As Ben prepared the syringe for her BCG, Beth sat on the examination couch, literally shaking with anxiety. She didn't want to see the needle and she tried so hard to focus on other things but her eyes kept drifting back to follow him. There was an internal battle between her natural instinct for self preservation (which was driving her need to see what he was doing) and her wish to bolt out of the door with the same speed as an olympic athlete and, of course, she knew that wasn't an option.

It was a small needle and it didn't look at all intimidating in comparison to some of the syringes he had used when he had given her the vitamin jabs last week but that still didn't bring her any comfort. Beth had feared this particular injection more than most. She had seen the circular scars left on friends arms and this had been her main reason for avoiding it up until now.

By now, Beth was so nervous, her legs felt like jelly and a sick feeling was quickly rising in her stomach. Her heart was racing and she had a lump in her throat that was making it so hard to breath, she was almost gulping in air.

"I can't do this Ben. I'm too scared...."

He sat down at the side of her " Beth, you need to breath slowly. Follow me. In... and... out. In... and...out. That's it, good girl."

Next, Ben handed her an empty needle-less syringe and told Beth to slowly blow down the narrow end of it. Ben knew that in stimulating her vagus nerve in this way, it would lower her blood pressure and help to calm her anxiety. After a while, Beth's breathing had slowed and Ben was able to talk to her.

"This is an intradermal injection Beth. The needle doesn't go deep, the vaccine only needs to go just under your skin. You know you need this if you want to travel. Just keep breathing like I showed you and it will all be done in no time, now, I need you to hold very still for me, its going to sting a little bit but no moving ok?"

He held her arm firmly and carefully angled the syringe to fifteen degrees, inserting the needle just under her skin. Once in the correct position, Ben began lifting the needle slightly to create space beneath her skin and then injected the small amount of serum quickly.

Immediately Beth screwed her face up as the vaccine began to sting horribly and a raised white blister appeared at the injection site. As Ben removed the needle and threw the used syringe into the purple lidded biohazardous sharps box, Beth started to create a fuss as she reacted to the continued pain of the shot.

"Ow ow owww!!! Ben, it's burning and stinging really bad!" She went to rub her arm but Ben stopped her and pulled her hand away.

"No, you can't touch it Beth. This is essentially a blister of live TB. You must be very careful to keep it dry and also take care not to knock it or rub it. It could be uncomfortable and tender for three to six months unfortunately."

Beth sniffed unhappily and consoled herself by just twisting her head to look down at the sore spot he had just created which by now was a white bubble with a red ring around it. Her voice was shaky.

"Ok I won't touch it. Are we done for today? There's no more shots is there?"

"I want to get your routine ones up to date and the yellow fever vaccine you need for Fiji too because your immune system needs time to respond so that you will have full immunity by the time we travel. Just stay put a while longer please.... "