When The Needles Are Covered, But You’re Not

To prepare for medical procedures, I sometimes had to give myself a shot of heparin every day for ten days prior. The medicine was packaged in 100-ml syringes, but my daily dose was 90 ml, so I had to be careful to only inject the right amount. After using it, each syringe had a safety cover that snapped out and locked, covering the needle.

Ten days of preparation, ten syringes.

The last time I did this, I picked up the package of syringes at the local pharmacy. That evening, I found only nine syringes in the package. I called the pharmacy.

Me: “The package you gave me has only nine syringes. I need ten because I have to give myself a shot every day for ten days.”

Pharmacist: “That’s right. You need 90 ml every day. You have 900 ml total in the nine syringes. 90 ml times ten days is 900 ml.”

Me: “Let me get this right. You want me to give myself a 90-ml shot every day for nine days, and then on the tenth day, give myself nine shots to use the 10 ml left in each syringe. From syringes which have already had the safety covers locked shut.”

Pharmacist: “Oh. Er. Um. Come in and we’ll give you that tenth syringe.”