Could you do it, if you had to?
By gapeach65
@gapeach65 (805)
United States
October 10, 2007 1:15pm CST
My mother-in-law has been in the hospital for 13 days now. We took her to the emergency room for pains in her torso, and since my mom passed away from heart disease, the pains had me concerned as she is obese. She was found to have a hernia and needed surgery as her intestines had gotten pinched in the hernia. The actual surgery went fine, she did have a reaction to the anesthesia and had to be on a ventilator for 2 days. Now the cardiologist is keeping her in the hospital because her coumadin levels are not where they should be. For those who don't know, coumadin is a blood thinner. They had planned to send her home with a prescription of Lovenox, which are pre filled syringes, she would need two shots in the morning and two at night (in her side, as they put it in the love handles). There is NO way I could give her the shots and she wouldn't be able to give them to herself because of her size. They were going to arrange to have a home nurse come in and give the morning shots and my husband was going to have to give her the evening ones. As it turns out, they are TOO expensive and insurance only covers 1/2, so the doctors are keeping her in the hospital on a heparin drip until the levels become therapeutic.
Like I've already said there is NO way I could give anyone shots, I hate needles. Would you be able to give someone else shots, or even yourself if needed?
2 people like this
9 responses
@sweetgirl_k1 (3972)
• United States
11 Oct 07
No way, I hate needles. My cousin and my aunt both have to give themselves shots and I told them that I just don't know how they do it. I wouldn't be able to give myself a shot and I sure wouldn't be able to do it to someone else just because I would be so scared and I wouldn't want to hurt them. I was babysitting a little girl one time and she was really allergic to bees. They gave her a prescription of something (I think it was called an epipen or something) but if she got stung by a bee then I was supposed to jab that in her leg. I told her mom that I wouldn't be able to do that. She said sure you could just don't watch it when it's going in. Luckily, I never had to use it on her. I watched her closely when we were outside lol. I just don't think I would have been able to do that. I could have gotten my neighbor to do it though because she works at the hospital and if she wasn't at home the neighbor across the street used to be a nurse too. I'm just glad I never was in the predicament to use it on her cause I really don't think I could have done it cause I would have been so scared.
1 person likes this
@runsgame (2031)
• India
11 Oct 07
well, i am happy yo note that you did a wonderful job with your mother in law. of course it is your first nd formost duty also to do like this . i appreciate your patience and curiosity and immense interst over the life of your mother in law. congratulations for the brave steps u have taken.
i also do like this only
1 person likes this
@poohgal (6845)
• Singapore
11 Oct 07
Hello there. Someone has told me before, FEAR stands for false emotions appearing real. I understand your hatred and fear for needles. However, it's possible to overcome it if you choose to.
If i were to give someone else shots, i think i will be able to do it. However, i will practice many times before actually doing it. No matter what, a life is at stake and I would not want to make mistakes here.
I hope you can succeed in overcoming your fear. All the best and God bless.
1 person likes this
@quiethorse (337)
• United States
11 Oct 07
Sure. It just takes some practice to get over the jitters. It's the poking through the skin sensation that bothers people. Practice on oranges or apples. This is how they do it in nursing school.
1 person likes this
@ElusiveButterfly (45940)
• United States
11 Oct 07
I have turned down a job that required giving injections and doing blood draws. I am unsure if I could give an injection to myself. My daughter has to give herself injections and she told me that the first few she gave herself, she passed out. She eventually grew accustomed to injecting the meds into her thigh. I guess we do what we have to do.
1 person likes this
@ravinskye (8237)
• United States
10 Oct 07
I know that I couldn't give myself shots. I couldn't even bring myself to poke myself with one of those blood sugar testers. For some reason, even though I knew it wouldn't really hurt, I couldn't do it to myself. I probably would be able to do it to someone else though. I'd want someone to teach me the correct way to do it and then I'd be ok with doing it.
@foxyfire33 (10005)
• United States
10 Oct 07
I've never had issues with needles so I think I could doit if I had to. I would probably be really nervous the first time or two but one I got used toit I'd be fine. I think I'd have an easier time doing it to someone else than to myself but it's hard to tell. With some things I do much better doing it to someone else...like pulling out splinters (I actually had to have my daughter pull one out for me when she was only 4 or 5 because I just couldn't do it!) Other things I need to be left alone to do so I can do them for myself but not for others. I just hope I never have to deal with it either way!
1 person likes this
