2639 Used needles

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Alimony: Bounty on the mutiny.
-- Salada Tea tag line --

-------------------

Some late-night talk show host got a flu shot on the air last night. I forget who. I just happened to glance up and see it. The host said that the needle looked very small, how come it looks so much smaller than when he was a child? The doctor (who apparently has his own TV show and seemed to be a bit of a nut) responded that it isn't any smaller, it just looks smaller because we're bigger now. The host mentioned that it also seemed to hurt less. The doctor responded with some blather to the effect that it's the same, it's just that we're adults now.

Sorry Mr. Doctor Man, but today's needles really ARE smaller than they used to be, and they really DO hurt a lot less now than when I was a kid.

Needles today are disposable, so they don't need to be as rugged. Way back then, needles were sterilized and used over and over, so it had to be a larger bore because it had to withstand reuse.

Nowadays, they often come filled with the dose, and aren't meant to be used more than once, and even when you fill them yourself (as I did with some of Jay's meds), they are used only once and discarded.

The business end today is much smaller, finer. You can barely see the hole in the end. I can remember as a kid that the end of the needle was cut at a slant and you could clearly see the hole even when you were trying not to look.

Back then, when they were reused, the fine sharp tip of the needle would get burrs on it from being mishandled, especially when somebody was trying to save money by not replacing as often as recommended, and because the tip wasn't kept covered.  The dulled needle HURT!  It actually had to tear through the skin.  Today's needles are always sharp.  They practically go between the cells.

So, stupid doctor man, you are wrong.  I don't know why you would even say something like that.

------------------------

Dinner tonight - an Indian restaurant in Rhinebeck.  I don't much care for Indian, but this is a group of people many of whom I haven't seen in a while, and Rhinebeck is convenient. 
.