Needle Phobia

Never in my life have I been a fan of needles. When I got my ears pierced at the age of fifteen, my mom commented on how she had never seen me sit so still before. My needle phobic issues are more along the trypanophobia lines, then just all needles in general. As most things medical just generally freak me out. So while getting my ears pierced definitely held me still as can be, it’s when I have to do things like blood work that I feel like turning into a toddler even to this day.

Logic always tells me, “It’s not as bad as you make it seem.” However, it never fails that feeling of butterflies in the pit of my stomach. Anxiousness that makes me want to hop up from my seat in the waiting room and run for the hills as it were. I never watch them draw my blood. I always squeeze something in my free hand (or make a fist), hold my breath while looking away and clench my jaw tight. It’s a whole big physical reaction and all the while, that logic kicks into the back of my head.

Yesterday was the second time this month I had to get blood work done. The first round happened exactly one week ago Friday. I was anxious, but I managed to get through it without throwing myself on the floor in a screaming fit. Oh yes, I’m twenty-seven and I fully admit I still want to throw myself on the floor kicking and screaming at the thought of a needle getting me. However I did manage to survive. Well it turned out my potassium level was a tad high, so round two had to happen.

Barbie's Spider

Seems Barbie has a new pet. An eight legged pet to be exact. At least that seemed to be the case when I happened to gaze up at my collector’s Harley Davidson Barbie doll in her box with a spider…inside! Normally I am much more of the arachnophobia type. Screaming and running away at the sight of a spider, but it was one of those rare moments I found myself more curious of the critter then afraid of it. I think what baffled me the most was how on earth did it get in there? More than the curiosity of how it got into the box though was my dilemma on how to kill it.

Grabbing the vacuum cleaner out I debated gently sticking the hose in there to try and lure the bugger out. However, I was afraid of hurting the doll. It was though as I pulled the box off the shelf carefully I did unfortunately notice a small opening near the top of her box. Not terrible, but clearly some light damage had been done from moving a few times over the years and it at least settled the mystery of how the spider managed to get inside the box. Now here I was, box on the floor and down beside it with the vacuum ready to go.

I had spoken briefly in mid dilemma to my father about the situation and he suggested finding a way to shake the spider out of the box. So there I went carefully examining the box while keeping an eye on the eight legged icky inside it. I discovered at the bottom of the box (as I’ve never opened the doll before) that there was an easy way to gently open it up. So there I went, opening up the box and slowly pulling out the doll so much until the darn thing started moving. I tapped along the outer part of the box to try and get it to come out. It took a second, but suddenly it appeared outside and along the edging of the side opposite of me.

With the sighting of him finally outside of the box and my Harley Barbie free from getting hurt, I wasted no time. I turned on the vacuum and sucked his icky butt up with the hose. I know it’s not the most humane thing to suck up a spider in the vacuum cleaner, but there is the whole arachnophobia issue as mentioned before. Plus it ended up saving me from having to smash a spider along the box. Now while my collector’s doll is without her newfound pet, I am happy to say she is back on the shelf again spider free!

--XOXO, Jane