> Any ideas??

Hmmm. Well, managing fear is almost as good as facing it. (Managing fear *is* a form of facing it?) Anyway, here are three little strategies that have helped me get through this kind of thing:

1) Have a plan! Sounds like you've got a good start on that already. The goal of the plan is to get you through the procedure with as little anxiety as you can, so if having your friends there would help you feel calm, sign them up... having to rush around causes anxiety, so make sure you know ahead of time where the clinic is and how long it takes to get there...plan on wearing comfortable clothes, or your favorite shirt...
and so forth. Planning these little comforts ahead of time should help you feel like you've got some control over the situation and (therefore somewhat, I hope)over your anxiety.

2) Part of the plan should be: try not to think about the procedure too much ahead of time. I know, but *try*. Obsessing doesn't do anything but build up your anxiety. Get your plan set, then forget it for a while. When you find yourself fretting about it for more than a minute, time to push that thought out of your head and distract yourself with something else, like...

3) ...the little reward you're going to give yourself for getting through it. When those Unpleasant Medical Procedure worries pop up, immediately replace them with happy thoughts of that LOTR dvd/mocha grande latte/walk in the woods you'll be experiencing soon after. Of course, your continued good health is the ultimate reward, but a little instant gratification to reinforce that good behavior/raw show of courage can't but help too.*

koala"didn't know there was a rabies vaccine"mom


*Please note--if you chose a reward that's more permanent in nature than the latte or the walk, be aware that its presence may ever after remind you of the procedure. This could be good, or bad, depending on how you look at it. I have a pair of earrings, for instance, which always bring to mind the non-native-English-speaking ultrasound technician who asked me haltingly if I had "brought my ovaries with me today".
(Uh, yep, they pretty much go along with me, except when I forget and leave them in my other purse...)