I ψ#$€ shots

I absolutely, positively (shouldn’t it be “negatively” though?) do not like shots. Of any kind. You’ll note that I did not use the word “hate” as we try to convince our kids that it is such a harsh word that we have to be careful how we use it. So, since I can’t really tell my kids not to use it and then turn around and do it myself, let me just repeat for the record that I really, really, really dislike shots. A lot.

I can’t remember when my emotions for shots became so strong, but I do remember a near-encounter with fainting when I had to have my bloodwork done before BJ and I got married. BJ had already given—or had it drawn, or whatever you want to say—and I was doing so. The nurse was so worried about me—it seems I turned pale as a ghost—that she made me sit down. I don’t remember being pale, but I do remember breaking into a cold sweat.

I still don’t like them but I can tolerate them. I still get the cold sweats when I have to actually give blood or have a needle in my wrist or in the fold of my arm. Apparently, I do not have “good veins,” which loosely translates to my veins are small and they have to dig around to find them.

So I shouldn’t be too upset when my kids scream and holler about their shots.

When the kids were younger, we’d been having some serious “winter” issues with colds, runny noses, RSV and other such and the doctors recommended the flu shot. So we all got them and had a much different winter. Oh, we still fought with colds and such, but about 50% less than when we didn’t get them. So we’ve gotten them every year except the year they ran out.

But anyway, we were in the habit of going and this particular year—about 4 years ago—Brett got his shot first. He’d been doing pretty well and we managed to keep him distracted so that he didn’t even see the needle go in. But when he felt the pain—talk about screaming! BJ had been with Brittany and I had him in the hallway waiting for Brittany to get hers and trying to calm him. He was screaming—until he heard his sister screaming. And he just flat STOPPED! He wanted to see why his sister was screaming. From that point on, he was done screaming and crying (for that year, I mean). It was actually funny to watch him just stop!

However, Brittany had gotten big enough that BJ couldn’t really hold her and so we had to swap. I handed Brett off to her and proceeded to the shot room. Brittany was in such a hysterical state that the nurse had me actually lay down on top of her just to hold her still! The funny thing is that since she was crying so much she didn’t even realize when the nurse had done it and she was still screaming when the nurse told her she was done!

Yes, we’re going tomorrow to get our yearly flu shots…fun!

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