A needle? Yikes

A week ago Sunday I gave my very first needle.  Never in all of my years of raising dogs and children have I ever had to administer a needle myself.  I know that many people do it daily; both for other humans and dogs, but not me.  When the Veterinarian recently said to me "you will give it to him," about Luke's weekly B12 shot, I wondered how difficult it was going to be for me.  As a caregiver, the idea of sticking a needle into skin made me shudder.  I care for, tend to, fix, mend, medicate, lift, support and anything else that requires care for my dogs.  Being a VERY hands on caregiver, I knew it was my job to do it but my head had other ideas. 

I've just never been required to do it.  I am the type of dog guardian who prefers to do anything that can be done by me myself. But needles?  This needle only needed to go under the skin so I didn't have to be worried about the air bubble in the needle; which I was worried about before hearing that I did not have to worry about it.  It was mostly that moment when you push the needle through the skin that was bothering me.  My husband said "I'll do it, I don't care at all."  That would definitely have been the easiest route to take but it was not in my plan to take the easy way out.  I was doing it.

I had a knot in my stomach, strange I know.  Many, many people do it all the time; both in humans and dogs. I prepared the needle like the vet tech had shown me.  I didn't want a huge air bubble but a speck of air in there was okay because it was just going under the skin.  I was of course all thumbs the first time; trying my hardest not to stick myself in the process.  Fill the syringe, take off the first needle and then replace it with a new one.  I liked that idea when the vet tech had told me.  She said that once a needle had gone through anything that she considered it dull and would not stick it into a dog.  Sounded like good advice to me.  

Old needle off, new one on and air pushed out.  Time to stick it into Luke.  I was nervous for sure; but I had to do it knowing full well I may have to do it again at some point in my life, right?  I grabbed Luke's scruff and prepared it for a stick.  He flinched a bit but was far less bothered by the process than I was.  He did look at me with those "why did you hurt" eyes.  But he was over it within seconds and back to sleep.  

I just now finished giving him his second shot and it was much easier for me.  It has to be done so I will do it.  He didn't even flinch this time and nerves did not cause me to feel rushed to get it done.  He will be getting a shot for six weeks and we'll see if it makes a difference in his general energy level.  We will discuss further shots then.  I for one am very happy that I had to do it and now feel like I could actually stick someone with a needle if I was required to do so.