Needles with Coffee and Donuts

Unexpected things are the best.

Especially when it comes to meeting the people I love. I am specifically referring to one of my best friend who is studying nursing. She has strict parents so she can not go out as much as our other best friend does and she also can not stay out too late or too long.

This is the reason why I have a secret promise to myself that if this best friend ever asks for our company at any day or any time, so long as I m not doing something necessary, then I will be there in the place she wants to meet at.

The day that started it

I have a little background story to share before I get back to the present story.

Back in 2019, when we were still green in college, my bestfriend, "Nars", decided to ask me if I am willing to be her dummy for one of their retdem (return demo).

What she needed to do was inject sterilized water to a 'patient' so that she would get the experience she needed to put the lessons into test.

Since I have full confidence in her, I agreed to be her test dummy. I do not regret it even though in hindsight, I should have probably adjusted the amount of trust I have on her expertise on the matter since it was her first time doing it.

What happened next is something I will never forget. When she inserted the syringe, and push the water into my body, it felt as though fires were spreading rapidly under my skin. As I did not want to startle her or demotivate her, I did my best to hide the pain from my facial expressions. But I guess she kinda figure out that it must have hurt since the sign she was looking for that she did the procedure right is not there.

Even though the first trial hurts, I was still willing to let her try it again on my other arm. Let it not be said that I have failed to support my bestfriend in her dream to become a nurse. Unfortunately, due to some insensitive and thoughtless remarks of our other friend rpesent there at the time, Nars lost her courage to try again in my other arm.

I hated seeing her excitement and confidence fall that day. Since then, she was afraid to ask anyone again for her to practice on, and during the pandemic she only tried doing the injection on her own body for practice.

However, I was determined to show her that what happened did not change the fact that I believe in her ability. So since that day, I was patiently waiting for her to tell us that she needed test dummies for her injection practice.

The awaited day shows its face

Last Friday, as I got home from a date with my partner, Nars sent a message to our groupchat (me, Nars, and our other bestfriend we shall refer to as Engr) asking if we will be busy on Sunday (October 9).

Engr said that it depends on what Nars will say next. On the other hand, I just said that yes I am free that day and whenever she needed company.

Nars then said that she wanted to practice her injection skils again and asked us if we were willing to volunteer. Unfortunately, Engr has made prior arrangements with her girlfriend so that just left me as her test dummy (again).

I felt sad about it since I know Nars got a bit envious of her classmates who have a lot of people who volunteer to be their guinea pig. For Nars, no one in her immediate circle is willing to let her practice on them since she lacks experience. But then how willshe gain experience without practice, right?

Since I did not want her to feel tht way, I asked her if she wanted more volunteers. When she said yes, I asked my partner if he was willing to be a test dummy as well. I am not expecting much since it was on Sunday which is usually one of the days that we decided to dedicate to our families and personal time. But he agreed, and said that he will try his best to be there as well.

I relayed the message to her. But told her in confidence that I will be there no matter what happens.

The day finally comes

Sunday comes in a blink.

The day started late for me since I took my sweet time sleeping in. It has been a while since I was able to do that.

After lunch, I interacted with Nars, and my partner to know what to expect today. My partner told me he will be able to make it to the planned meeting. And Nars shared that she was still doing her video for her other subjects before she goes out.

Everything works out in our favor. And by 3:15PM, we are all at the meeting place.

We decided to meet at Dunkin' Donuts since it is close to Nars' house. We also bought some food and drinks so that we will not be hungry and thirsty. I was unable to capture Nars' drink in the picture since she was drinking it already when I took this picture.

The practice

Nars started her practice by reading up on the guidelines again and again until she felt ready... to try it on a tomato.

Yes, she was still so scared of what happened back during our freshmen year (we are 4th year students now) that she decided to try it on a tomato first before doing it to us.

She was actually so hesitant that she tried to shrugit off and say that we should just watch her do it on a tomato since she was unsure how to do it to a real person. She had all these excuses she was saying just to convince us that she is okay without practicing on us.

But I did not let her fear and hesitation stop her desire to practice. I know she was scared since the frist time she tried it was a bad experience. But she learned a lot from that day and I wanted to let her see it for herself.

After a few minutes of back and forth, she finally agreed to do the first practice injection on me. She has to do different injections but the names are lost on me. I just knew that she poked me with a syringe.

The first injection hurts but not as much as before and the pain was not as long or intense. When I described what I felt, I could see that she was happy since she got the procedure right. We made sure to celebrate that win with her.

Then the next trial was on my partner. This one was supposed to be painful but there was a mistake in the procedure so he did not feel any pain, and what needed to be observed was not observed.

For the next one, we wanted Nars to try the same type of injection again on my other arm. She only decided to use a small amount of water since the procedure is expected to be painful. And I am so glad she did that because it was truly painful. Not as painful as the first one, nowhere near that pain but it was still painful.

The effect we were waiting for is not that noticeable since she only used a small amount of water. But when we touch the area, we could feel a small bump (I forgot the medical term she used) as expected.

She said she will do it with the correct amount on her own arm to show us what it should look like. She has already done this before so she knows she can do it on herself. She did it successfully.

We took a small break here since she is in pain. We discussed about some interesting medical topics sprinkled with personal stories here and there.

For the last injection, my partner told Nars that he wanted to experience the first injection she made on me today. He agreed to let Nars do it on his other arm. This time he felt the water enter his system and then we knew it was successful.

Overall, the practice tests she did today went well. She was able to get some experience and gained confidence with herself again.

We left Dunkin' Donuts with good memories.

Closing words

I can not even begin to describe how grateful I am to my partner for agreeing to be a test dummy as well. I appreciate his trust and willingness to help my bestfriend. He truly is amazing.

I am glad that Nars gained some experience before she has her first duty as a student-nurse. I am happy to support her in anyway I can.

This day is one of my favorite memories this year.