Mam and Dragon Get Their Covid 19 Vaccine Shots And Have Very Different Experiences

13 February 2021

1018

R. Linda:

Mam, being of that age, was eligible for her first COVID-19 shot. She made her appointment, and I drove her to the site. It was 35 minutes away and a lovely drive on a twilight eve. The signs for the vaccine site were in blue and white and printed up by the State of New Hampshire (I think). I would have missed them entirely because I was looking for handwritten signs. I have no clue why I thought they wouldn't be metal signs. If it was up to me, we would have missed the site entirely, but Mam saw the signs and got us to the place. It was very military; National Guard and firefighters were directing the cars in a neat line where you are asked who you are and your date of birth, show a photo I.D. and are passed to the next guardsman who basically directs you to a parking slot and a firefighter comes up and asked for the same proof. It was odd they never asked for the QR code, which she had at the ready, and fortunately, they didn't ask because her phone slid into the space between the console and the seat. That took some digging with my long fingers to retrieve it, but retrieve it I did in a panic they'd want to see that code. 

I borrowed Ben's truck, which has a fire dept. decal on the license plates because my old mobile was dead from me not using it. Therefore, the military and firefighters thought I was one of them, and it was ME who was getting the shot!

After explaining it was the wee woman on the passenger side, all went quickly. She got the Moderna vaccine, and we thought to sit the fifteen minutes, but she felt fine. The guardsman told us we could go and didn't have to stick around. With her feeling great, we left. Ben had told her that she would instantly have a sore arm, feel nauseous, and might have a severe headache, but she had none of those things.  She had a 4:40 appointment, we had got there early at 4:19, she had a shot at 4:21, and we were out of there at 4:24. There were hardly any cars, but I think the appointments are staggered for that 15-minute window. We took the long way home, and I got her a Starbucks coffee. We even dropped her tax information off at the accountant's drop box and then went to McDonald's. She enjoyed being out and having food from places she hadn't seen in a year!

And here Ben had told her when he and his fellow firefighters got the shot, they had really sore arms, headache, fatigue, just not feeling well. She mentioned I should tell Ben she's more a man than he and his fellows because she had NOTHING like that. Oh, these superwomen!

We got home, and still no reaction and to this day, she is just fine. She laughs when the daily CDC message asks how she is today. Unbeknownst to either of us, the Dragon was going for her Pfizer shot. 

When we came home, the Dragon was on the phone with Tonya, talking about her experience in South New Jersey. Seems Dragon has a slightly sore arm and is feeling "weird" (would we know the difference?). She was complaining that she got the shot and sat in her car for 45 minutes before anyone asked how she was doing. Yes, they forgot about her! It was her blowing her horn that got their attention. She was at home now, feeling still a little "weird", and her head felt big, but that was it. OK then. 

The next day, all that was gone, but Big Tony was alarmed because not only was her eyesight unusually crazy, but her hearing wasn't all it usually was, and he wondered if it was from the shot. 

She told him a neighbour was woken by a spider in his garage, and she thought it must be a huge spider for THAT to happen. Yes, I took pause, a very long one at that. The neighbour was awoken by a fire in his garage as the ADT alarm went off. I tell ya, the woman be something. Later, she told Big T the cause of the fire was mites chewing electrical wires in the garage. Mites? Dust mites? She drives me crazier than I already am with this stuff. It was MICE, not mites.

She also said that she was watching some news program where the Representative from Canada asked a very pointed question about the impeachment trial in the Senate. A representative from Canada? In the House of Representatives? Here in the U.S.A.? WHAT? WHAT? Tony corrected her with the Representative from NEVADA! I tell ya!

She was on FaceTime telling us all this, and even me wee-est one stopped colouring and looked up and said to her, "Your nose is going to grow!" 

Well put, I thought. I told Tony it wasn't the shot; it was age. She's always been a little off in my book, so this stuff with the hearing was no big surprise. But if Big wants to blame it on the shot, go ahead. I know that's not true, but for the drama queens in New Jersey, it's just what the doctor ordered. They whip themselves up into frenzies to outdo each other with who had the worst shot experience. Begorrah!

Gabe

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