Every week, as a part of Emily's PKU treatment, I do a heel prick on her and submit a filter paper to the lab at Emory so that they can measure the level of phenylalanine in her blood and use that to create her food "prescription" for the week. The results must be into the lab by Wednesday and we receive the results on Friday, so I currently prick her heel on Tuesday morning and overnight the filter paper via UPS (this closes the gap of time between heel prick and receiving results). I hope and pray one day soon this is the old-fashioned way of testing her blood (would you join me in praying for a meter that would test the levels of phe in her blood so we could eliminate the time lapse and more effectively treat PKU?), so I want to document it for memory's sake:
1. Get supplies ready. She has to fast for at least 2 hours prior to the blood draw, so I prepare the supplies and paperwork the night before and prick her heel first thing on Tuesday morning. Then I ship it after we drop Ella off at school. Supplies needed are: requisition form (with codes for the lab and her personal and insurance information), filter paper (where the blood is placed), lancet (the green thing in the pic below with the blade that actually pricks her heel), alcohol wipe, and band-aid. Also, I email her dietitian her weekly food log (but this also has to be included in this package if not emailed).
this is where the blood goes...
2. Prick heel. Of course I've cleaned her foot with the alcohol wipe first. The prick has to be done on the fatty part of the heel (preferably on the side) but sometimes, no matter where you prick, she just won't bleed.
She typically requires some "milking" to get the blood out enough to fill up five of the circles on the paper. This will make her mad every time.
3. Place blood on the filter paper. And repeat five times.
What does she do while all this goes on? Nothing. She isn't phased in the least (minus the pushing and squeezing on her heel periodically).
4. And then she gets her band-aid for the day.
Final product before it's off to mail it.
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