Captain! She's sprung a leak!

Last night Nick gave me my Bicillin injection like usual. It wasn't as painful as the past few have been, which was a nice change of pace. This time I had my iPod on and was blasting aggressive and distracting music while I was injected. (Ministry's "Just One Fix" is a nice choice, by the way.)

After Nick pulled out the needle, both blood and Bicillin started to leak out of the puncture mark. Not gushing out or anything, but steadily leaking.

I cursed. Nick cursed. "This stuff is too expensive to leak!" I growled.

Nick (helpfully) called out, "Yikes! Your butt's leaking five dollars a minute!" He paused and then said, "Wow, I bet you've been waiting all your life to hear that."

Luckily for him, I did not have any heavy objects nearby, and I was immobilized on my stomach, pants around my knees, with blood and antibiotic leaking from my ass. Such a pretty picture. Domestic bliss and all that. "You suck," I said.

From behind the closed bedroom door, our calico cat howled, indignant that she was not allowed to be a part of what was happening because it was CLEARLY VERY EXCITING BECAUSE SHE WAS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DOOR. Why do we do this to the cat? We are very bad people, clearly.

Sigh.

This is the second time I've leaked Bicillin post-injection. Very uncool.

Also uncool is that the injections have started to hurt more. Like, a lot more. The first few were OK. You know, no big deal. Yeah, they were unpleasant, but not bad.

But recently, they have hurt. Let me put this into context for you.

I like needles. I've had various piercings, and I enjoyed the actual procedure of piercing so much that it's amazing my face doesn't resemble a pincushion. For a visual--when I pierced my lower lip, a guy drove an 18-gauge needle through the flesh and stuck a stud in the hole. No piercing gun. Just one nice needle.

I have a tattoo, and it was very pleasant. I liked the process. I liked the little needle poking over and over for about an hour. I would have many more tattoos at this point, had I the money to pay for them.

So it's not like I'm a wimp when it comes to needle sticks. My largest piercing was, I believe, a sixteen-gauge. (The smaller the number, the bigger the needle.)

So one would think that a 21-gauge needle for Bicillin delivery would be no problem. But you'd be wrong. See, now that I've been injected three times a week for a few weeks, there are lots of bruises and lumps and knots all over the available injection area. So the tissue is tender and the muscle probably inflamed.

Also, I should point out that the needle is about 1.5 inches long. And it goes all the way in. And then the Bicillin? It most closely resembles Elmer's glue in color and consistency. It's thick and sludgy. And there are giant air bubbles in the needle, which you can't get rid of because the Bicillin is all glue-like. So you just have to inject the air bubble. Which hurts.

So there you are, 1.5 inches of needle in your butt, slowing having this thick gluey stuff pushed into your muscle tissue. Colorful language is often involved.

So when, after all of this--after you've paid $50 per shot and it's painful and annoying and leaves bruises--the Bicillin leaks out...well, it is not cool. Not cool, dude. Seriously.