Ouch . . .Mom Forgot to "Prime"

It was a night just like any other night . . . however this one ended with a bit of blood and a few tears.

Samantha was exhausted right before bed, and instead of giving herself her own shot she asked me to give her it in her arm.  I removed the "pen" which contains her medication in it from the refrigerator, as I always do when assisting her with her shots, wiped the top of the dispenser with an alcohol wipe, and twisted on the needle.  I dialed the dosage on the bottom of the pen; again, just as one is supposed to do so that the appropriate amount of medication is given when the shot is administered.  I wiped Samantha's arm with an alcohol wipe to ensure the area was clean and thereafter pushed the button on the pen for the medication to be released.

"OUCH" Samantha yelled.  We looked at her arm as a few drops of blood fell down the side of her arm. I then remembered the one step I forgot to complete . . .

Before using a new pen of medication one needs to "prime" it; which entails ensuring that any air where the medication is contained has been removed.  There is a specific process involved in completing such, and thus far I have remembered this step each time Samantha has needed to use a new pen of medication.  What I forgot was that the night before when I realized she had used all the medication in the pen I had Samantha place the used pen in her biohazard box and I placed a new pen filled with medication in the bag she uses to store her pen in the refrigerator WITHOUT priming it first.

The result: the first shot Samantha received was filled with air.  Placing air underneath one's skin using a needle hurts and results in a tad of bleeding.  What is interesting is that when Samantha takes her medication nightly, she rarely bleeds; however her skin bruises every single time she has an injection of medication.  It takes several days for the bruise, the size is slightly smaller than a dime, to disappear.  Even 200+ days later I shutter seeing her upper arms and stomach with tiny circles of bruises of various colors on her skin.

Samantha shed a couple tears; not many.  I shed them for her.