SS is not a fan of needles.

As much as SS was against a blood draw we needed to find out what made her break out in a rash twice.  One thing I forgot to mention is that I used Dreft (baby laundry detergent) for SS's clothes until an age most would think ridiculous.  After I stopped using Dreft SS's I have used the mildest laundry detergent available. SS has eczema and we are always mindful to be gentle with her skin. When asked about products SS used at urgent care, I was a bit embarrassed to report that SS still uses baby wash for bathing. The doctor did not see anything wrong with that due to SS's eczema. However it made it more difficult to pinpoint what could have brought on the sudden rash.

As usual SS milked her fear of needles and dragged her feet as long as she could to stall our departure. Our leverage was that SS was fasting, the sooner the blood was collected the sooner she could eat. Lousy parenting but sometimes we have to use what we have.

SS brought Mudzie along because the pink pig has a storage compartment where she stuffed DOG, and other friends.

Hang on to your pig but you will have to let go in a few minutes. DOG is between Mudzie and SS.

For real, I can't hide behind my friends while she draws my blood? And SS was indeed very scared because unlike her Mama, she has not been a human pin cushion since early childhood.

Luckily for us the phlebotomist was very nice and took her time to put SS at ease. As much as anyone can with our stubborn child. She made me feel very comfortable and that is no easy task when dealing with my child.

SS could not care less how wonderful Mrs. Phlebotomist was, as far as she was concerned the whole thing stank.

SS was disturbed by the amount of labels with her name, thinking there would be that many tubes of blood needed.

After all the drama, and claiming she could not move her arm, SS survived and was able to smile. She made it to swimming class and her arm had a miraculous recovery.

SS results are back and it seems she has a mild allergy to shrimp. The thing is she did not eat shrimp prior to either outbreak.  We were afraid about SS being allergic to seafood, because that is her reason for living. Everything else was within normal limits except for her cholesterol. Our ten year old daughter has high cholesterol. Causes usually are obesity, diet or heredity. We are not medical doctors but feel very certain SS is not obese. We are blessed that SS is not much of a junk food eater, eats plenty of vegetables, and can finish a gallon of milk in two days. The only thing we can guess is heredity. It does not make us feel any better.

She has not had another breakout and hopefully those two will be the only ones. If it happens again we will request allergy testing with a specialist. We are glad to have the blood draw drama behind us, and very happy SS is not allergic to seafood or milk.