The nurse’s voice became more and more urgent “stand up, get on the table, stand up, get on the table“.
But I was seeing spots and there was no way I was going anywhere that required upward movement – I’d been there before and knew it meant I was going to faint. “Don’t stand up, don’t stand up” pulsed through my head. “Try to lay down, keep breathing” my brain said.
Have you ever tried to lay down while sitting in a plastic Dr’s office chair – it is about as impossible as you are imagining, but I was trying my damnedest to move in a direction opposite to standing, and fast.
When the first immunization shot went in I had flinched but kept breathing – “not so bad” I thought, “don’t be a baby, only two more to go“.
When the second shot went in it made me suck breath through my teeth and expel an unexpected “oh shit that hurts” loudly enough to surprise the nurse and myself – but the damn woman had obviously herd it all before and kept on pushing that plunger in.
In crystal clear slow motion I started to collapse towards the floor, feet and bum first, fully conscious but unable to say another word. The nurse was on a broken record repeat as I sunk further and further down the plastic slide of a chair, when all of a sudden two strong arms moved under my back and my knees.
Mr W had sprung into action, swooping my fainting body off the chair and onto that pesky table like a modern-day superhero.
The resultant swoon took away any breath I had left. It was almost worth the pain in my arm.
My hero.