Another Shot in the Arm

covid booster

Thursday I went in for the Covid booster shot. I know there is a lot of discussion going on regarding whether or not this booster is really necessary. But we will be doing some travel outside the United States, and the last thing I want to do is get sick in a foreign country. Hopefully between the flu shot and this booster, I will be pretty protected.

The shot itself was a piece of cake. I barely felt the needle going in. Later in the day I got really tired, which is a normal reaction for me. (And a great excuse to take a nap.) I never felt sick that day at all. By Friday I had a large, warm, red knot at the injection site. I also had a headache, and felt a little sluggish while playing pickleball. That afternoon I slept for over two hours, which is atypical for me.

By Saturday all was back to normal, so overall the experience wasn't too bad. I go in on Tuesday for my annual physical, so I'll be happy to report to my doctor that I am all up to date on my vaccinations. It's nice to have them out of the way.

Flu Time

too much?

It's the season when a lot of germs get passed around as we start to spend more time indoors with other people. I decided to get my flu shot on Monday. I go to Walgreens as they are the closest pharmacy to me, and they have a record of all the shots I've received in North Carolina. 

I love the fact that I can make an appointment online, and complete the paperwork ahead of time. Also, when you get to the store you can scan a QR code and check yourself in. As I was doing this, a huge cockroach was making its way across the floor to me. It was headed right towards the area where I would have to sit to be called for my appointment. I can't stand the sound of crunching bugs, but there was no way I wanted to have to keep my eye on the bug's progress. So I stepped on it. What a loud popping sound it made! A lady way down the aisle said she could hear it from where she had been standing. Ugh! One of the pharmacists came from behind the counter with a tissue and picked it up, thank goodness.

The shot went smoothly, and only stung a little bit. I really didn't have much of a reaction to it, other than a little swelling and rash at the injection site. Now I just have to decide if I want to get the latest Covid booster. As we will be doing some international travel, I suspect it would be a good idea.
 

A Cold January

I have been sick for the past week. It began with a slight sore throat, which went into a runny nose and coughing. With Covid on everyone's mind, of course that is where my mind went. But I didn't have any other Covid symptoms - no headache, body aches, loss of taste and/or smell, or fever. It has been pretty much classic cold symptoms. But the weird thing is that I have not been around anyone besides the people in my house since December 28th. (With the exception of being with five neighbors in the back yard socially distanced on New Year's Eve.) And none of them are sick. It didn't seem possible that I could have caught a cold much less Covid. 

Despite that fact I tried to schedule a Covid test as our daughter was flying back home today and obviously had been exposed if I was positive. Home tests are pretty much unavailable, though I have some on order through Amazon. But none of the testing sites had appointments available for the next four days. One of my neighbors offered me a test this morning, so I gladly took it. As expected, I am negative for Covid. That was a relief to all of us.

But we are in a bad situation in this country when people who have some symptoms cannot get a Covid test so they don't expose others around them. Across the country people are waiting in lines for 5 hours or more to do the drive-thru testing. It's ridiculous! The government has had over two years to get this figured out. No wonder the virus is still spreading at an unparalleled rate. We are in for another rough winter in more ways than one.

One Flu Over the Cuckoos Nest

I got the flu yesterday. Was it the swine flu? I don't know, I was too sick to try and put a label on it. Suffice it to say it was the type of flu where you don't know which end of you should approach the porcelain throne first. It certainly felt like the big, bad wolf was huffing and puffing and blowing my body down to get to the succulent pig inside. Maybe THAT'S why they call it swine flu. Oh, excuse me, H1N1, because that sounds soooo much better than swine flu. "H" for heaving, "1" because that's how much time you have to get to the bathroom, and "N1" because it's not going to be a number one once you get there. Sorry, TMI...

The television in our bedroom wasn't working, and I knew what would happen if I bent over to try to find out what was wrong with it. So I laid in bed all day thinking of all the things that I would rather be doing than laying in bed all day. Isn't it ironic? Any other time I would welcome the chance to take a nap during the day. When your stomach feels like the mosh pit of a teenybopper concert and your head just wants to implode, napping doesn't come easy. My nice little nest felt like a torture chamber instead. Cuckoo, cuckoo...