I was about 5 years old and on my way home from school on a wintery
afternoon, when I got involved in a snowball fight with some of my classmates. I
threw a few and they did likewise. Without any warning, one of the snowballs hit
me square in my groin. I immediately felt a searing pain where the snowball hit
me and proceeded to
double up in pain.
After a few minutes I got my self up and continued home.
The soreness abated somewhat, but I could feel it starting to become much
more painful all over again as time wore on.
I told my mother about it and she took me to the doctors who immediately
sent me to the hospital.
The half hour ride was extremely uncomfortable with all the bumps and the
starting and stopping involved. I was laying down in the rear seat of the
car.
Once there, we were met by another doctor who after examining me, told my
Mother that they were going to admit me.
I didn't know it but that was the beginning of a hospital stay that to this
day that I will never forget.
I remember going to a room where a cute nurse told me to undress and
get into bed.
As I did what I was told, my Mother kissed me good by and told me that she
and Dad would be back later to see me.
About fifteen minutes later, the cute nurse was back. I thought that she
had just come back to see how I was doing. Ha, was I ever wrong!
She smiled at me and told me to pull down my pajama pants and lay on my
stomach.
It was then that I saw the hypodermic syringe filled with a white
liquid.
I asked her if that shot was for me and she said that it was .
She saw that I was scared and started to tell me that I was a big boy and
that my Mom and Dad would be very proud of me if I didn't yell and scream when
she
administered the injection. I didn't know it at the time , but that white
medicine in the syringe that she was about to inject into me was
Penicillin.
She asked me if I was ready. I said that I was even though inside of me I
was scared to death. I was just trying to do what she asked me to do and be
brave.
She told me that she was going to clean the area on my buttox and that it
will feel cool and that is all. After a few rubs, I could smell the alcohol that
she used on the cotton ball to clean the injection site.
She then told me that she was going to start the injection. She told me
that I would feel a little stick. Little? An 18 gauge 2" needle going into my
backside is no small stick!
One, two and then three and in the needle went along accompanied
by an almost blood curdling scared scream from me. She then waited a few
moments and then told me that she was going to start to pout the medicine into
me. That medicine must have really been very thick as she had to use both hands
to administer it. At first it wasn't
terribly bad, a small burn but I was able to keep from screaming. Then
all of a sudden it started to burn and kept on getting worse. I started to cry
and asked her to take the needle out, but she continued to inject the medicine
into me.
Finally my ordeal was over. I had a lot of pain and felt like I had huge
knot in my butt.
The nurse came over to me and helped me pull my pajamas up. I was so sore
that
without her help I would not ever been able to do it by my self.
When she was done she came over to me a kissed my and said that I had been
very brave even though the injection that I had just received was very
painful.
She told me that she would see me later.
The day wore on. Lunch was good. A nice sandwich and some ice cream. I
thought to my self that this wasn't to bad.
Ha ha, little did I know what was in store for me.
Later about 8 PM another cute nurse came in and smiling, asked me how
I felt
I suspiciously answered not to bad. She said that she was glad to hear
that.
She then told me that I had to have another injection I said you mean like
the one that I had this morning? When she said yes, I started to shake. She told
me to turn over and pull my pajama pants down and be still. I felt my self
starting to cry.
I really didn't want any part of it. She told me that she would give me the
shot very
slowly to ease the pain. Really?
Ouch as she poke me with that huge needle. That was not to bad this time. I
was surprised. However, shortly the pain began in earnest even though she was
injecting it very slowly as she had promised she would. I started to think that
there was no easy way to make this shot less painful. Halfway though the
injection the pain was so bad that I lurched and out came the needle. She looked
at me and told me not to do that again and that she now had to poke me all over
again. When she did so I lurched and
out came the needle once again. She then left the room. I thought that I
had found a way to not take the shots. Wow, was I ever wrong. About 5 minutes
later she came back with another hypodermic syringe loaded with that
painful Penicillin in her hand. However, this time she was accompanied with
three orderlies that looked like they had muscles like a gorilla on them. They
walked up to me and turned me over and held me. I could not move even if I
wanted to. She started to count....
One, two three and POKE!!! I screamed bloody murder. Then the burning began
as she started to inject the Penicillin in to me. I tried to get loose thinking
that If I could move it would ease the pain. Not a chance.
Finally she removed the needle from me and the orderlies loosened their
grip on me and left the room. The nurse in her nice white uniform said to me now
that wasn't to bad was it? With a scowl on my face I sad that it was terrible!
She laughed and told me to have a nice day.
What I didn't realize was that my doctor wrote orders for the Penicillin
injections twice daily for the next four days. 10 CCS of that twice
daily is a lot of hurt. I can't begin to tell you how happy I was when on the
fourth day when the nurse came in and told me that I was going to be going home
today. I asked her if that meant that as my Mother
was an RN, she would be giving me those dreaded shots that I did not want.
She laughed and told me, no more injections. She then smiled at me and said that
it was nice to have met me and that she hoped that I would get better real
soon.
