the great flu shot of '08

so, today we had the option of taking the flu shot free at work through our insurance provider. i signed up a month or so ago because, hello...i am getting married at the beginning of december and then travelling to nyc and then hawaii and the flu is the last thing i want to catch. i don't usually do the whole flu shot thing because i hate needles. seriously...i hate to admit that i used to think that i'd rather have the flu than get a shot. (crazy, i know.)

well, today is my bday and i am not ashamed to admit that i planned my bday outfit (girls, you know it's true...you know we do it). i have felt very cute all day long (yay for the bday outfit) but quickly realized as i stood in the flu shot line that i did not plan a practical flu shot outfit. so, the ladies around me started trying to figure out how we were going to accomplish the flu shot of '08 apart from me having to completely undress my top half (i have some dignity, you know, AND i think they would frown on that at work...we have to be professional and all :). just so you know, i'm wearing a super cute white button down shirt with a gray button down cardigan over it. we all decided that unbuttoning the top button and sliding my arm out of the sleeve was the only option. so, two ladies (major shout out to lisa and felicia) stood in front of me and held my sweater up to "cover up" any skin mishaps ;). i wiggled my arm out enough for the nice flu shot nurse (who was looking at me as if i'd lost my mind) to reach my upper arm.

given my fear of needles, i decided it was best that i not watch the whole shot giving process...i had my head turned facing lisa and felicia who were doing their best to distract me. the actual shot itself didn't even hurt but all of a sudden felicia and lisa's faces changed (all i could think was...uh oh...they look alarmed) and then i heard the nurse say, "oh no. that doesn't normally happen..."' well, of course i had to look and i see that blood had spurted (is that a word?) out of my arm and yep, you guessed it...onto my white shirt :(. the nurse kept apologizing and felt horrible that it had gotten on my shirt but to be honest with you, i was more concerned about WHY blood spurted out of my arm...especially when the nurse says, "that never happens." gee, thanks.

my only explaination for it is that if anything weird or bizarro is going to happen, it's going to happen to me.

i did learn that apparently, hydrogen peroxide will take the blood out of my white shirt. so, the whole experience wasn't a total loss :).