Ouch! Shots edition

Ouch! Shots edition

I remember a time, back in the day when my mom would take me to the doctors office. A time when the major worry of the day was weather I would watch GI Joe or play Mario brothers. I still have a vivid memory (much more like a horrible nightmare) of going to the doctor and fearing, absolutely fearing that I would need a shot. The fear started as soon as we got into the car. I would ask my mom if I needed to get a shot and she would always assure me that they wouldn't but even at that age I knew she was full of shit.

The wait in the doctors office was the worst! I would envision the doctor and three nurses walking through the door with a foot long needles. The nurses were there for the sole purpose of holding me down as I kicked and screamed. I remember telling my mom that the reason there were metal bars on the outside of the window was to prevent kids like me from trying to escape (there really were metal bars on the windows)! If you couldn't tell by now, I really, really didn't like going to the doctor. In the end I would take the shot without much fuss but it was the anticipation that did me in each and every time. Just thinking about a shot, the long thin needle slowly passing through the skin sends a shiver up my spine. I get clammy, uncomfortable, squirmy, irritable.

The fear should have subsided by the time I was 10 or maybe even 13 (when I had my bar mitzvah and officially became a man. Sorry I had to write that, it made me chuckle). Well it didn't. Before college I needed vaccines. The standards, Hep A, Hep B, meningitis and Tb. I tried to procrastinate getting the shots but it only made it worse as friends kept telling me about how big the needles were. Throw in the fact that you needed 3 Hep B and 2 Hep A shots and I thought I was going to die. I remember thinking that I would gladly give up a small toe instead of getting these shots. In the end I came up with what I thought was a genius plan. I decided that I would procrastinate long enough so that I could only get a couple of the shots and then hope the school, my mom and the doctor would forget that I needed the rest. Well ladies and gentlemen, IT WORKED, kind of.

I made it through college completely forgetting that I escaped what I thought was certain death via vaccine which is ironic because the vaccine is meant to save you. I'm about to head back to school and the dreaded pink slip indicating what vaccines I need showed up at my door. Once again I ignored it. Then the email came. I ignored it too. Then another came...and I broke down.

I went to the doctor today and got the final Hep A and B shots along with a TB test. I rolled up my sleeve and turned my head. I told the doctor that I didn't even want to see the needles, "JUST STICK ME DOC.!" and she did. I barely felt a thing.

So, here's the moral of the story (besides me just liking to write). If you need a shot and get petrified like I do, simply turn your head and never, NEVER look at the needle.