TW for medical talk

Hi everyone!!! I made a post last week talking about being nervous about going to the doctor and wanting to bring a stuffie with me, I wanted to post an update abt everything that happened for anyone else that has an appointment they're dreading!

  
So I had a Gyno appointment today for a pap smear I've been avoiding for years, I'm 24 and they're recommend at 21 so this was a really important appointment for me to get done. The receptionist didn't say anything about my stuffie so I brought it back with me to the exam room to, i talked to the secondary nurse (? not the ob/gyno? I think maybe a med student I'm not sure what the term is) She asked typical questions like about my periods, medications, allergies, etc. She left and gave me a hospital gown to put on. Then the ob/gyno came and checked in, made sure I was feeling okay and told me a little bit about the pap smear itself, as well as asking if I wanted to do an extra swab for std/sti testing (I said yes) She left again for a minute because my gown was on backwards so I had to fix that lol. She came back with the nurse and gave me a quick breast exam for lumps, then i was all clear for the pap smear 

  
The first speculum she inserted was a little painful, like it stretched a bit too wide for me. I told her it hurt (actually all I said was "Ow" lol) and she switched to a different one that was maybe less wide/smaller? The second one wasn't painful at all. Then she swabbed my cervix which felt a little weird but I wouldn't say it was painful, it felt odd, kinda like a cramp but it didn't hurt for me. It was super easy, I didn't even realize we were done until she started to put my legs back down from the foot rests !!

  
After that I had a blood draw, again for std/sti testing. I've always been a difficult person to get blood from so it took a minute with the tourniquet on for her to find a good vein, but she was able to get it on the first try and got all the vials she needed.

  
I also had to do a pee test which was honestly the hardest part for me because I just couldn't aim into the cup for some reason so I got some pee on my hand 😭😭

  
As for my stuffie, I got to hang on to Vega for the majority of my appointment! I held him for the breast exam and the pap smear but I had to put him down for the blood draw and the pee collection, but other than that I was able to hold him against my torso for everything else. My gyno even asked if he was a build a bear (yes!!) and what his name was :\] and it really helped me personally to have another guy in the office with me so I didn't feel quite as dysphoric as I thought I would. I was worried for a bit about not having headphones (I usually leave them home at appointments either way) but it ended up working out just fine because I had Vega with me!

  
If anyone else has been feeling bad or anxious about appointments, you can do it!! Bring a friend if it helps :\]

[Update] I feel stupid for being nervous about the doctor and want to bring my plushie