Got the second Pfizer jab on Thursday (it’s Sunday as I’m writing this) and it’s been a trial. The first shot was like this. Day of shot, no reaction until around 11 p.m. Then, the injection site swelled up and my arm started aching. Next day, pure exhaustion plus the arm issues. Third day, less exhaustion, but still some and the arm stuff. Exhaustion lessened as did arm stuff each day. Still, my arm still had the bump and was sore to the touch by the time I went to get my second jab, three weeks and one day later. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting and except for the two days of exhaustion, more an inconvenience than anything else. Yes, the jab site was sore, but not enough to hinder me from my day-to-day activities. A week after the shot, it was only sore when I poked it (which was once every few days to see if it was still sore).
I went into the second shot cautiously optimistic. I was expecting a reaction, but based on the first shot, I was hopeful that it wouldn’t be too bad. The shot itself was no thing, much like the first one. I barely felt the needle go in (I have a high pain tolerance, though) and no immediate reaction. Well, a bit of sweating, but that could just be because I was hot. I get overheated easily and the temps have risen considerably in the last week. I waited my fifteen minutes then left, feeling as fit as a fiddle. Except the damn sweating.
Went through the day feeling fine. Then, at 11:30 p.m., just like last time, bam! My arm swelled up like a ballon and the jab site was hot to the touch. Very hot. My arm started aching and it was much more noticeable than the first time. Still, it wasn’t terrible. The next morning, I woke up not feeling great. I emailed my taiji teacher saying I was skipping class, but I was able to do my daily routine, more or less. I was dragging, to be sure, but that’s my normal life, anyway, and this was only a bit worse. I was optimistic that it wouldn’t be terrible.
Then, I crashed. Hard. Around five-ish at night, I was hit with pure exhaustion and fell asleep. I woke up around ten, chills coursing through my body. I don’t get cold so that was an indication that something was wrong. My arm was sore as fuck and I just wanted to sleep. I fell back asleep around two, then woke up at four. Fell back asleep around five and got up at eight-thirty in the morning. That really sucked, by the way. I hate stop-and-start sleep, which used to happen to me all the time. When I got up for good, I felt as if a semi truck had hit me, ran over me, and reversed before running over me again.
I had to cut back on my morning taiji weapons routine and *sob* put aside the left side of the Sword Form completely. My left arm was hurting like a motherfucker and I was completely exhausted. Like, having a hard time keeping my eyes open exhausted. Had the chills on and off. My whole body ached as well. This lasted all of Saturday and I was hoping I’d wake up feeling better today.
Spoiler, I did not. In fact, I woke up feeling worse. My arm is still hot and swollen so I cut back again on my taiji weapons routine. I’m completely exhausted and it’s barely noon. I just want to sleep. My arms hurts like hell. Still hot as fuck. An incipient migraine to boot. I scarfed down two Excedrin Migraine pills to stave off the migraine and hopefully soothe the aches in my body as well.
Up until today, I had been saying that it’s still not as bad as I was expecting and better than COVID-19. I stand by the latter, but not by the former. This was pretty much what I was expecting if not a bit worse, but I’ll take it. I mean, not that there’s anything I can do about it if I didn’t want to accept it, but I would have done the same thing even knowing the results. It’s worth it, of course, but I’m tired of people bleating about how it’s no big deal. Or, my personal favorite, “I didn’t have a reaction” with the heavy implication that anyone who says they did is lying or exaggerating. Someone said it was no worse than a hangover and 70% of people put themselves through that willingly.
No surprise–white dude said that. Pulling a percentage firmly out of his ass and an opinion that is solely his own, but stated as if it was a fact. First of all, I don’t drink so that puts me in his self-proclaimed 30%. Secondly, there is no empirical evidence behind that tweet–none whatsoever. In fact, there is, not evidence per se, but guidelines from actual medical types that outline what kind of reactions you might have to the vax shots. As described, they are more severe than a hangover–or rather, they can be more severe.
It really ticked me off for another reason–it’s myopic as fuck to say that since I didn’t have a reaction–no one will. I could even argue that it’s ableist because it’s ignoring the fact that different bodies react in different ways. It’s so disheartening to see so many people chime in with, yes, they didn’t have any reaction so…profit? And these are, I presume, liberal people if they’re getting the vax and people in my TL are RT’ing them. I also saw someone in the AAM forums saying that the concern about reactions is overblown and puts people off getting the vax.
Look. Maybe it’s just me, but I want all the facts before doing something, not just the sanitized version. It’s like when my doctor told me that smoking one cigarette a day wasn’t that big a deal. I appreciated her candor and asked why that wasn’t more widely known. She said that because most people would hear that and take it to mean that they could smoke a pack a day. She’s right, but that’s not the way I work. Therefore, I would rather hear that I might have a bad reaction to the vax shots and do it anyway than be told it was going to be peachy keen and find out differently afterwards. I’m not saying it should be all doom and gloom, but telling people lies is just not on in my opinion.
Here’s what I would say. My reaction has been bad. It really sucks. I’m not having a good time at all. My arm is still hot and swollen, and I can feel the ache every time I move it. When I touch the jab site, it’s fire under my touch. I still get the chills now and again and my whole body is aching slightly. I feel like shit, honestly. Complete shit. Again, it’s worth it and I want everyone to get vaxxed, but it fucking sucks.