My friend Julia was the person who managed to get me a vaccination appointment. Sounds crazy, right? The truth is that appointments went first to the elderly, front line workers and compromised folks... and so it should have.
Next, they lowered the qualifying age to those over 60, those with 2 co-morbidities.
After that is was those under 60 and folks with at least one co-morbidity.
As a person under 50, a healthy person in normal weight range who didn't smoke and didn't work as a front facing service or health care worker, I had to just be patient. And I was... for a while.
Honestly though, it had been getting harder and harder to be patient. I was so over the whole stay home unless necessary, wear a mask always and whatever you do, don't hug a friend, stuff. I was missing work and client interactions, I longed for dinner out in a restaurant and travel options that didn't involve feeling risky or guilty or both.
Almost all of my friends and colleagues had their appointments and I finally realized it was my turn to get in line. Trouble is, getting an appointment for a COVID vaccination in Colorado was difficult. I was signed up with Walgreens, Walmart, Kaiser Permanente, Centura and UC Health, as well as Boulder Community Health and some mass vaccination sites within an hours drive. I was also on a quick call list for cancellations, where able. Na-da.
Julia was able to get me an appointment in Broomfield (20 mins away) at a King Soopers supermarket clinic. She's amazing.
I had my first shot, Pfizer, on March 24th 2021. It was painless, quick and administered by a tired but cheerful young lady at The Little Clinic. It came with feelings of relief and a renewed sense of security, hope and optimism. Life and my outlook on life, changed that night in that moment. This was the beginning of the end of the isolation and separation that had dominated our lives and skewed our moods since March 2020.
The next day I sported a sore arm, mild headache and fatigue that sent me to bed by 7:30pm. That was it and I knew that 2 weeks later, I was 80% protected. Yay!
I attended my first outdoor birthday gathering of 10+ people shortly thereafter and it felt "normal" . NORMAL!!! This was truly surprising. In a good way. I guess a big part of me feared that we had been irreversibly changed - that getting close to another human, seeing their smile and watching their lips move during conversation would forever feel dangerous and forbidden. Luckily, I was wrong.
Last night, April 14th 2021, I had my second and final dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Everyone at The Little Clinic looked happier, more relaxed and less tired. They understood my joy, I understood their job was safer now too.
Apparently the first shot had done a fine job of priming my body for a response to the reintroduction of the COVID mRNA vaccine. An hour later my arm felt "dead" and 2 hours later, it felt like I'd been punched. Overnight the arm got more sore - spreading to the armpit area. I had chills and body aches, but nothing major.
April 15th, I planned to take it easy... thankfully. Those body aches were nasty, especially leg pains. My chills came and went and that headache from 3 weeks ago was back. Miserable actually. Ibuprofen is an option and I eventually took some, but I was trying to let my body do its thing too. Ever had the flu? It feels like this.
End of the day, my immune response to the vaccine is strong and that's a great thing! Not only proof that my vaccine didn't left out of the fridge too long (LOL) but evidence of good health, likely excellent protection against further exposure and really, really, really unlikely that I'll meet an untimely end via COVID.
Perhaps what gives me the most comfort is knowing I'm part of the solution. My friends and community are all a bit more protected by me being vaccinated too.
