We got our Shingles vaccine Tuesday night--it stung, and my arm felt bruised, but I was otherwise O.K. I had a low energy morning Tuesday morning, but was that because of the vaccine? Maybe.
Since 2018, I know more people who have had Shingles. In 2018, I don't think I knew any, except maybe my mom. Every single person who has had Shingles has a different kind of story to tell, but they all convince me I don't want this disease. So it's good to get the vaccination process underway. We'll get our second shot at the end of May.
At some point on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, the CDC changed its guidance and said that people over 50 could get a 2nd COVID booster shot. I had been wishing I could get one because I'm traveling a lot during April, so we decided that we would go back to Publix, our local grocery store with a pharmacy and see if we could get a booster.
Would there be lines? Would we need an appointment? The website wasn't updated to reflect the changes, so I couldn't make an appointment.
There was a small line, but it moved quickly. I thought we might be turned away because we had gotten a Shingles vaccine, but happily, we were not. I knew that there was a risk that we might experience some side effects, but the benefits seemed to outweigh those considerations.
The shot itself didn't hurt at all, but by late afternoon, I was feeling some effects, particularly chills and a VERY sore arm. I also had a headache. I persevered, but the moment that my evening seminary class was over, I went right to bed where I shivered my way to sleep.
I feel better this morning, but not back to normal. My arm is still sore, and I still have a headache, and some lingering chills. Happily, this morning, I don't need to be energetic. I'll join my friends from church to go to a women's retreat at Luther Springs (for more on my April month of retreats, see this blog post on my theology blog). I'm not driving, so that's good. By the time we get to camp, I should be closer to my regular self.
By now, I've had 4 COVID shots. I had the first vaccine shot in March of 2021, and I felt no effects, except for relief and joy. In April, I had a bit of a headache after vaccine shot #2. In November, I had my first booster in the evening, and I felt tired the next day with a headache, the kind of exhaustion and headache that felt different enough to make me think it was a reaction to the shot.
Even if I knew that each booster shot would bring me increasingly tough side effects, I would still get them. We've had over 6 million people die of this disease in the past 2 years, and I continue to hope to avoid it. And my goal in South Florida has always been to avoid hospitals.
I wish that more people felt that way. The pharmacist told us that they'd been getting lots of inquiries about boosters, and that's great. But my little corner of Florida is different from the rest of the state--and much of the U.S. Hopefully the booster shots will help keep us safe, help keep disease tamped down.
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