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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Valentine’s Day & Rapid COVID-19 Tests

Life feels like it is moving pretty fast lately. Which is weird because we have been at home for such a long time now that I can only imagine what it is going to feel like when we return to a more “normal” routine. This Wednesday if all goes according to plan we will celebrate our 100th day of homeschool. I am just so proud of all of us.

On Valentine’s Day the kids woke up to treats on the kitchen table and a few new books to read. They also got In-N-Out Burger for dinner at the house from my parents. They were so excited because it was the first time they have had it in over a year. It is so expensive for our family to eat out and when the pandemic happened last year we made a choice to only eat at home. This has saved us so much money because for our family to eat burger’s and fries it costs $50. We don’t want to get into the habit of eating out as often as we were so we will be keeping this treat strictly for birthday’s or other special occasions to celebrate.

Josh and I celebrated Valentine’s Day by using a gift certificate from our dentist to Vincitorio’s Restaurant. Josh picked up the food curbside and we had a date night at home after the kids went to bed. We had a wonderful dinner and live streamed Josh Groban’s Valentine’s Day show. Thank you so much to our dentist, Dr. Anita Elliot, and staff. Josh and I have been going to her office for over a decade. If you are local and looking for a dentist we highly recommend Elliot Dental.

Our week was also filled with Josh going to get rapid COVID tests due to exposures from coworkers. Thankfully both tests were negative and I am just so glad he has had his first and second vaccinations. Huge shoutout to his fire department for having these rapid tests available. On a side note my grandparents go this week for their second shot and my dad is going to get his first. As of Sunday 500,000 people in the United States have died in the current pandemic, this is not far from reaching the grim milestone of 1918 (where 675,000 died). Just so sad.

We have been trying to spend as much time outside as possible lately because the weather has been beautiful. Our backyard sunsets have been amazing lately.

And we have also been taking advantage of our America the Beautiful Pass and hiking and picnicking. This week we hiked by the Salt River and got to see several wild horses on the trail.

Lastly our weekend finished with Josh ripping out a section of our daughter’s wall that had dry rotted. Several days ago he told me that he wanted to build a larger shed in our backyard which prompted me to kindly remind him of the wall project had been on the list for several months.

I love my husband so much and this was all it took to get him motivated to fix the wall. While talking over our plan with my dad on the phone he recommended bleaching the area to kill any mold and spraying foam insulation around the pipe. After the phone call Josh went to Home Depot to buy foam insulation, came home, and got to work.

Hours later we were finishing up texturing the new drywall. I asked Josh if he had remembered to bleach the interior of wall because I had forgotten to do it and assumed he had. He had assumed I had bleached it. And sadly the wall was torn apart again, bleach was sprayed, and another trip to Home Depot was made. We are hoping that the wall will be finished later this week.

Reading about what has been happening in Texas over the last week has made me so grateful to have electricity in my house and running water. If you live in Texas and have experienced lack of electricity and water I am so sorry. You have been in my thoughts and prayers.

I hope you enjoyed this recap of our last few days. Have a great final week of February and thanks for stopping by the blog and reading today.

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