The Light at the End of the Tunnel

 

February was a tough month for me. True, February always has the potential for sadness since it marks the anniversary of the deaths of both of my parents. However, this year was probably the easiest grief-wise for me since their deaths. My biggest problem was being blind-sided by COVID fatigue. I'm an introvert, so needing to stay home doesn't bother me. Or, it didn't. It seems that, for me, not being bothered by the need to stay home ends at around eleven months. Who knew? (I was in such a funk that I didn't even realize until mid-March that I had forgotten my March blog post. *facepalm*)

Somehow, it seemed to make it worse knowing that there was a vaccine that could make things better but also knowing that it was out of reach. In February, my home state was still in phase 1A of vaccine distribution with no plans to expand to other phases. At the rate things were going, it was looking like the earliest I would be able to get a vaccine would be this Autumn. I honestly didn't know how I was going to make it that many more months with next to no human interaction.

My husband and I have been trying to go camping once a month. Camping helps in that it gets us out of the house and outside. It doesn't help in that, thanks to COVID, we don't get to eat out so camping doesn't give me a break from endless meal planning and cooking. At the time of this writing, I haven't eaten at a restaurant in over a year.

Image from Facebook

During the month of February we heard from more than one person about health clinics, etc. that had waiting lists of people interested in getting the vaccine; these lists were used when cancellations or no-shows left them with vaccines that needed to be used. My husband made it his goal to find such a waiting list in our area; his first several calls were fruitless. He finally hit pay dirt with a call to our local small town pharmacy. We actually got a call back from the pharmacy later that afternoon asking if we could come in for vaccinations. It turns out that they had had a cancellation and had been on the phone for two and a half hours trying to find someone who wanted/need the vaccine; everyone they contacted had either already had it or didn't want it. We gladly accepted. The pharmacist thanked us over and over for coming in. I was on the verge of crying tears of joy. I had never been so happy to get a shot. Fortunately, getting the first shot automatically put us on the schedule to get the second one which we did on March 29th.

My hubby keeps me laughing.

The 2nd vaccine is the one that most people have some sort of reaction to which makes sense to me; it's proof that your immune system is doing what it's supposed to do. Even though your mileage may vary, here's my experience:

* My arm was achy for about 36 hours after the first injection but it was nothing that a little Advil couldn't handle. (The second pneumonia vaccine was far more painful.)

* The pharmacy requires that vaccine recipients wait 15 minutes after their shot to make sure there are no reactions. (The 15 minute wait should be a requirement no matter where you get your shot.) It turns out, that was a good thing. I had no problems after the first shot but, about 5 minutes after the second shot I suddenly got extremely dizzy/light-headed and thought I was going to faint. I fought my way through it but it left me feeling shaky. I reported the near-fainting spell to the pharmacist when he came to check on us; he admitted later that I gave him a scare, LOL.

* The shakiness never completely went away and fatigue kicked in about 5 hours after the 2nd injection. In spite of being exhausted, I didn't sleep well that night, in part because of the extreme pain at the injection site every time I moved my arm. (The pharmacist warned us that the injection site would probably be more painful with the second injection. He was right.) When I got up the next morning, I just didn't feel good in general; the fatigue had been joined by general achiness and a low-grade fever. My husband felt much the same way. By mid-afternoon, my husband was fine; I was not. I took Tylenol every few hours which helped relieve my symptoms. By the time supper rolled around, nausea and a slight upset stomach had joined in.

* Fortunately, when I got up the next morning, I was pretty much back to normal. A little residual achiness and nausea showed up mid-day but Tylenol and Tums got everything under control.

I would have gladly dealt with worse symptoms for the knowledge that should I now contract COVID, odds are, it won't be life threatening. My anxieties should now be willing to let me leave the house without threatening to overwhelm me. 

How are you doing? How are you dealing with COVID fatigue?

 

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