Ethan’s Journey

 Ethan had his "healthy kid" check up at his regular doctors office on Thursday.  After talking to the doctor, we agreed that we needed to get Ethan vaccinated prior to his immune system becoming severely taxed with a transplant.  Last year, Ethan had a VERY sore arm for about a week from the meningitis vaccine.  He had to get that boosted, along with the flu and pneumonia vaccine.  3 pokes. Ethan isn't bothered by the pokes themselves.  We talked about how weird that was.  He said that the pokes didn't really hurt.  We then talked about everything he had been through in the past 6 months and how his pain tolerance is likely much higher at this point.  We talked about how the nurses had trouble putting in an IV catheter at both hospital visits.  He endured multiple pokes with that with a bigger gauge need I might add.  He was nervous he wouldn't feel well afterward and he had to start school the next day. First day of senior year. He also had to work on Saturday a