I remember the first time I had an injection at the doctors.
I remember the first time I had an injection at the doctors. Well, it might not have been the first time I actually had an injection, but it was the first time I remembered it.
Mummy held my hand and told me we were going to see the doctor.
I liked seeing the doctor because he always gave me a lollipop and a sticker for being a good boy.
I was going to ask him for a red lollipop today because they were my favorite and I was going to ask if the doctor had any special shiny football stickers because there were two or three that I still didn’t have to fill in my football sticker book.
It was a nice and sunny day so I was happy to be outside with mummy and I remember crossing the road and thinking to myself what a lovely day to be outside.
Then we went inside to see the doctor and the big woman at the reception desk asked us mummy’s name and my name and then told us to sit down on the chairs next to the door leading into the corridor where all the other doors are where all the other doctors stay.
I didn’t really want to sit down on any of the chairs.
I wanted to play. Also because there was an old lady sitting on a chair and I didn’t want to sit near her. Maybe she was sick and she would make me sick or maybe she would make me old like her if I touched her. So I pulled away from mummy’s hand and I ran over to the big fish tank that was against the wall near to the door.
I watched all the fish swimming up and down up and down and then back up again and I tapped my finger against the glass because I wanted the big goldfish to come and follow my hand or my finger. He was a bigger fish than my fish back at home but he looked the same other than he was bigger. Then after a little bit mummy called me over to her.
Mummy was sitting next to the old lady.
I think they must have been talking to each other because the lady was smiling at me and looking at me and then she said something to my mum that I didn’t hear or understand because I think she wasn’t from England but I couldn’t be sure.
Mummy called me again “Danny, come over here, please. Say hello to this lady, she says you look very cute. What do you say?” I didn’t want to say anything to her, I just wanted to run away and go back to the fish with the big blue and yellow and black stripes but I knew that mummy wouldn’t let me go anywhere unless I said something first to this lady so I just said “thank you.”
But mummy said “What was that Danny, people can’t understand you when you talk quietly, like I told you, speak up for the nice lady.” So I said again “thank you!” But she wasn’t a nice old lady.
But this time I think I said it too loudly because the lady sat back quite quickly and I thought oh no she’s going to die and fall on me and then I’ll get old and die too so I started stepping back but then mummy said “that’s better Danny, well done.” I just looked at mummy and I didn’t know what to do next.
Then the door to all the other doctor’s rooms opened and someone said my mummy’s name and my name and I turned around and my mummy stood up.
She took my hand and we went in through the door.
I suddenly started to feel a bit worried, mainly because I thought the old lady would follow me but also because I remembered that mummy had told me I would be getting an injection today and that I had to be brave.
Why did I have to be brave? Normally when mummy tells me to be brave it’s because I fall over and hurt myself and then she kisses where I hurt and tells me to be brave.
Am I going to hurt myself again now with the doctor?
Or will the doctor hurt me?
We got to the doctor’s room but I started to stop but mummy was holding my hand and she said “come on Danny, what’s wrong? Why are you stopping? Don’t you want a nice lollipop from the doctor?”
I did want a lollipop.
I wanted a red one. So I walked into his room. The doctor looked like a nice man. He was big and wore a white coat and had a beard like daddy has. But the doctor’s beard had more grey than daddy’s and so the doctor made me think of Santa when I looked at him.
I liked this doctor, he wasn’t going to hurt me. The doctor started to talk to me and asked me all kinds of questions, how was school, how old was I, what my favorite football team was (mummy told him I liked football) and so I told him it’s Arsenal of course!
Then he told me to step up on the little step next to his doctor’s bed and sit down on his doctor’s bed so I did. It was a bit tall and so I had to use my hands to push myself up and turn around onto his bed. I ripped some of the tissue paper that was covering his bed too and I looked at him because I was worried he might be angry.
I said sorry but he told it was “perfectly OK, nothing to worry about.” And so I didn’t think it was a problem. Next, he showed me a picture of the Seven Dwarves and Snow White.
He asked me if I knew all of the names of the Dwarves.
I nodded to tell him I did. Really I didn’t know all of them but I didn’t want him to think I didn’t know.
I had watched the movie with mummy and daddy and again by myself in my bedroom, and I thought I knew them but then he asked me to tell him all their names and I couldn’t I could only remember three so I said them out loud to him. “Sleepy…umm…That one is Happy….and…errr…Dopey.”
OUCH!!!
What was that? OUCH!! My arm! I looked over to my right arm and I saw that the doctor had pulled up my t-shirt at my arm and was putting a needle into me! OUCH!!
“There we go, Danny, all done, good boy, well done Danny, you’re a very big boy aren’t you?” I was about to start to cry and looked at mummy first.
Why did she let the doctor hurt me like that?
What did I do wrong?
Were they angry at me?
Why?
Did I make mummy upset because I nearly made the old lady die and fall over?
I started to cry a little bit and I held my arm but then the doctor said “I know Danny, how about a nice lollipop!” I looked at him and stopped crying, even though my arm still hurt.
He was holding a green lollipop.
“Do you have any red ones?” The doctor looked at mummy and smiled, then he went back over to the drawer where he had them all. He looked through the drawer and then turned around again.
“I’m sorry Danny I’ve only got yellow or green ones. I gave my last red lollipop away yesterday to another little boy”.
Why did that little boy get the last red lollipop was he special or did he cry even more than me? Maybe he didn’t cry at all or maybe he was really sick. Maybe the old lady was here yesterday too and she touched him and he was going to get old and die and the doctor gave him a red lollipop.
The last red lollipop.
I wanted a red lollipop. “Do you have any stickers?”
“Yes!” The doctor saw my smile and he smiled too. He was OK I guess, even though he hurt me. But then he went and he brought me over a Mr. Men sticker. Not even a shiny football sticker. Not even a football sticker. A Mr. Men sticker. Mr. Strong. Not even Mr. Tickle.
I didn’t want to go back to the doctor’s again anytime soon.
