Peyton the Trooper

Peyton has been participating in a drug study program. They are testing a new vaccine for pneumonia. I can't remember all of the facts right now because I don't have them in front of me, but the current vaccine only covers about 7 different strains. The test vaccine will cover around 13 and I believe that there are over 20 total. I agreed to do it because this vaccine combines some that infants already receive and reduced the amount of shots from 5 to 3. I was given a Palm Treo I use to answer questions for 7 days following the vaccine. Things like: Did your child experience any change in eating or sleeping habits? Irritability? What was their highest temperature? etc. I then send the answers in, via the Palm, and the whole thing only takes about 10 minutes. That's just because you have to take their temperature every night.

He's had the vaccine at 2,4 & 6 months. Today, at 7 months, he had to go in to have his blood drawn. They're testing to see how his body's antibodies are dealing with the vaccine, or something like that. It's hard to pay close attention when Avery & Cameron are around. The nurse had me hold his legs and the opposite arm they were drawing from. Another nurse held the arm being drawn from. He didn't mind the actual poking with the needle, but he HATED being held down. He didn't necessarily cry very much. He did yell a whole lot. Unfortunately, he was blessed with my small, thin and "ropey" veins. The nurse poked around for a while and the needle kept slipping out of the vein. I have the same problem. Whenever I have had to have IV's, they have had to use the smallest size catheter and even then it's still difficult.

We had to flip him around and try the other arm. Thankfully, this worked the first time and was over quickly. He cried for about 30 seconds after and then was fine. He does have 2 nice, matching bruises. One on each arm, but other than that he's just fine. He was a brave guy.