In 49 days my wife and the mission team she is travelling with will be setting foot in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. The team will be travelling to an orphanage there to allow the staff to have a much needed retreat while the team cares for the children who live there. Travel to any foreign country has its risks. but travel to a country that is in the midst of rebuilding after the tragedy of an earthquake requires some special medical preventative care. With the departure date looming, it was time for the visit to the doctor for the dreaded vaccinations.
Julie needed to get 4 shots, two in each arm which she braved on her own like an absolute trooper with little to no discomfort coming the evening of the shots, but lets say that was sadly not the case for the next couple of days. The bottom line is that shots hurt, and no-one likes them. When we told the girls that mommy had to get shots they were most concerned. It reminded me of the time I took Cara and Emma to the doctor for their annual check-ups.
We arrived in plenty of time for their annual check-up and after completing all the necessary paperwork I was informed that both the girls could get their flu shots and Cara had a couple of other shots to get. Now in the past, both our girls have been real troopers about going to the doctors and we rarely have any issues. Ho hard can this be?
The time came for the injections and Emma was up first. The nurse was relatively young and not as skilled as some of the nurses in our doctors office. There are some of those ladies who are like injection ninjas, They have the syringe filled and medicine delivered to the target tissues before the kids even realize they are getting an injection. The nurse that day was much more methodical and much less stealth-like. I sat Emma on the little bed and held her arms while the nurse took aim and fired a direct hit into her thigh. There was that look of, “What the flip was that???”, a solitary tear and that was all the drama from Emma. I kissed her on the head and sat her in the chair in the corner turning to victim number 2 and hoping for a similar successful outcome.
Cara took the first shot in her leg well. There were a few tears, but no explosion. By the time the second needle hit the mark in the other leg she was getting past the fun of this particular game. It was time for the third and final injection, which had to go in her arm. Cara was done with the whole pin cushion experience and began to put up a fight. I laid Cara down on the little bed and put my mouth down close to her ear to whisper soothing words to calm her before the final insult.
As I held her arms by her side to stop her wriggling, I nodded to the nurse that it was time to get this over with. My head stayed close to Cara’s ear, soothing her softly as I watched the needle come closer and closer to the arm that rested just inches from my face. Could this nurse go any slower? Come on sister, stick the kid!
As the moment of impact was just about to take place, I saw a flash of skin move past my head as a tiny arm was thrust past me at speed. The end of the tiny arm contained a tiny hand which wrapped around the syringe stopping its advance towards Cara’s arm. “Leave my sister alone!!” came the yell from Emma as she began to wrestle with the nurse for control of the syringe and hyperdermic needle that was now swinging back and forth just inches from my eyes.
At that very moment I was conflicted. Am I the proud father who is just in awe of how this pint sized ball of fire is sticking up for her sister. or am I the concerned dad who doesnt want their kid playing with needles – especially ones that are so close to my face?
I think, at that moment I was a bit of both. I called time out and sent the nurse to one corner of the room, Emma to the other and pinned Cara down to bring the madness to an end.
I guess this is why Julie didn’t take the girls with her when she got her shots. The nurse might not have made it out of that room alive.
This adventure is becoming more and more real every day and we value your support at this time. We would love to have more people commit to pray for Julie over the next 49 days and we would be honored with any financial gift that you feel led to offer. If you want to pick a day of the week to pray for Julie, please let us know and we will pass on prayer requests. If you would like to support Julie then scroll up to the SUPPORT JULIE button and follow the link.