Injections

I remembered injuring myself while running on the wall (yes, on the wall) in primary 6. It goes like this: after picking up speed, I began to run on the wall (imitating those from movies). The moment I land my foot on the ground, I did not realize the window pane in front of me and ran into it. The good news is that I was able to move my head away. The bad news is that I did not have enough time to move my right arm away.

RIPPPP! Was the only sound that I remembered. Then there’s blood all over my right arm, when my dad enquired, I told him it’s just a flesh wound, nothing to worry about. The oval shaped scar had been following me faithfully since that day. Whenever my primary or secondary school classmates saw that scar on my right arm, they’d joke around questioning me why had I taken Rubella injection as that was meant for girls only. Being too lazy to explain it, I only said I ran into an accident.

Then this question suddenly came into my mind: What happened to me after an injection? Why am I the only one with this problem?

I had a number of injections from the day I was born till today. If I were to exclude those injections when I was still a baby, I think I had taken more than 4 injections.

The day when I stepped into secondary school, my body began to react to the injections taken. In primary school, after an injection, I could still walk around freely, even running around will not a problem. There was this time when I had another injection in Form 3 during recess. All the students were to line up in the hall for their turns and those nurses were to give the injections one by one to them.

After I had mine, I was given two tablets and was told to consume it at night. I walked back to class with a friend of mine. Suddenly I realize that the distance between me and him are getting further apart. I hasten my steps to catch up with him and suddenly there was a surge of pain in my head. Thinking that was a headache, I closed my eyes, rubbed my head once or twice and opened my eyes.

To my horror, everything became darker and darker. No, there weren’t any clouds in the sky. I still remember that it was a sunny day; I thought I was poisoned and will be blinded for life. No, I didn’t curse those nurses. I was thinking that it might be something that I took this morning which was incompatible with the fluids injected into my body. My body began to weaken until I could not even feel my own legs, using the last bit of my energy; I rushed to the notice board nearby and used my right arm to support myself on the wall.

Somehow, my vision was not as dark and blurry as before. So I took that opportunity to get back to my classroom. Going up to the third floor is no easy task as I felt like someone who had not eaten for a week and is forced to climb three floors. Clinging to the handrail for support, I forced myself up the steps. The moment I reached my class, I felt relieved and made a quick dash to my seat. The next thing I did was to fold my arms and use them as a support for my head before fading to black.

When I woke up, a few of my friends jokingly said that it is once in a blue moon that I will even take a short nap in class. I raised my head and stare at them, they replied me with shocked expressions. One of my friends said that I looked like a ghost, a pale ghastly face with no signs of life, even my lips were pure white. I wondered if it was Benjamin or SK or Cath who said that. I forgot who offered me the food he/she bought from the canteen which I politely decline and thanked him/her.

I was glad that I am not blinded like I thought I would be earlier on. After this incident, I couldn’t help but wonder why this had happened to me since that never happened in primary school. Wanting to confirm it, I waited for the next injection. That was when I am in Form 5. This time the students are not required to line up in the hall, instead, it will be done in the classroom. I was enthusiastic about it as I was overcome by curiosity.

After I had my injection, everything was normal. Well, at least for awhile. Then the same thing happened again – my vision began to darken and I felt that my body was drained of energy and my legs getting numb. I staggered back to my seat, using the tables as my support to lead me. It is like my body and I are two different beings as I could no longer control it as I please. This time, no one talked about it or joke about it as they knew the same thing that happened to me in Form 3 is repeating itself again.

I don’t mind getting injections in the future (if there is any). The only thing I dislike is that I felt weak and useless after the injection. Any suggestion on how to overcome it?