Poked Again
It's done! I got poked again yesterday afternoon, with the second and final shot of the Pfizer vaccine for COVID-19.
There's something about it that I have somewhat mixed feelings about. This shot really hurt, and I hesitate to broadcast that fact very much, lest I discourage anyone from getting vaccinated. I mean, it wasn't unbearable pain, but it was a lot more painful than the first shot, enough so that I kind of groaned in rather vocal pain while it was happening. It was sort of like getting a particularly nasty bee sting. Of course it's still far preferable to coming down with the coronavirus. Granted, many people got cases of COVID so mild they barely even knew it—and countless people were also carriers without ever having any idea, which is also the point: this pain was still a small sacrifice to make to help prevent spreading it to others who could be far more seriously afflicted with it.
As for side effects? So far so good! I won't say that I feel 100% great, and damn was my arm sore for several hours yesterday, but, so far anyway—knock on wood—I haven't felt legitimately ill, or developed a fever, or anything like that. I had been told by more than one person to "plan to take the next day off of work," and here I am, working a regular work day as normal. Now, Shobhit apparently had a tougher night's sleep the second night after his second shot on Sunday, so we'll see how my night goes tonight. I had slight difficulty getting to sleep last night, and also woke up around 3:00 this morning, but after I fell asleep again, I really zonked out, and was in quite the deep sleep when my alarm woke me up at 5:30. I did have the most minor, barely-perceptible headache this morning (which was really nothing compared to a lot of unrelated headaches I get normally), but I took some Aleve and that seemed to take care of it.
I don't have a clue if there's any real connection here, but I do wonder whether how a person reacts, or doesn't react, to the vaccines is hereditary. Dad told me he had almost no reaction to the second shot, and considering how very much I take after him genetically, I wondered if that might mean my experience would be the same. I hoped so. It basically has been the same—so far—which means there either is indeed a genetic component, or it's just completely a coincidence. People place far too much stock in coincidences anyway; most of our experiences are coincidences that we just don't consciously recognize as such.
I did read somewhere that your likelihood of side effects are greater if you get the second dose too soon; the Pfizer period between shots is mean to be three weeks, but I was told at my first visit on March 25 that the second Pfizer shot could be taken as few as 17 days later. Yesterday was 19 days for me. Shobhit's shots were a full three weeks apart, both of them on Sundays; it's just the first time around, I got my shot four days after he got his, and this time I got my shot only two days later. I don't suppose 19 days rather than 21—a difference of two days—is going to make that huge a difference.
Anyway, much like when Shobhit was at the Amazon Meeting Center on Sunday, my vaccination site was far less busy my second visit than my first. In both cases the scale was far smaller than Amazon, as I was given shots by Seattle Infectious Disease Clinic, in empty office space on the fifth floor of the Medical Dental Building downtown. The weather is beautiful this week, and after I was done with my lunch break and worked for just a few minutes, I then walked down there, with my library book in hand which I never really read.
You can see how sparsely populated the space was in the photo at the top of this post, which I took as soon as I got in "line" to get my shot. Only one of the three people giving shots was actually giving one, so I got seated immediately. If you look closely you can see a tall glass jar on that blue-cloth-covered table near the center of the room, which I wish now I had gotten a closer shot of. (Maybe I'll crop from the full size of this photo to create a separate, closer image of it.) It was full of used vials of the vaccine. I asked the guy when I sat down, "What's with the jar?" and he just said, "Those are used vials." I should have followed up, I guess. Is there a contest? That's what it made me think of. If you guess the correct number of vials in the jar, you get a prize! What prize, I don't know. An extra shot?
After I endured the minor agony of that shot, just as before, I had to wait fifteen minutes before leaving the building. I killed probably at least half that time in the men's room, where I went to take the photo I posted of myself with the vaccination card stuck in my mouth through my face mask. I wanted to do it without making a spectacle of myself! Besides, the tan backdrop of the toilet stall wall, after I turned the image into black and white, proved a nice touch, I thought.
As I passed the lady who had checked me in while I walked back out, she said to me, "Enjoy your new superpowers!" I just giggled and thanked her.
As ever, Shobhit worried about me. He kept giving me advice and suggestions in case I felt awful after getting the shot, and even suggested I wait for him to come and pick me up—except his shift at Total Wine & More ended at 2:00 and it would have been another 20 minutes or so before he got to me. My appointment was at 1:20; there were so few people there that I actually got my shot a few minutes early; I caught a bus and was home at 1:55. I then went ahead and just finished out my work day.
I didn't feel fantastic, exactly, for the rest of the day, but, oddly, I think I felt slightly worse the rest of the day after my first shot. And so, I went ahead with my plan last night to watch and review my next virtual SIFF film, this one a documentary about both the Chinese and American responses to the COVID-19 initial outbreaks, called In the Same Breath. B+. The woman who directed it, who had also done One Child Nation about the Chinese one-child policy, is clearly talented. There were certain things she somewhat strangely opted not to address in the film, but I still thought it was very well done.
Shobhit had his Project Management virtual class from 5:30 to 8:00. I started my movie at 5:00 or so, and spent a good hour between 7:00 and 8:00 writing the review that was a bit longer than usual. Shobhit continued discussions with classmates well after 8:00, though, so I decided I would finally get around to this week's episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+. I went to bed somewhat early not that long after that.
—Oh, shit! I was literally about to post this at 12:30, after reading my library book and eating lunch at the dining table out in the living room, when I suddenly realized: it's Wednesday, I was supposed to be on the Office Lunch Meetup on Microsoft Teams!
And, that was how I discovered this new laptop I was recently issued, in addition to the headset not working, is also not allowing me access to the camera. Jesus Christ! I finally just joined the call with just my audio, and only Rebecca and Brent were there. Rebecca remembered I was taking a week off soon and thought maybe this was it, but nope, that's the week after next.
So, it was a little odd for that last half of the hour: I was able to participate in disucussion some of the time, but with them being unable to see me, they weren't as inclined to talk directly to anyone but each other, since of course, they could see each other. What a pain in the ass. But at least I didn't miss this week's lunch outright! I even asked if anyone else had joined beside them in the first half, and Brent said even he hadn't joined until 12:30. Rebecca had just been sitting on the call by herself for half an hour. Oops.
Well anyway the call is over now and I need to get back to work.
[posted 1:03 pm]