Tests
Blood test
A special cream is put onto your hand to make sure the blood test won’t hurt.
The doctor or nurse will take some blood from your hand. It can hurt a little bit, but not very much. Your blood is taken to a special laboratory where scientists look at it!
CT scan
Sometimes the doctors need to be able to take some special pictures to find out what’s making you poorly. First though, they will give you some special medicine to make you sleepy.
All you have to do is lie down on a special bed that will move a little bit. Mum and dad can stay with you.
When you’ve woken up, you can go home!
MRI
Sometimes the doctors need to be able to take some special pictures to find out what’s making you poorly. First though, they will give you some special medicine to make you sleepy.
The scanner is like a huge box with a tunnel through the middle. All you have to do is lie down on a special bed, which moves into scanner. Mum and dad can stay with you. Nothing will touch you but it is very noisy!
When you’ve woken up, you can go home!
Eye tests
A special doctor will put drops into your eyes. They can sting a bit and make things go blurry. He or she will look into your eyes with a special stick – it’s called an ophthalmoscope
A vision scientist will ask you to look at a TV screen – there are lots of funny patterns and cartoons.
An orthoptist will put a patch on one of your eyes. Then he or she will ask you to look at letters and pictures on a chart.
X-ray
Sometimes the doctors need to be able to take some special pictures to find out what’s making you poorly. Before you have your x-ray, you will have normally have to wait with other people. In the X-ray room you need to lie on a special table, with a camera above you. There’s a loud ‘click’ and then then it is over and you can normally go home.