A perk!

Today was flu shot clinic day at work. Being a superstitious person who has had the flu shot for the past 5 years, I couldn't miss up the opportunity to participate in the clinic. I called into my INR clinic last week and asked if I could participate. Since my INR had come back normal last week (2.8) the nurse said it would be just fine. She said I would have to pay attention to bleeding and bruising but otherwise there wouldn't be any risk involved.

As I prepared for my venture down to the clinic, I solicited for moral support from fellow department members. Turns out, I am the only one that was ready to go and plunge forth with the vaccine. One other person was going to her clinic later on in the week, but for the most part, the rest were opposite-superstitous into not doing the vaccine. I went down to the clinic only then during my elevator ride down, realizing I did not have the appropriate apparel for an arm shot on and got nervous about stripping in front of strangers. I waited in line for about a half hour and then realized they were "shooting" multiple people in the same room. Ugh, the thought of stripping in front of co-workers!

I walk into the room, tense with needle fear and sit down next to my assigned nurse. She asks about my blood clotting and quickly states "you qualify for the nasal vaccine." I looked at her with a deer in the headlights look. After completely absorbing what she had said I started asking questions. After some minimal kind assurances, I agreed to do it. She must not have wanted to take a chance shooting me with a needle and me squirting blood out at her. Not that that would happen, but it is fun to visualize. One quick squirt up each nostral and it was over. It didn't burn and it didn't ooze back out my nose. It was so painless I wanted more. I couldn't believe that something good for me would not hurt!

It has been 4 hours since the spray and I feel just fine, and even content! So if ever given the option, do the spray instead of the shot!! Because the spray is a live spray (meaning there are live cultures in the vaccine) you have to stay away from nursing homes, newborn babies and immunosuppressive people for a few days.

And there we have it, a perk for being an easy bleeder!