Burn and Rave

I just got my flu shot today.  Have you?  I haven’t had a flu since I can remember.  I had myalgias and chills from a viral cold once, but not long-lasting enough to be the flu, but it makes sense that I get immunized so that I become an asymptomatic carrier of the flu virus and inadvertantly pass it on to an immunocompromised patient in the hospital.  Well, as the nurses at the hospital roamed the hallway recruiting victims for the student nurses to use their super shot-giving skills on, I reponded with my resident and bared my upper left arm.  My pulse went up as the alcohol swab cooled and cleaned my skin.  My resident stood watching and smiling and cheering me on.  I quietly began to hyperventilate as the needle approached my arm from the corner of my eye.  Then my breathing stopped for about 4 seconds as I got stung.  Sigh.  “Hold this,” said the student nurse pointing to the gauze over my tiny puncture wound.  Soon she slapped a bandaid over the access point.  A regular beige bandaid.  Long gone are the days when I wouldn’t have been ridiculed for requesting a cartoon bandaid, however, not so gone are the days when the thought of getting rewarded with a simple cartoon bandaid would have appeased my nervousness.  As a person of initiative, I’ve decided that I can take this remedy into my own hands and take a bring-your-own-bandaids approach.  Rather than hopelessly wait for the nurse to whip out a Sesame Street or Scooby Doo bandaid from the carts in the cold, impersonal clinic rooms, I’ll just bring my own stash, my own makeshift prescription to quell a senseless fear.  Can’t wait for my next trip to Walgreens.