Tuesday, September 10, 2013

"This needle doesn't look right"

Last night was pretty much like any other night. I fixed dinner, dished up the pet's food, drew up Nadia's insulin, yada yada yada. Then it came time for my nightly PIO injection. I got out all of the goods: PIO vial, alcohol swabs, gauze pad, band-aids, and of course the syringe and the draw-up needle. And just like I've done a billion other times, I drew up the PIO and swapped needles for administration and I called Kevin over. I leaned over the kitchen counter as he sterilized the injection site, dried it off and was seconds from stabbing me when he paused and said "This needle doesn't look right."

Holy crap, he was right. I had put an enormous 18g needle on the syringe by accident instead of the smaller 22g. I must have grabbed the wrong one while zoning out on autopilot. It's hard to see the actual needle because it's covered in a cloudy, semi-opaque cap but I got careless and didn't check the label or the color base. Youch! I cringe just thinking about how bad that would have hurt! I came *this* close to getting stabbed with an inhumanly large needle!

I took some photos for comparison but I don't even think this picture does the reality justice.

18g is on left, 22g is on right. BIG difference!

Kevin even joked that he thought the small needle could even fit inside of the big needle. And guess what? He was right! It's that much of a difference in size.


After I was done playing around with the needles, I sat on a heating pad and thanked my lucky stars he caught it. Has anyone ever accidentally got an intramuscular injection with the draw-up needle? I can see how easily this could happen!

18 comments:

  1. Haha!!! I did that for my first two FETs (before and during the two week waits) because I thought u were supposed to use the bigger needle for injection. It hurt but I didn't know any differently so I just pushed thru for my babies. It really was bearable and not as painful as it looks. Glad Kevin caught that for u though-ha! :)

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    1. OWWEEEEE! You are one serious trooper! Let me tell ya!

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  2. I can relate...I did this on our second FET but didn't realize it until after Adam had stabbed me. Ouch!!

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    1. Gah! Ow! I can see how easily this could happen!

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  3. Wow, that was a close call. I'll have to pay more attention when I start PIO next week!

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    1. Yup I learned my lesson! I triple checked everything was in order tonight lol.

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  4. WOW! Thank God you didn't use the draw up needle! Although I'm sure it would have made a great story down the road! ;)

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    1. LOL seriously! I would have told that story to my grandkids! The time grandpa ripped a hole in my backside with a giant needle! :)

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  5. WOW I'm glad you figured it out! Yeouch!

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  6. Yaw! That was almost a bit much! I've been doing the PIO for about a month now and it's not so bad, although it's bad enough - I can't imagine an 18g needle! Yay Kevin!

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    1. Yeah, you definitely do get used to it. But the idea of that big one makes me cringe! :) Yay Kevin indeedy!

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  7. We almost did that too! I forgot to take off the draw needle and replace with injection needle. My poor husband is legally blind, so seeing the difference in needle size wasn't happening. Luckily - he has to get THIS-CLOSE to do my injections and the big needle is pink and the little needle is blue, so he noticed the color difference. He goes "when did we change color?" and I caught the mistake because OUCH!

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    1. How funny! I'm glad he saw the color! That was a near NEAR miss! That sounds eerily similar to what happened over here. I bet this happens more than we think. ;-)

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  8. ouch! Not that 18 gauge needles cannot be used, but the thought hurts! Good thing he is detail oriented!

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    1. I'm sure it would have worked, but it wouldn't have been pleasant lol. :)

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  9. Oh my gosh it makes me hurt just thinking about it. The smaller one is bad enough, and I wouldn't really say it was small! Just not quite as scary as the big one!!

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