Vaccinated!

More than eleven months after school closed due to the pandemic, I am beyond relieved to report that I am fully vaccinated. While Mondays have remained a virtual day during the current school year, I've been in the building, around adults and kids, since September. I've been in a constant state of worry; vigilant about mask wearing and hand washing, but hyper aware of the sheer number of people I've been around while not knowing if they were committed to taking similar precautions.

It's not lost on me that I'm very fortunate because teachers have been given priority during the rollout of the vaccine. No one in my family has received the vaccine, and as of today, they don't have any reasonable idea of when they will get it. The fact that I'm now vaccinated is great, but until everyone is, day-to-day life is not really going to be any different. Although I'm certainly hoping I'll be able to worry just a little bit less when I'm at school every day!

I had almost no reaction to the first dose, which I received on January 30. The day following the vaccine, my arm was a little sore, but that was it. When I received the second dose a couple of days ago, it was a very different story:

Wednesday 4:45 pm
I received the second dose of Moderna vaccine. I felt fine the entire evening.

Thursday 6:00 am

I woke up to a sore arm, a bad headache, and a fever of 101.3°F. I felt lousy and the headache made for very restless sleep throughout the day.

Friday 6:00 am

My arm wasn't as sore and the headache was better, but I still had a fever of 100.5°F.

Friday 11:00 am 

Overall, I felt much better and my temperature was down to 99.5°F.

Friday 3:00 pm

The headache was completely gone and my temperature was perfectly normal!

The nurse who administered the vaccine told me any side effects would last approximately 48 hours and she was pretty much spot on! I didn’t take any Tylenol; she told me Tylenol was allowed, but that if I could manage without it, to do so. I absolutely refuse to complain about the side effects because as far as I’m concerned, they are such a minuscule price to pay for the privilege of being vaccinated.

I'm happy to be on the other side of it all and extremely grateful to be fully vaccinated. I'm also very anxious for my family and friends to receive their vaccines!

While Ginny is not known
for being particularly cuddly,
she was very attentive
while I dealt with the side effects!

Happy Tails to you!