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.