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Thursday, April 10, 2003
Here a Poke, There a Poke
everywhere a poke, poke
Had a medical screening today at work to check for immunizations. Good thing the doctor didn't check my blood pressure, or she might've been startled by the magnitude of those numbers. Interestingly, I haven't had vaccinations in a long, long time. Since I work in the laboratory and with animals, it was recommended that I get a tetanus shot and a TB test. Tetanus is a rare but serious infection which can result from skin wounds. Tuberculosis, or TB, is another serious infection that is usually spread by the respiratory route. I got two shots today, one in my right forearm and the other in my left shoulder. For the faint of heart, you should probably stop reading here as I go into (slight) detail about my experience. So, the last time I had a needle in me was when I donated blood with JennHwang a while back. *Flash-back* We were walking by the engineering library when there was a blood drive going on, so on a whim, we decided to give blood. I don't think anybody likes the idea of needles, but I never remembered it being that bad, so that time, I wanted to watch the woman stick the needle into my vein. It was easy to find my vein (unlike Jenn, who ended up being poked several times in an attempt to get to it). That needle kinda hurt going in and was pretty noticeable. *Fast-forward to this afternoon* Again, I found myself watching the needle go in. But, for some reason, this time it really didn't hurt very much. Like there was a slight prick when the needle first went under my skin, but after that, I didn't really feel anything else (like it wasn't even there) as the doctor injected stuff into my arms. I had totally expected a lot more sensation, especially since a little piece of metal was poked into my skin. I was quite surprised as I thought to myself, "hey, there's something IN my arm, and yet I don't really feel it." Anyway, after this experience, I don't feel as bad for injecting mice (especially since we use much thinner needles and don't inject as much). While nothing should happen to my right arm, my left arm will probably be sore tomorrow. Yay..
4:44 PM Albert
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..a life in DUO