Come on...even a tetanus shot....

Yesterday, I hacked my finger open at work.  When I finally got the bleeding under control (oh, I did not care if the band aids were corny/latex/rubber, I just wanted to stop bleeding all over the floor!), I tried to take it easy while I waited for my relief to come in.  Five hours later, I was on my way to Urgent Care.  I had called ahead, told them that I was allergic to rubber/latex/corn and asked if that would be a problem.  If it was a problem, I would go somewhere else (Anchorage doesn't have much, but they do have an Urgent Care or 7).  The nurse told me I would have to discuss that with the doctor when I came in....REALLY??  I wanted to give them a heads up and let them make the call, they wouldn't let me.

I had to be careful with my hand because anytime I hit it, it would open up and bleed all over again.  I filled out my paperwork and was called back to triage.  I told the nurse repeatedly that I was allergic to corn and that corn was sometimes in medicine/IV's.  She assumed me I would be fine.  One nurse washed my cut out and had me sit and wait for the doctor.  He took a look at my hand, decided I needed to wash it again, and then he would "throw a couple of stitches in it."  While washing my hand again, for three minutes, I started feeling very queasy.  I was hot.  I was ready to throw up.  The nurse was concerned, had me sit down...yadda yadda.  She then told me it was because of the pain, well, since it's my finger, I can tell you that it wasn't all that painful, but she tried over and over again to convince me it was!

After all of the stitching and such, another nurse came in with the tetanus shot.  She told me that I was going to wait for a couple minutes after the shot because of my extensive allergy list.  She scared the crap out of me, not with that statement, but rather, I looked at her before the shot and all I see is her hand cocked way back.  It was like she was going to jam that needle into my arm with all of her power!  I turned white, she told me not to look.  Well, she did an okay job, until she tried to put a latex "pretty cool" band aid on my arm....come on now!  Not two minutes later, the corn was kicking in.  I had to get a steroid shot to get my lungs and throat back to working order...SCARY!

Now, my finger hurts (a little) but my shoulder is killing me!!!  Oh and just so we are all clear on this, the tetanus shot used to be every 10 years, but it was changed to every 5....so go get one!