Vaccine Archives - The Workout Mama

My Experience Getting The COVID-19 Vaccine

April 25, 2021 by Tamara Leave a Comment

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.

Filed Under: Personal Tagged With: COVID-19, Guillain–Barré Syndrome, Moderna, Vaccine

My Husband’s Experience Getting The Second COVID-19 Vaccine at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ

February 12, 2021 by Tamara Leave a Comment

Josh got his second Pfizer vaccine last week at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ. This is not the location where he received his first dose due to our county not having enough vaccines to schedule appointments. I am so thankful we were able to schedule his second appointment at the 21 day mark from his first vaccine at the state vaccination site.

GETTING THE COVID-19 VACCINATION AT STATE FARM STADIUM

We live about an hour away from State Farm Stadium. Due to a traffic accident on the road he arrived right at the time of his appointment. He was in a long line of cars that moved fairly quickly. He showed his QR code that came with the confirmation email, drivers license and also his employee identification.

Josh stayed in the car the entire time. Once he recieved the shot he waited the 15 minutes to see if he had any complications. Again, just like the first shot, he said it didn’t hurt and 15 minutes later he was back on the freeway driving home.

In total he was at the stadium for 45 minutes. He said it was well organized and as soon as he got the vaccine he had an email in his inbox confirming the vaccination.

HOW DID HE FEEL AFTER THE SECOND DOSE?

He felt fine. He was maybe a little more tired the evening of his shot but his arm was more sore from the first shot. Thankfully he didn’t experience body aches or a fever.

THE AZDHS SCHEDULING WEBSITE

I have now used this website to schedule six appointments for multiple family members. I have seen the not so great version of this website where you had to search every single date for an appointment and enter in your information each time you tried to search for an appointment because there was no save feature.

Last week when I went to schedule a vaccination for my dad the website update had corrected these issues. Thank you Arizona Department of Health Services for fixing your website. I was in and out of the website with an appointment secured for my dad in 5 minutes. I couldn’t believe it.

If you or someone you know is getting a vaccine at the state site you are now guaranteed a second appointment. When my grandparents went for their first dose they were both scheduled before they left the stadium. Since I booked the appointments all their confirmation emails came to me. When I opened up the emails I noticed that only my grandpa had been scheduled. I mention this only to say make sure you double check those emails. Thankfully I was able to go into the website and schedule my grandma on the same day 10 minutes after his appointment time.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading my ramblings. I am really looking forward to brighter days ahead. Josh is well on his way to being fully vaccinated. He is almost at the two week mark since his second shot. Obviously he will still be taking precautions, as will our other family members who have been vaccinated. But at this moment I am feeling hopeful and so thankful he was able to get both doses.

Filed Under: My Family Tagged With: COVID-19, Fire Department, Firefighter, Pfizer, State Farm Stadium, Vaccine

My Husband’s Experience Getting The First Dose Of The COVID-19 Vaccine

January 12, 2021 by Tamara 3 Comments

I am so grateful that Josh was able to get priority access to the vaccine. It has been a little over 24 hours since his first dose and I wanted to share what the process was like for him to prescreen, book, and get the vaccine. A little background in case you are new here. We live in Maricopa County, Arizona and Josh is a firefighter.

Our family knows so many people who have been impacted by COVID. Some have had minor cold and flu like symptoms or no symptoms at all, others have been put on ventilators, and many are still dealing with lingering symptoms months after being infected. Sadly some of these people have passed away.

I think all of us can agree that there are many differing opinions on getting the vaccine. Over the last few months Josh and I have had these types of discussion between ourselves. Many of these conversations also involved if I should get the vaccine. I had Guillain–Barre Syndrome in my 20’s and there has been conflicting information if this vaccine would be contraindicated.

When I found out Josh would be able to schedule a vaccine in December I was so excited. Anything that we could do to protect him, our family, and those in our community I was all on board for. Josh said he would get the vaccine if I wanted him to but wasn’t planning to sign up for it at this time. That left me in a weird spot. I totally wanted him to be vaccinated but also really wanted it to be his choice. I began to drop hints, shared stories of other people we knew who were getting it, and hoped he would just sign up for it on his own.

He didn’t.

PRESCREENING, AZDHS ACCOUNT SETUP, & SCHEDULING

So several weeks ago when the state was in the middle of Phase 1A and only vaccinating healthcare workers I told him I really wanted him to get it. He did the online prescreening and we waited. Then several days before Phase 1A was going to end he got an email confirmation that said he could schedule his vaccine. He was on shift at the time so I did the account setup on AZDHS and booked his appointment.

Again I am grateful and so thankful to all involved that he has been able to be a part of this process. But the website is a little tricky to navigate. I had to try several different browsers, Chrome is what worked, before I could setup his account. Once the account was setup I was able to use Safari to schedule. This entire process to setup the account and schedule took an hour.

GETTING THE COVID-19 VACCINATION IN MARICOPA COUNTY

He got his first shot yesterday. It was also the day that our county moved into Phase 1B. Here is what his experience was like.

He arrived 15 minutes early for his appointment and here was the line in front of him.

For check-in he showed a QR code he received with his appointment confirmation, drivers license and also his employee identification.

The line moved quickly. Everyone stays in their car for the entire process and is masked at all times. There were multiple tents setup in two parking lots. One group of tents at one end of the parking lot which was for administering the vaccine and on the other side of the parking lot was another set of tents for volunteers monitoring for medical issues and to hand out follow up information. There was security monitoring the line and the National Guard was there assisting also.

Several firefighters in his department were assisting with check-in and he was vaccinated by a captain from his department (and coincidentally from his current station assignment). In case you are wondering he was administered the Pfizer vaccine.

He said the flu shot hurt worse and he experienced no stinging or burning when he received the vaccine. After he was vaccinated he drove his car into another line where he waited for 15 minutes. Easy peasy. He was instructed to leave the windows down and honk to alert those working if he had any complications.

In total the entire process took around 30 minutes. Which is fantastic! There was no waiting around in line, everyone was masked and in their own vehicle, and it is great that this part of the process is so streamlined. Now we just wait to get an email to schedule his second dose.

HOW IS HE FEELING AFTER 24 HOURS

Several hours after his shot he said his arm felt slightly bruised. It didn’t hurt or ache but just felt tender depending on how he moved his arm. And it was only localized to that one area. This morning the injection site is slightly more sore but nothing major.

Getting Josh vaccinated was the choice we made for our family. If Josh had been adamant about not getting the vaccine he wouldn’t have been vaccinated yesterday. There is so much misinformation out there about the vaccine even among healthcare workers.

Yesterday I was asking him questions about his experience getting vaccinated as we were eating lunch in our backyard and watching the kids play. He told me when I wrote this post to include that he initially wasn’t ready to get the vaccine when it was first offered to him. Stories like this are important and need to be shared. If you are a healthcare worker and weren’t vaccinated in Phase 1A but would like to do so you still can.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Yesterday evening I got a message from my Grandpa asking if I could help him figure out the registration system for getting vaccinated. My grandparents are in their 80’s and we have only seen them handful of times in their driveway in the past 10 months. He had been trying all day to register himself and my Grandma. We had told them if they needed help to call us.

I listened to how he had tried to register I told him he had done everything I would have tried. I saw an option on Josh’s account to register additional family members and told him we could try that. Thirty minutes later I had entered all their information along with insurance I.D’s., scheduled them both for appointments at the same time, and sent them their email confirmations. If you have already made an account on AZDHS and have family members who are having trouble scheduling or even accessing the website you might be able to book an appointment for them.

All in all yesterday was a good day for our family. Josh received his first dose and my Grandparents are now scheduled for theirs. I am feeling hopeful that in several months we will be able to spend more time together. Our plan is to remain masked when we do these visits and stay outdoors but I am looking forward to the kids being able to see their Great Grandparents for an actual visit as opposed to being in the car.

Filed Under: My Family Tagged With: COVID-19, Fire Department, Firefighter, Maricopa County, Pfizer, Vaccine