My Experience Getting The COVID-19 Vaccine

Last week I received my second vaccination for COVID-19 at the Mesa Convention Center. Thank you to all the firefighters, staff, and volunteers working this site. It was the best place for me to be vaccinated because I was surrounded by many of my husbands co-workers. I wanted to wait until after I had both doses to share and today is the day I am doing just that.

My first dose of Moderna was on March 28th. I went back on forth on getting the vaccine due to my health history. To be clear I am so thankful these vaccines exists and are so readily available in the United States.

In my 20s I had Guillian-Barre Syndrome (GBS) and there were early contraindications suggesting against the vaccine. Later the GBS/CIDP Foundation International and the CDC released statements saying persons who have previously had GBS may receive an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.

If you or your loved one has had GBS I hope that my sharing this can encourage you if you happen to be on the fence about the vaccination.

SHOT #1

The parking was a breeze, I waited in a very short line to check in, and was quickly seated and administered the Moderna shot. For the room being as full as it was the process was efficient and everything was well organized.

Funny story. Fifteen minutes after the shot I wanted to say hi to several of my husband’s co-workers before leaving. Everyone had masks on and only seeing people’s eyes can be tricky. I was overly confident in knowing who people were and I was so wrong. I had conversations with people I had never met before but thought they were someone else. Oh well. Josh got a kick out of the story so I guess it wasn’t a total loss.

As far as side effects go I only had a sore arm for the first 48 hours. My arm was most sore 12 hours after the shot. And the evening after my shot I had a slight headache. Nothing severe. I drank a gallon of water the day before the vaccination and for multiple days after and convinced myself shot #2 would be the same with adequate hydration. And spoiler alert: it wasn’t.

SHOT #2

Twenty-eight days later back to the Mesa Convention Center I went. This time the parking lot was very empty, which I was not expecting. The line in the hallways was non-existent and I quickly was able to check in.

The sweet lady who checked me in told me that this was highly unusual, as they had been very full in the previous weeks. The site isn’t getting as many new appointments and the majority of those in the room were there, like me, for their second.

I waited my 15 minutes. Then, unlike after my first shot, did manage say hello to someone who was actual the person I thought they were. I actually didn’t leave my chair for another 15 minutes because we catched up on life. If they vaccination site been more full, like it had been the first time I went, there is no way this longer conversation could have happened. It is wild the difference in the amount of people there from my first to second shot.

Now lets talk side effects. Whomp. Whomp. The first twelve hours started out real good. No fever, chills, body aches, or fatigue and for the first 12 hours. Waking up feeling very hot at midnight, I took my temperature, and was met with the urgent triple beep and red screen. 101.2. My fever lasted until 2:30 p.m. and I was in bed all day. My body ached, my head hurt, and could barely keep my eyes open. But 48 hours later I was feeling much, much better. It has now been 72 hours and I am still feeling good.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This last year has been crazy.

I could probably leave it at that but I am just grateful to be able to spend more time the last several weeks with family as they have become fully vaccinated.

Setting up appointments for numerous family members to be vaccinated was at times very frustrating at the start of the year. The appointment website was not well designed initially when first launched and has since been corrected.

At this time having seen the numerous empty chairs at Convention Center I am hoping to the county health departments will be able to allocate the vaccines for popup sites in different communities.

Today I read that it will take 800+ days to vaccinate 60% of the world population. I feel very fortunate that I live in the United States. It is heartbreaking reading about what is happening in India and other countries around the world who don’t have access to the vaccine.

I will be sure to share an update when I am fully vaccinated and if I experience any other side effects.

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The Anniversary of the COVID-19 Shutdown

One year ago tonight on March 11, 2020 President Trump gave an address to the Nation on the coronavirus, actor Tom Hanks announced himself and wife Rita Wilson had tested positive for COVID-19, the NBA announced an indefinite suspension for the rest of season, and the World Health Organization declared we were officially in a pandemic.

What a year.

Last year on this date I wrote a blog post documenting how the state of Arizona, where I live, had only tested 100 people for COVID-19. Do you remember how hard it was at that time to get a test? The criteria was so limiting that it was impossible to be tested unless you had recently traveled to Wuhan or been exposed to someone with the virus.

As of today Arizona has administered 4,332,529 tests, there has been 830,465 confirmed cases, and horrifically 16,464 deaths.

It is mind blowing to me looking at the graphs below and seeing what out country has experienced over the last 365 days.

Image Source: The New York Times

COVID has become part of our daily life and all of us have been impacted. On a personal level my husband Josh has seen many COVID patients on medical calls he has been dispatched to with his ladder truck. Some with oxygen levels in the 70s refusing to go to the hospital because they don’t want to be put on a ventilator. This breaks my heart so much. Recommended Reading: My Husband is a Firefighter, Please Stop Calling COVID-19 the Flu

Josh has worked at fire stations that have had COVID outbreaks. We know so many people who have tested positive and lost loved ones in the last 365 days. And it has just sucked.

Really. Really. Sucked.

I never thought I would experience anything like this in my lifetime.

If you have been a longtime reader you know that I struggle with panic attacks and anxiety. If any year was going to cause me to panic it would be this year and I am just so thankful that God made it possible for me to focus on my mental health years ago. God is so good. And even in the crazy scariness of this year I have still felt God’s protection over my head and heart.

Weird things that I have enjoyed this year include: driveway visits with friends and family, going to the grocery store to pick up my food curbside, homeschooling my kids, cute/comfortable face masks, hand sanitizer, being able to schedule my immediate family to get their vaccines (and yes the scheduling website was awful but I still enjoyed that I was able to help), online fitness studios (shoutout to Fit Women’s Weekly, Apple Fitness, and Dribble Up), watching Star Wars with my oldest son, and saving money by eating at home.

I am thankful to have a roof over my head, the ability to homeschool my children this year, and that my husband has a job. I know so many people in the United States are suffering right now and I am hopeful that the $1.9 trillion relief bill that President Biden signed today will help our country.

529,000 lives have been lost as of today from COVID-19 in the United States. Never did I think our country would reach such a number in a year. Our family will continue to mask up and do our part to help. I am now the only one out of my parents, brother/sister-in-law, grandparents, and husband who has not been vaccinated yet. I am so grateful they were able to get the vaccine and that they will be safe from hospitalization and severe COVID-19 complications. This year has been hard. But I am so hopeful that better days are ahead.

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This Week. Ugh.

This week has been exhausting, horrible, and so sad. It has been horrific what has happened in the span of a few days.

President Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Ratffensperger asking him to overturn the the state’s election results in the 2020 presidential election, there was a pro-Trump mob that vandalized The Capitol which also resulted in the death of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, and the United States had a day with 4,000 COVID deaths. Ugh. All of it heartbreaking.

I am still trying to find the good in each day but some days it feels really yucky and so, so sad. Here are a few things that made for a happier week…

JOSH IS GETTING THE COVID VACCINE! I’M SO HAPPY.

Josh is scheduled for his vaccine on Monday. I am seriously so grateful he has the opportunity to get one. We had a bit of a wait to get the email to schedule but once the email arrived we got him scheduled within the hour.

If anyone else is planning to get a vaccine in Arizona the website to schedule was a little finicky. They recommend using Chrome or Firefox. I can tell you from experience to setup his account Firefox and Safari did not work. Chrome was the only browser that allowed for the account setup. Once the account was setup I could use Safari.

I will be sure to update how his experience goes, if you are interested check back on the blog next week.

HOMESCHOOL

I started back up homeschooling the kids on Monday. We got through the week and it felt good to be back on a routine after Christmas break. I am shocked at the amount of material we get through some days and other days I am just thankful we did math and english.

Also looking at their math workbooks makes me feel slightly overwhelmed. I know we will get through all this because we did last semester but it just looks intense. Thankfully Saxon Math provides great outlines for each lesson.

This week we talked about the New Kingdom of Egypt, next week we learn about Moses and the Plagues, the kids started back up their typing program, Maisie is spending 20 minutes a day on ReadingEggs.com, and we went on another long family walk. All in all homeschooling made this week brighter and much more structured.

APPLE FITNESS+

I got to try out a workout on the Apple Fitness+ platform. I could have done this sooner but I am horrible at updating my watch and phone. Josh finally encouraged me to do the update so I could try a workout. And I am so glad he did. It was so fun!

My little guys did the workout with me and that made it extra entertaining and encouraging. They were telling me good job every 10 seconds and we were all giving high fives to each other after each round. At the end of the workout my three year old said “My legs are shaking”.

Once I use it more I will give a full review. But for having just done one workout I really enjoyed it.

And those are a few positives from a pretty sad week in the United States. Hang in their friends! Keep taking care of yourselves this month. Eat nutritious food, drink plenty of water, try to get more sleep, and if it is nice where you live spend sometime each day outside.

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