-
Alt Text for Image
Thanks to the wrath of Winter Storm Uri, part of the month of February felt like we were living in another century, from having to melt snow just to have water to piling on layers upon layers of clothing for warmth.
Just one week later, my wife Betty and I took the pioneering spirit another step further by receiving the first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from our primary care physician.
It was a monumental step forward for both of us as we hope it leads not only to protection from a plague that has killed more than half a million people, but also gives us back our lives as we once knew them.
“I think it’s the best thing people can do,” Betty said when I asked her about getting the vaccine. “For the last year, we have been living in a societal situation where simply greeting our neighbor could cost us our lives.
“In that landscape of fear and trepidation, the vaccine is a way is to enter back into our society, embrace our families, our neighbors, our friends and get back a trace of our lives that we consider ‘normal.’ It is a huge stride towards a return to normalcy; a return we all need, crave and, frankly, desire.”
For me, I have been a stranger in a strange land for much of the past year. The pandemic and early shutdown we experienced in Texas had me working from home for a large portion of time because I had to take whatever steps necessary to protect my wife and myself from accidental exposure to the virus especially because we were trying to get Betty’s hip replacement and recovery completed.
That surgery itself took us six months and many heartbreaking postponements and setbacks before it came to fruition. We essentially became hermits and recluses because we could not risk anything that would have further delayed what was already an essential surgical procedure.
Health conditions firmly put both of us into the 1B category as deemed by the Texas Department of State Health Services, but despite signing up for a number of vaccine lists, we never could get an appointment through regular channels. It was not until our primary care clinic contacted us that we were able to schedule a vaccination.
On Feb. 24, which coincidentally would have been my father’s 98th birthday, we went to our doctor’s office and, after filling out the necessary paperwork, we were given injections into our left biceps.
They told us we had to wait 15 minutes before we could leave to make sure we did not have any adverse reactions to the vaccine, which we did not, and they told us they would schedule our second shot four weeks later.
Betty was the first to experience reactogenic symptoms from the virus protein spike that is included in the vaccine. The vaccine works by amping up your immune system response and Betty started feeling fatigue, nausea, headache, soreness and general malaise about 12 hours after the injection.
“I felt exhausted, devoid of energy and generally horrible,” Betty said.
I thought I would get lucky and not have any symptoms, but 28 hours after the vaccination, I began feeling nausea, fatigue, headache, soreness, neck pain and other general symptoms myself that lasted for the next few days. I felt like something or someone had beat me up and deposited me in my chair and I lacked the ability to do anything more than simply sit there and rest. At one point on Saturday, Feb. 27 — nearly three full days after getting the injection — I fell asleep in my chair at 12:30 p.m. and didn’t wake up until 6:25 that evening!
All that being said, though, I would and will do it again without reservation because the alternative is not an option. With the way the vaccine affected me, I can only speculate that a full-blown case of COVID-19 would devastate me and my health and possibly lead to dire consequences. I am thankful that I have the opportunity to take the vaccine and give myself an extra measure of protection against this illness.
Do I think everyone should get the vaccine? I do, but obviously, I think it is a personal choice and one that should be made in consultation with your physician to determine what is best for you. I do believe that having enough people vaccinated will create some herd immunity and help us regain our lives and perhaps relegate this virus to the same status we now afford to H1N 1 or measles or polio or any of the other deadly diseases that we have controlled through modern medicine.
As for Betty and me, we see ourselves like Alexander Hamilton: We are not throwing away our “shot.”
