A friend has to have Botox injections once a quarter into her face near her right eye. She has been having them for some time except at her last appointment she was told that a nurse would now do them instead of her consultant. She was extremely nervous of having poison injected into her, as Botox is highly poisonous but her consultant convinced her that the cure was far better than not having it done. He always put her at her ease and the injection was painless, well nearly, so they had become part of her life. Everything changed at her last appointment as the nurse did not inspire the same confidence the consultant gave and took several attempts at getting the Botox into the correct location. The following day after the last appointment her worst fears were realised when a huge black eye met her in the mirror that morning. All this had lead her to ask me to go with her for the next appointment. We have a very light hearted relationship so she new I would take her mind off the impending “stabbing”.
I had a secret plan though. I have written about worry beads being an excellent distraction at time of stress and I could not think of a better test. We arrived at the hospital waiting room having chatted for the length of the journey. We sat down and I took out my 2Pear worry beads and started to do a trick. For a few seconds she watched me and I think she thought I must have been using them as I get stress in hospitals like many people. This was not the case as I offered them to her asking to try a simple trick. The transfer of worry beads was quite seamless and she struggled to get the beads to do as they were told. I helped by showing her what to do and giving her time to practice. Ten minutes passed very quickly and she started to get the hang of the first trick. All of a sudden the nurse called out her name and she was taken by surprise.
The period of highest stress waiting just before the appointment had not happened. When she came out I asked her as we walked away had she realised what I had done with the worry beads. She had not realised, she was so engrossed in learning the trick she had not registered that the stress she was expecting had not occurred. Unfortunately the worry beads could do nothing about the injection she had but at least the whole experience was less stressful.
If you know of any instances where worry beads have been used to distract the user from a stressful appointment please drop me an email or make a comment on this article.
Kevin
The English Worry Bead Co
www.englishworrybeads.uk
