CAT scan and Blood Draw Y'all

I picked up Miss Fabulous from school today, me and the crew that is.  We had lunch at Taco Bell and that was just enough time wasted to be ready to head off to Miss Fabulous appointment for a CAT scan and Blood Draw.  These had been ordered by her ENT to check for allergies and to get a look at what is going on in her sinus region.

I assured her this was just a picture of her nose with a really huge camera but like all cameras it could not hurt her.  What she heard was the voice of adults on the Charlie Brown cartoon.  With the info off of the recent psych eval I should have done a interpretive dance to communicate this message.  I have foot pain and my back hurts so that is iffy at best.

Pure terror on the poor child's face as she lay there strapped on to the table waiting to see what horror was to become of her.  She was frozen and shaking all at the same time with eyes wide open like saucers.  The whole thing took 2 minutes if that and when the technician returned she immediately started crying.  The technician felt sorry for her and started bringing her stuff like stickers and a bear.  I remained calm and assured her that everything was fine and we moved along.  She did not know that a blood draw was next.

Sadly I can not prepare her ahead of time because it doesn't help her, it just begins her anxiety sooner than necessary.  We walked into the room for the blood draw and she saw the equipment and knew where we were.  She sat quiet until the technician pulled out the needled and then she started screaming and kicking the technician in the leg.  The Tech called for back up and I simply sat next to her and remained calm.  The back up person was a gift.  She was kind but firm and kindly called Miss out on the fact that she had simply entered into a state of drama.  She started asking her age specific questions.  Miss would pause the screaming and answer the questions and then continue screaming. 

Afterward we went and got a soda, that was a hit.  Overall I was really impressed with her bounce back.  It didn't send her whole mood into a downward spiral.  The rest of the day went well. 

I was able to speak with Mrs. Summertime Teacher today.  Miss is still not finishing her work but is putting forth more effort and the work that she is doing is better overall.  She is earning a few minutes of recess at the end of recess.  I love this teacher!  Miss feels secure because she isn't getting away with things as much and she is getting praise for doing real work and consequences for not doing real work.

I asked Mrs. Teacher if she recommended that I take the recent psych eval and ask Mrs. Principal to match Miss with a teacher that will be more likely to motivate her in a similar that Mrs. Summertime Teacher has.  She said definitely!

So that's my next move.