porter hadn't even whimpered. There was a slight pause in the song where he said, "Owwwww..." but he carried on and finished it up. One arm down, one to go. I think by the time the song was over he realized that this wasn't great and it actually did hurt a little. I asked him if he wanted to sing another song for the next arm but he said he would just like to hold me.


This is about when I started breaking down too. I think I felt worse for him than he did for himself. I was so darn proud of him for being so tough that I even got teary! Even though it was so hard for him, he didn't cry out once. His eyes got full of tears but he didn't make a peep!


When it was all over Porter bravely put on a smile and showed off his battle scars! He was so good and big and brave. I'm so proud of you Porter!!!


I told Porter he did such a good job that I was going to take him to get a special treat, just him and me. He said he would like ice-cream and then magically Davian came in with a coupon for their "Brave Patients" for a free ice-cream cone at SOS Drug here in Springville. Porter was pretty excited about that. We went out to the car and I asked Porter if he liked going to the doctor. He said that he did. I asked him what he thought of Davian (interested if his opinion had changed since the shots) and he said he thought she was really nice. So good job Davian (and thanks for the help with the pictures)!


All in all the visit was a success and I will feel much better sending him to school with all if his immunizations caught up. Oh and for all you moms out there, when your little boys is asked to pee in a cup and it starts filling up to the top and you calmly ask you little guy to stop and he doesn't so pretty soon you are yelling, "STOP! STOP!" because you are afraid that it will pour over the top and all over your hand and onto the floor in the doctors bathroom... well, let's just say that they can't stop mid-flow. Believe me, I know!