One of my Gathering Girl pals has been bugging me about
getting signed up to get my Covid-19 vaccine. She’s been bugging everyone in
the group because, she says, she misses us all and the sooner we get our shots the sooner we can all do lunches again. She knew I was dragging my
feet about signing up. And to be perfectly honest I was scared to death I’d have a
severe reaction to the vaccine. I’ve had severe allergic reactions to three
different drugs and was hospitalized after eating shell fish so it wasn’t a
totally paranoid notion coming out of La-La Land. Having your throat close up
after popping a single pill or biting into an egg roll is something you don’t
forget. And add to my memory bank of scary allergic reactions is the day Levi
my Might Schnauzer got a routine vaccine and while I was writing the
check for his visit, he passed out in the vet’s lobby. It was like his legs
turned into pudding and he went over in slow moment in a pool of dead-looking-dog. That earned him a free overnight stay in doggy hospital. Trust me, that place
isn’t into giving services away for free so you can bet they were as worried
about reversing his adverse reaction as much as I was. They all went into STAT! action
like they were filming a scene for Grey's Anatomy or ER. I was so shocked Dr. McDreamy himself could have been giving CPR to Levi and I wouldn't have noticed.After having my friend and niece both texting me about the vaccine on the same day, I finally bit the bullet and at midnight I did an online registration. I only signed up at one vaccination site thinking it would be awhile before I heard anything because others had told me they’d registered at 4-5 places intending to take the first appointment offered and still had long waits to get a call back. By 10:00 the next morning I got a text offering three appointments. That same day. I panicked! First of all I might have been up and walking around but my brain was still half asleep and second I needed a shower. Badly. I'm not a spur-of-the-moment kind of person but I want to be in the next chapter of my life so I told myself, Don’t even think about, just get your ass in gear and get in the shower!
When I got to the big box store that was giving the vaccines I couldn’t find a parking place and I thought the uphill hike to the building was going to kill me. And I was not prepared for what I saw when I got inside! Later I learned that they had 1,200 vaccines to give out that day and I’m pretty sure half the recipients of those shots were waiting in a line that threaded and snaked all over the store. When I finally got to the front of the line there were twenty tables of techs in white coats doing the injections. When my tech read my paperwork she called a nurse over to review the information on my medical bracelet and after my shot the nurse took me to ‘Vaccination Jail’. A place where I had to stay an hour instead of the fifteen minute others people in a different waiting area had to stay. Fine by me. I happily waited close to a person who presumably could jab me with an EpiPen and would call 911 if my tongue got too big to fit in my mouth or to talk. It's happened a half dozen times in my life. Don’t want to repeat it.
When I left Vaccination Jail the nurse leaned on me pretty hard about signing up at the website that does wellness checks over the next week and then again after
the next injection. It took me forever to register because my phone doesn't
like to take photos of QR codes that are supposed to simplify our lives. They
might work for young people with steady hands but for this old bird they suck. Finally,
I found a way to sign up online and shortly
after I got my first wellness check. Two hours later I got
my second wellness check and I had to dig out my thermometer because those
daily wellness checks require temperature
readings. Got the third wellness check this morning. Presumably, if I don’t give acceptable answers on the wellness check questionnaire
a real person will get involved? Not sure how that works. What if I'm laying on the floor with a delayed reaction and don't answer the wellness check text or answer a follow up phone call? I'm hoping a med-vac helicopter will swoop out of the sky, land in my backyard and the dog will unlock the door so I don't have to get a broken window fixed after they save my life. Do I live in a fantasy world or what! (Actually, the dog we had before Levi could open our doors with the lever style door nobs, so that part is not far-fetched. Levi could, too, if he'd put a little hop to his stretch but sometimes he can be dumber than a fruitcake.)
The whole vaccine process was time consuming, taking up most of my day if I count the shower time, stopping to pick up dinner on the way home and playing with the stupid QR code. But I was impressed with how organized the whole process was. And I will be more prepared when I go back for the second shot and I'll bring something to do beside practice how small I can write on the back of a couple of receipts. Mostly I sat there twirling my thumbs and watching all the masked faces and smiling eyes as they passed by my jail cell.
Anyway, I wrote this post on Saturday for Wednesday’s publishing date. But if you’re reading this please note that I added this paragraph as a last minute update proving that I’m alive and well with no more of a reaction than a few days of being really sleepy. My great-niece had the same side-effect so I know it wasn't just me being melodramatic or me accidentally taking a melatonin instead of a vitamin gummy. (Yes, I did that once a few years ago after which the sleep aid got moved to the master bathroom.) I was super afraid of getting the Covid-19 vaccine and I'm glad it was the Pfizer because I heard on the news that more people had minor side effect with the Moderna. I probably wouldn't have gotten the shot for weeks if my friend and my niece hadn't led me---gently in one case and not so gently in the other---to the Trough of Hard Decisions. Now, I'm feeling smug that I overcame my fear and I'm belting out the lyrics to an old Beatles song. ©
Would you stand up and walk out on me?
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song
And I'll try not to sing out of key
Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends
Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends"
