So I had my first does of the Pfizer vaccine yesterday. The facility I went to, hosted by Seattle Infectious Disease Clinic on the fifth floor of the Medical Dental Building on Olive Way downtown, was wildly different from the mass vaccination site where Shobhit got his first shot last Sunday, at the Doppler Building of Amazon Headquarters. I noted in Monday's post that once we reached the huge conference room full of tables of people administering vaccine shots, it felt like being in a scene of a disaster movie. Not so with my experience yesterday: there was a whopping three people giving out shots in that room.

I've heard so many stories about unpleasant immune responses to these shots, that was indeed one of the things that made me nervous, especially once I was actually there sitting in the chair. And yes, I know that the more severe reactions have tended to be to the second shot, but there have also been reactions to the first, and even Shobhit said he had been tired for a couple of days. Here's the weird thing: I did feel physically "off" for pretty much the rest of the day yesterday, but so far today, amazingly, I feel genuinely fantastic.

And that is even after getting a terrible night's sleep. I really thought feeling not-great yesterday would help me sleep well overnight, and I even deliberately went to bed early to help myself get better rest. I think I threw a kind of bad monkey wrench into things by having chai, the caffeine from which, maybe half the time, makes it difficult for me to sleep well if I drink it too late in the day. My mug of chai yesterday wasn't super late—around 6:00—but it was evidently late enough. As a result, I woke up countless times through the night, never feeling sick but also never feeling super great. But, as I said, somehow by morning I was still feeling good, I dare say even better than I felt yesterday before getting the shot.

I would sure love for some level of replication of this with my second shot. Feeling great the very next day? Sign me up!

Anyway, in stark contrast to the long line that started outside and literally around the block with Shobhit last weekend, I barely had to stand in any line at all. In this photo, for instance, there are no more than four people waiting to get their shot ahead of me, outside of those already sitting in the chairs actually in the process of getting them. And I took that photo right after getting in line, which I did after filling out a form they gave me. It did ask me for insurance information, and I gave them the insurance company and my name, but I forgot my insurance card at home so could not provide things like my group number. Nobody seemed to care.

What I liked most about it all was the location—coincidentally, also the building where Stephanie's acupuncture practice has been located since I've known her. It's on the 12th floor. I didn't bother telling her I was in the building, though; Stephanie and I haven't had particularly regular contact since the last time she participated in my Birth Week, which was in 2017. It looks like I have not been to the actual Acupuncture Northwest office since 2013, and even longer since I had an actual acupuncture appointment. To be honest, the excellent book The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe effectively got me to stop putting much stock in acupuncture anyway.

But, I digress. I have this tendency to over-focus on how great views of the city are from great heights in tall buildings, but from the right position, merely the fifth floor can offer great views as well—my height above ground level was still around sixty feet, after all; certainly, as you can see by the top photo in this post, still above the monorail. I took several photos through the windows because I loved the views so much; you can see the full photo album on Flickr. The album has 10 photos in it for now, but probably at least a few more will be added to it when I return for my second shot in about three weeks. For now, the 10 photos have been captioned for extra detail should you be interested.

My intent, actually, had been to post this entry last night, which was why I didn't bother posting a DLU after lunch yesterday—there already having been other barriers to doing so: I had my FaceTime lunch with Karen, when I found out she has her first shot scheduled for today; and I also had to cut it short so I could leave and walk downtown in plenty of time to make my 1:20 p.m. appointment.

It was a matter of minutes by the time I had my shot. The guy who gave me my shot, who was clearly in a sort of "assembly line" frame of mind, asked how I was doing, and when I said I was nervous he said nothing in response. He asked one or two other questions, including whether I had any questions. I said no, and that was pretty much it. I hyperventilated a bit when he stuck the needle into my arm, as always, and then it was done. It wasn't quite as lightning fast as the tetanus booster I got earlier this month was, but it was hardly much longer either. He then told me to go around the corner to schedule my second dose appointment, and then wait fifteen minutes before leaving.

And I got a slightly pleasant surprise when scheduling the second dose: it's widely reported that you wait three weeks for the second Pfizer shot, but they told me it can be as short as 17 days. The soonest date they had for me was April 13, which is 19 days. Even that was great news to me; they say you're not regarded as "fully vaccinated" until about two weeks after your second shot—and now, the very first day of my Birth Week will be 10 days after my second shot. Pretty close! This all makes me very, very happy, including the fact that the second shot is far enough before my Birth Week that any reaction to it won't mar any of my plans.

Multiple people have told me to "plan accordingly" regarding that. One person even said to expect to take the next day off of work. Instead, what I will do is make sure I can take that day off if I need to, but I might not even need to. Scott told me in email that he had a splitting headache by the end of the day of his first shot and had to go to bed early. I'm feeling pretty lucky so far even in regards to this first dose.

I also deliberately took several photos so I could add a new album to my "Corona 2020" collection of photo albums. I rather like the idea of adding one final, more hopeful album representing us gradually getting out of this global crisis in addition to the five already there representing the months at the beginning.

I did drive to the office yesterday evening to swap out paperwork, while Shobhit was in his final class of this particular Project Management virtual course. We made salad for dinner before the class, and then I made the aforementioned chai. I actually didn't leave for the office until closer to 7:00, and not one other person was there, besides the janitor. I was in and out of there pretty quickly. I got back in time for the end of Shobhit's class, we watched an episode of The Expanse, and then I went to bed. In the end I just wasn't up for writing last night, which was why I didn't post this then, and why I'm just sharing it now instead.

Feeling good and optimistic!

[posted 12:30 pm]