F the Flu Shot

I am not sure at what point in my life I decided I seriously hated/despised/dreaded shots... It may be one of these things or a combo:

• A long time ago, I was on the depo shot. I went every 90 days and it never bothered me. One time I realized I was sick of it, so I stopped going (see Bullet #2). Maybe the extreme burning of the injection tainted all future shot experiences for me?


• Psychologists say children learn fears from their parents. Maybe I have the opposite issue and learned the fear of shots from my little one? Her hatred for needles runs deep (no pun intended...and just kidding about the correlation between Bullet #1 and Bullet #2).


• I had a melanoma issue when I was 25 years old (scary!) that caused me to be pricked and prodded by about 10,000 needles in a matter of three months. I thought at the time I was used to it but maybe it totally traumatized me?

In any case, our work offered flu shots yesterday. I was not planning to go but told a group of girls I would go with them at 2:00 pm. Okay, fine, sure. I committed to this plan around 10:00 am. As 1:30 pm approached, I was trying to get out of it. I IM'd a friend to whine about not liking needles. His reply? "No one does. Except heroin addicts." LOL. So true, so true...

This group of flu shotters stopped by my desk at 1:50, just when I was getting ready to think of a good excuse to not go. While in line at Occ Health, I was still wanting to weasel out of it. To my dismay, a manager in my department was in front of us and our director was behind us.

Finally, it was my turn; I was ready to get the damn thing over and done. I was just getting more used to the idea when the scary nurse made me scoot my chair back. Upon doing so, I had to turn my head and caught a glimpse of the monstrous needle!!!!

Needless to say, the humongous needed hurt like hell and I am never getting one again! I have a new take on it: I actually kind of like having the flu. It's sort of like a near death experience but you bounce back relatively quickly with no lasting effects. It's a way to appreciate life and being healthy??? Anyway, this is what I'm telling myself from now on. Feel free to steal my idea or suffer the wrath of Occ Health!