immune response

COVID vaccine! And the week after

declutteringthestuff Life Happens, Pandemic Life ,

We both received our 2nd vaccine shot on 19 Feb. We are grateful for the ability to get the vaccine as educators.

When kiddo #2 received her second Pfizer shot, she missed 2 days of work due to her immune response so we were expecting the worse and hoping for the best since we were getting Moderna.

John almost never gets sick – he must have a really robust immune system! I, on the other hand, catch everything that wanders into my classroom. I am basically fighting something from about week 2 of school until we finally end in May/June. After all these years, you would think I’ve caught every germ already! This last 11 months of self-isolation have been amazing from this standpoint – I’ve not been sick since last March 2020! I was dreading this second shot.

We finished teaching at noon on Friday and had the second shot done by 1:15. It was very organized for the entire process. We decided to skip Fancy Friday for this week.

Friday:

  • John – no symptoms
  • Barb – headache and arm soreness started about 5pm

Saturday:

  • John woke about 6 am feeling tired (not his usual!) and arm soreness but no fever. As the day went on, John felt feverish (99.5), took a nap and was feeling normal
  • Barb – chills started about 2 am, by 8 am fever was 101.7, body aches, tiredness – I basically slept all day. My arm now had a goose egg sized red spot. Tenderness doesn’t even begin to describe it! Took all I had to drink 8 ounces of water.

Sunday:

  • John back to normal with some arm tenderness.
  • Barb still running a fever (100.6), arm soreness, and fatigue. My immune response is still in overdrive. I was able to get up for a little while but after about 30 minutes on the couch, I had to go back to bed.

Monday:

  • John’s arm is still tender but only when he touches it. No soreness when moving his arm.
  • Barb on the other hand, still running a slight fever in the morning, arm goose egg finally goes down in size. Fatigue and sweating is driving me crazy! Finally feeling “normal” by evening. This has been like having the flu – I can’t even imagine what having COVID would be like if this is my body’s response to the vaccine.

Tuesday:

  • John’s arm doesn’t hurt at all – everything back to normal
  • Barb still tired. Arm still hurts to move it and swelling is decreasing. I have to sit through a district meeting – I really wanted a nap by lunch but can’t.

By Thursday, my tiredness and headache is still lingering and my arm is tender. My immune response lasted a full week. Friday everything was back to normal but by Friday night I was exhausted! I was in bed by 9:30!

Moral of the story: John had typical response and Barb’s immune response went crazy – I keep imagining what my body’s response would have been if I had COVID.