Day 10: Something you're afraid of

I am petrified of needles.  It started when I was about 2 or 3 and had to get a blood draw done.  The phlebotomist couldn't find any of my veins in my arm so s/he went into my jugular vein in my neck.  Because of that, I developed a huge fear of needles that has been a long road getting over.

To demonstrate how bad my fear is I will tell you one of my vaccination stories.  I was getting one of the Hepatitis series because a girl in my school had contracted the disease so it became required in our district.  I went to the doctor for the first shot and immediately started crying uncontrollably at the thought of the shot.  Once the doctor came into the room, I became almost paralyzed by fear until she started to come toward me to give me the shot.  My rational side knew that it would be just a five second pain and it would be over with quickly, but my irrational, fearful side told me that pain was imminent.  I immediately ran away from the doctor and tried to climb up on anything I could.  My mom had to hold me down for the shot and I bawled the entire time.  The kicker?  I was thirteen years old at the time.

Now, with dealing with trying to conceive with PCOS, I was put on an oral ovulation stimulating medicine, and an intramuscular trigger shot.  I attempted to have Geoff do the shot but when he seemed apprehensive about it I just grabbed the syringe and did it myself.  It was a huge step in facing my fear, but I sure hope this is the only time I have to do it!!