January 03

Pogo's Insulin. Writing 100 words on this is simple; the hard part is going to be keeping it to less than 1,000 words.

My dog, Pogo, is diabetic. We found out last October, and since then, he's required two shots of insulin twice a day in order to maintain his blood sugar level at a healthier level. This presented several conflicts. I love my dog and will do almost anything reasonable to keep him healthy. However, I have a moderate form of trypanophobia (fear of needles), one that manifests by my fainting when I see one.

Normally, my partner could take care of giving Pogo his injections -- and usually, he does -- but the diagnosis came a few weeks before he was to go away for 12 days to Europe for work, and a couple of months before he began a monthlong visit to India. So I had to desensitize myself to needles, and rapidly.

And I did it. I overcame my trypanophobia.

I will never be comfortable giving Pogo an injection, handling a needle, or even seeing one. Thinking about it still makes me vaguely nauseous. But I have become competent at handling and giving injections, and I've been able to keep Pogo healthy by myself during my partner's absences. And I'm kind of proud of that.

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