We got our #1 covid vax!

After hearing all the stories of horrendous waits and desperate travel to other counties for the shots, I’m here to tell you it was easy. I had signed up for notifications from the Indiana Department of Health through Deaconess Hospital. On Monday, I got a text from the IDOH saying the vaccines were now open to those 65+ (down from 70+). I jumped right up, went to my computer where I had bookmarked the Deaconess appointment site and literally, honestly, within 3 minutes I had Casey and me signed up for 6:10pm just two days later.

The clinic area that we chose (the old Welborn Clinic) is not currently being used, so it was a great idea to open it up for these purposes. We were quickly signed in, waited less than 5 minutes in a large waiting area, escorted back to an exam room where a pharmacist explained the process and administered the Pfizer vaccination in our left arms. We returned to the waiting room and sat for 15 minutes before exiting. Voila!

The Health Department checks on us via text every day, asking if we’ve had any side effects, which is kinda cool. We return on the 24th for our #2, which is supposed to be the one where you feel like crap. #1 caused no problems for either of us.

Of course, we’ll still be wearing the masks for a While, but this is a nice feeling of protection. I expect these will become like flu shots and have to change up for variants in the future. In my younger years, I would Laugh in the Face of Flu! Every year when the season surrounded me with complaining patients, I would Scoff derisively at their puny immune systems, arrogant about my own, and sure as hell didn’t wear a Mask. I was SuperNurse and in all those years I never caught the flu virus.

It was After I retired, when all exposure to germy humanity was minimal, that Influenza got me. I discounted the symptoms, calling it a ‘bad cold’ for a while, until I coughed so hard I couldn’t breathe, ran a fever to 103, sweated it off, and finally showed up at the doctor with pneumonia…good nurse… I was sick for over a month and my lungs have never been the same… This old lady gets a flu shot now…

What I saw of Covid looked like pneumonia on steroids…or should I say off steroids…and I’m not sure I would survive it.

Anyway, that’s the big excitement this week, other than last night’s snow. It’s a pretty snow, about two inches of it outlining the tree branches and just covering the ground. The bird feeders are busier than ever as the temperatures go arctic, so we’re making sure there’s plenty for everyone.

I’m going to make some potato soup and get back to my new project: I’ve torn down the upstairs in order to clean and it looks like there’s plenty of filth to keep me busy for a couple of weeks as we make our way through Winter.

Peace