Does the Word "Trypanophobia" Mean Anything to You?

Trypanophobia, according to Wikipedia, is quite simply a fear of medical procedures involving injections or hypodermic needles.

Wikipedia also says that trypanophobia likely has some basis in genetic evolution, since our ancestors who avoided having their flesh pierced would have a greater chance of survival.

ORLY?

That must mean that my fear of being stuck by needles is not irrational after all. And that it doesn't stem from traumatic toddler memories at the booster clinic, or the time a nurse attempting to insert my IV forgot her phlebotomy training. You know you're in trouble when a nervous nurse says, "Don't look! I've gotten your blood all over you!"

The other day, one of my CSC China 14 teammates ST'd me (that's "IM'd" in IBM land) to say she had just returned from the Passport Health clinic freshly vaccinated for our trip. Apparently we must receive a number of them, including doses of Polio, Hepatitis A & B, and Typhoid fever.

I started immediately scanning my brain for plausible excuses to back out of the program. There weren't any. The only thing I could come up with was an objection to be shot up with monstrously life threatening diseases. But I had to cast that dumb reason aside as quickly as it fleeted in. A coward I may be, but a liar I am not. It's not the low dose of microbes I fear. It's the stick.

Furthermore, it's kind of pathetic that these diseases are common enough in Tianjin that I should have to be vaccinated for them. But the very fact that they are is one of the reasons why the IBM Corporate Service Corps exists. You can't build a smarter city of individuals that will contribute to breakthroughs in science and technology when they are struggling to acquire the basic necessities for survival.

My specific assignment has not been disclosed to me yet so I don't know what I will be working on. But I know why I am going. Trypanophobe or not.