Last Wednesday I had to have a flu shot. This would be fine for most people, but I am terrified of needles. Not needles themselves, but I cringe when needles go into me or someone else. If I see a needle before I get a shot, I freak out. And so I tense and it hurts more than it would if I had just been calm, and so I get a nice lil' bump on my arm for a few days after (hell no am I getting a shot in my leg, it would hurt more than the arm and I'm a little self conscious of it).
And the next day, Thursday, I had to get my blood drawn. I had my blood drawn last year and all I remember was just being terrified, and so I was anxious the entire time. My mom let me watch a video (Ravenpaw map to the song Panic Room) and it did help distract me. I still felt the needle, but it was less painful even when I had looked at it previously. It only felt like a flick and then I felt nothing. I mean my arm ached after but nothing else was bad. I got to see my blood in a vile (I'm not squeamish about blood and stuff, so it was cool to me).
The whole process went really fast, honestly. And she told me after that it was the biggest vile they had. It wasn't huge but still. I was told that I have to at least get my blood drawn once a year due to a medicine I'm currently taking.
B U T
My mother forgot to give me the medicine for around three days. She contacted the doctor but hasn't gotten a reply yet, so there's a chance I will have to have my blood drawn again, but I'm not scared anymore.
But taking pain into consideration, I don't have small veins. People who do probably have a harder time when they get their blood drawn, and some people in charge of it (no matter what size of vein) end up bruising your arm due to a lot of failed attempts or adjustments.
And though I am thinking about being a blood donator in the future, I do have to take in account that this was a small amount of blood that they had taken. If I donated my blood it would be taking a lot more and I would probably need to rest a bit afterwards. I have a while before I can actually donate so I have time to think about it.
