Jab Boost – Day 2
My wife and I received a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine booster shot on Tuesday. It little affected us that day.
Day 2 was different.
It’s nice to have retrospect. We were both experiencing pain and stiffness in our shot arms (left for both) by the end of day 1. Both of us were heavily hydrating but I was constantly drying out. By day 2, I noticed a drop in energy level, dry and burning eyes — seriously, I kept splashing my face and added drops to my eyes twice — and diminished concentration. Writing, where I’m juggling twenty sharp objects in my brain, was a flawed and troubled endeavor. She, though, had it worse. Her energy level went off a cliff and nausea rolled up on her. She took several baths to address a general assortment of aches and napped for almost five hours in late afternoon. Her appetite was done, although taste and smell weren’t affected.
My energy levels have jumped back up today, though I did spend an extra hour in bed this morning. The jab site remains stiff and sore but I’ve applied a topical CBD cream to it, which helps tremendously. My wife remained in bed longer. She reports her eyes are tired but she feels a lot better.
So, small matters for us. Nothing significant, and certainly worth enduring if the vaccine and boost reduces our chances of being severely impacted by COVID-19. Must say, though, watching Dopesick on Hulu did little for our moods. Born in the fifties, we remember different corporations being exposed for lying to protect profits and image throughout our lifetimes, like Ford, the Pinto, and exploding gas tanks. We also recall times when government malfeasance, through individuals betraying their public trust to enrich their situations, was exposed. Remember how doctors were paid to say that cigarette smoking wasn’t bad for you? Ha, ha, what kidders! Do you remember Enron? What about Love Canal? Should we discuss the Dupont C8 scandal? Other scandals involving real estate and financial markets of more recent memory rise through my consciousness when we talk about companies lying and government oversight failures.
So here comes Dopesick. Based on Beth Macy’s nonfiction book about the opioid crises in the U.S. with sharp focus on the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma, the limited series shows how an FDA cog manipulated a warning label that claimed Oxycontin was non-addictive, and then the battles by doctors, patients, families, communities, and the DEA to get the FDA to admit they fucked up and find accountability for Purdue and the Sacklers. Well, the Sacklers escaped prosecution and stepped away with tens of billions of dollars from the swath of death and destruction they spearheaded. The company went bankrupt and no longer exists. They’re paying out billions to states to help deal with the opioid crises but it’s a shitshow.
So, I do understand why some people are skeptical of the vaccine, FDA, and the corporations behind it. There’s been sufficient lying and failures for many to wonder.
The Boost Jab
My wife and I received our boost jab yesterday.
We’d been trying to get it since approval came out. As J&J was our initial shot, we desired a Moderna booster. CDC and studies showed that improved our level of protection. Finding the Moderna booster was easy; making an appointment was more challenging. While several sites claimed they could do what we needed, their actual processes failed to meet the promise. Calling was like chasing snowflakes in a storm. We did call 211 to see what the state could suggest. They couldn’t hook us up either. Exasperating.
Then, we read on NextDoor that the Presbyterian Church was giving the boosters. They included the phone number. I immediately called and we were slotted in. The program isn’t being done by the church, but by Wellness 2000, a corporation contracted by the state. The church, less than a mile from our house, was the venue. This church is always doing great things for the community, from helping to feed the homeless, to opening their doors during the winter to provide them a safe and warm place to sleep, to opening their church in the summer, when the smoke is a health threat. I’m not a member of their congregation, but I applaud their approach to community.
My appointment was for 12:05 PM yesterday. My wife’s was five minutes later. I arrived at 12:01 and was immediately greeted by two women at a table. They processed me, updated the paperwork, then bade me sit until called. 12:03, I was called. 12:03, I was done. Impressive organization and efficiency.
The shot, given by Beth, an RN, was so quick, it left little impression that I’d been jabbed. After waiting fifteen minutes to confirm I didn’t have a severe reaction, I waited five more minutes for my wife, and we were finished.
Twenty-one hours later, I feel great. The injection site aches. My arm complains about being raised above shoulder level. That’s all I feel.
My wife feels the arm issue, but she’s also complaining of nausea and mild congestion. She does suffer an underlying condition, RA. I hope she recovers quickly and easily. Fingers crossed. Meanwhile, I feel fortunate to have gone through this so painlessly. Hope others have an experience like mine.
Cheers
Thursday’s Theme Music
I woke up thinking, this feels like Saturday. I knew it was Thursday and sacrificed about ten minutes thinking about why this Thursday felt like a Saturday. Only thing that emerged was that I had no reason to leap out of bed. No structure of rushing off to work, or hurrying somewhere to meet someone. No urgency to leave the house and go to a coffee shop and write. Yeah, we’re still under COVID-19 restrictions. I haven’t gotten the booster, and my wife has underlying issues. Well, I have some, too. Underlying issues is part of the aging gift package for many of us.
Anyway, today is Thursday, November 21, 2021. Lackluster weather. A bit of sunshine burst through and fired some joy through my synapses. Seeing this, a heavy cloud hurried over and blocked the sunshine. The temperature is 52 F and there’s no indication that it’ll get any warmer than 56 F. Sunrise came at 7:47 AM and sunset will launch at 6:01 PM. Basically, we’re coming down to eight hours of sunshine per day.
I’m a little aggro this morning. Feel like I’m on the precipice of my monthly trough, sliding down toward the dark waves. The cats didn’t help this AM. Opened one of their favorite foods. They all chowed down but one returned, asking for more. I fed him and he gobbled away. Then, as I was preparing my brekkie, he walked in and puked at my feet. Three facets then emerge: why did he puke? Just eating too much too fast? Two, damn it, there’s a mess to clean. Three, damn it, I’m hungry and I need to clean this up before I can eat my oatmeal. Bah.
Trying to get the vax booster is also agitating me. Websites are all, we have the boosters! Make an appointment. But. They then ask about which vaccine I’ve had. I received the J&J. These websites — RiteAid, Fred Meyers, Costco, the three primary sources for COVID-19 shots in our area — all then direct me to get a J&J booster. Which I don’t want; I desire a Moderna. This is per CDC guidance. All their websites say that as a J&J recipient, I can have whichever shot I prefer. Yet their appointment form won’t let that happen.
I complained to my friends last night about it. They clearly weren’t paying deep attention, telling me, “Just go to the Fred Meyers website, just go to the Costco website, just go to the RiteAid website.” Exasperating, n’est pas?
Other acquaintances relate that they made appointments only to show up and discover either the vaccine of the people to administer it wasn’t available. But others made appointments and got the shots, no prob. Seems like a dice game when it comes to getting the booster, just as it was back when we were trying to get the vax.
Oddly, perhaps, all this angst and irritation stems from having strong writing sessions. I get immersed in the writing; pulling out to participate in real world activity requires a major energy shift. I don’t want to give it many times. Just let me keep writing, damn it world.
I had “Sister Golden Hair” flowing through the morning mental music stream. A Rush song, “Show Don’t Tell” from 1989, supplanted it.
How many times do you hear it?
It goes on all day long
Everyone knows everything
And no one’s ever wrong
Until later
Who can you believe?
It’s hard to play it safe
But apart from a few good friends
We don’t take anything on faith
Until later
h/t to songlyrics.com
Ah, good music for this Thursday for me. Stay positive — hard some days, innit? — test negative, wear a mask as the situation requires, and get the vax and booster when you can. Now, excuse me, but a cuppa coffee is screaming my name. Here’s the music. Cheers.
Tuesday’s Theme Music
Hello, all you sentient beings. Welcome to November 2, 2021. It’s officially a Tuesday for everyone scoring at home.
It’s another dullish, fallish day in the southern Oregon valley where I reside. Rain dribbled throughout the night in sufficient quantities to wet the land and irk the cats. The sun made a feeble entrance at 7:45 AM and will slip away at 6:03 PM. Despite heavy clouds, wet clouds, and Winter’s determined effort to take over, the temperature is 52 degrees F and a high of 61 F is hoped for. Tomorrow is expected to be warmer, 67 degrees, with light rain, so that’s something to look forward to.
You’d think that with all this rain, rain songs would be in heavy rotation in my morning mental music stream. I mean, outside of love, there seems to be a gajillion songs about rain. Most of the rain songs deal with depression, heartbreak, and insanity. Perhaps my enjoyment of this rain is holding such songs out of my mental Alexa’s playlist. I’m instead preoccupied with a 1968 song by Blood, Sweat, & Tears called “Spinning Wheel”. It’s one line of lyrics playing foremost within me:
Talkin' 'bout your troubles and you, you never learn Ride a painted pony let the spinnin' wheel turn
h/t to Lyrics.com
See, what I was thinking about was the inability for many to learn. We’re still neck deep with COVID-19 deniers and anti-vaxxers here in the U.S. People who don’t trust the medical community, then rush to them when COVID-19 strikes them down, and then demands that the medical community treat them using treatments that they’ve read about on the net, instead of the medical professions’ proven protocols and procedures for the best outcome. It’s crazy how it spreads over the net — this was on a nurses’ forum — that patients are telling one another that when nurses remove you from ventilation is when they kill you. It’s all a great big conspiracy of crazy.
So, they never learn. They jump on that painted pony. Then the fates spin the result.
Not saying that following everything — vax, social distancing, masks, and the medical procedures for COVID-19 — is a perfect cure-all. No. It’s not. Underlying conditions and health issues will exacerbate treatment and recovery, as will age, race, and sex, given the collected data. Sadly, these deniers are not capable of learning this. Not a question of intelligence; it seems to be more about indoctrination. Frustrating for the rest of us, but it’s not new. Nor is it unusual.
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, socially distance, and get the vax and boosters when you can, if you can. Coffee time again. Here’s the music. Hope you enjoy it. Cheers.
Michael Seidel, writer 