#19 - ELECTRIC REFLEX TEST
My reflex time was deteriorating and the doctors had decided that they wanted to run a few tests. I do not remember the name of this test but I do remember that it involved needles, devices that shocked me and my calf muscles. This test had started in the afternoon and it took place at the Children's Medical Center. I was given a drug to make me fall asleep but I wouldn't relax enough for it to work. My mom had been in the room with me and she was trying to keep me calm and trying to get me to close my eyes and go to sleep. One of the guys that was waiting to do the procedure kept poking his head into the room and then he asked for my mom to step out into the hall. She came back in the room and told me that I had a few more minutes to quit fighting the drug or, they would have to do the procedure with me awake. I could not relax when I heard that they were only going to give me a few more minutes, was this going to hurt? Time seemed to fly by and before I had known it, the tech had popped his head back in the room and told my mom that they were ready for me. He and another tech had led me into a barely lit room that had a table that was covered with cushions and there was a computer over in the corner. My mom had followed me into the room and she along with one of the techs had helped me onto the table, while the other tech went over toward the computer. They had me lie on my stomach and grab a hold of two rubber handles that protruded from the end of the table. I had on a hospital gown and remember the uncomfortable intrusion of feeling one of the techs raising the gown enough to expose both of my calf's. I couldn't see any of them but I heard the tearing of a bag that contained contents which the tech emptied on the table near my legs. I had listened to the hum of the computer and was feeling very nervous but did not want to appear that way to the guys or my mom. One of the techs had told me that I was going to feel something wet and cold on the back of my leg and then I was going to feel a small poke that was going to be followed by a feeling of dragging my socks on the carpet and building up static. He had then told me that he needed me to remain very still.The liquid was very cold and it felt slimy on my calf but I only had time to focus on the coldness for a second. The tech stabbed my calf with a very sharp needle that was followed by a painful shock that felt as if it slowly pulsated down my leg and to my foot and escaped out of the end of my toes. I hollered out in surprise as the tech had put another drop of the liquid on my leg and pierced my skin with another needle which was followed by a shock that had seemed stronger than the first. I began to thrash around on the table as I felt another drop of liquid on the back of my leg. My mom and the tech tried to hold me still and he was yelling at me to calm down but I was not going to let him stab me again. The other tech must have come over to help hold me down because they were able to stab me one more time. The shock did not seem as bad when I was kicking my legs around. My mom told them to stop and as they let go of me, I remember how I had rushed down from the table. I was still crying while I was putting my pants on to go home. One of the techs gave me a few packs of baseball cards and some stickers. My mom had taken me to BURGER KING after the procedure and had explained that I would not have had to go through that procedure if my dad would have given some of his blood for the doctors to run some tests on. My calf had a painful bruise on it for weeks.
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