#but my nephew is just a little guy. he's only 4 years old. he shouldn't have to deal with this shit

[eats-the-stars]

got some hard news today. turns out my 4yo nephew is going to have to get daily growth hormone shots after all. they were going to wait until he was older and could understand what was happening better because last time we trialed the shots he did not have a great time and we stopped after one week. but the results from his last blood test show that he’s no longer producing enough growth hormone to like, break down sugars and essential living stuff so...now he NEEDS the shots, not just to maybe catch up to his peers growth-wise, but to just...not die. so...we’re all a little stressed, and my sister is trying to fight with insurance to get the once-weekly shot instead of the daily shot, because he is FOUR YEARS OLD, and we already know that daily shots are going to be a source of anxiety and fear for him. last time, he got to the point that he was scared to get diaper or pants changes (we have to pull down his pants to inject him in the butt since that is the area with most cushioning, second option is...the stomach, so...no good choices here). so, yeah, not looking forward to this. especially since “how long does he have to get these shots?” might just be...forever. hoping with all i’ve got that we can work out some kind of routine or method to make this easier on him.

#personal #this would be difficult for a lot of adults to come to terms with #i personally have a phobia of shots so this would suck majorly for me #but my nephew is just a little guy. he's only 4 years old. he shouldn't have to deal with this shit #also i think there's a company in denmark or something that makes a once monthly version of the shot #and my sister is going to try to get that as well #but it's honestly already slim chances that we'll manage to browbeat our insurance into giving us the once-weekly so... #these shots are going to be hard on him #honestly getting all his feeds through a g-tube is not an issue compared to this #there's no distress involved in that. he's totally chill with the tube #and even when he pukes up a feed he bounces back quickly so i don't worry about any of that impacting him psychologically #worst thing i suppose is when his tube gets accidentally pulled out. like the whole thing #and we have to struggle to put a replacement in quick before the hole closes up #and if he's at school or something and we're too late to get it in then we need to go to the hospital 2 hours away #and they need to put it back in surgically. THAT is rough #BUT it only happens like maybe once or twice a year if we're unlucky #and he recovers fast because i think he #understands that it's not a frequent thing. it's just one bad day at the hospital and then we can go back home #and everything is fine again #but this...getting a shot every day...in our own home...where he's supposed to be safe n stress free and the bad things don't happen here... #he's going to go back to freaking out every time we have to change his pants or diaper thinking it could be ouchy poke time... #he might not feel safe on the couch where we'll be having him lie down for shots #he might not feel as secure around US. since we'll be giving him the pokes #but we still have to do this. every day. because if we don't...he will literally die. so...