It’s been 8 months since I had my 2nd Pfizer shot and it’s been awhile since I’ve done any update. Really there wasn’t much to update until recently. We stayed healthy since the pandemic hit. March 11th of 2020 is when the county we lived in (in California) shut down. Then we moved in July of 2020 across the US to MA. Jacob did online schooling for his freshman year of high school, so September 2020 through June of 2021.
Over the Summer Jacob and I discussed him returning to full time in person class and how we wanted to handle it. The area we live in is pro masking and all that, but at Jacob’s age (15 now, he will be 16 in February) he does stand to take quite a hit if he were to get COVID. Going back to in person class means a higher chance of being exposed, plus he wanted to travel a bit with me (we went to Polish & Beauty Expo) and I wasn’t comfortable having him travel without receiving the vaccine.
Aside from seasonal allergies, he has no health issues or known medical issues. He completed his vaccination the week before PBE and his reactions were fairly similar to mine, however his “downtime” with a fever and joint aches after the second shot only lasted him about 8 hours (mine lasted 2 days) and then he was good to go.
Sorry this post is going to be a little all over the place.
Over the last month at work, we have been booking a lot of patients from other countries that will be visiting our center for treatment. I won’t disclose the name of the medical facility I work at, but we are very specialized and one of the only facilities that deal with a certain medical condition in a non surgical way, so we have people who fly in from all over the world. Now that things are opening up – this is happening again – so our boss has urged all employees to get the Pfizer Booster (we all had Pfizer at work) due to increase risk since patients do not have to quarantine and can walk in directly after getting off the plane.
Not only are we dealing with people flying in, but even local people… we don’t know where they’ve been or who they’ve been in contact with. So it was urged, but not required.
On October 4th I went to my local CVS to get my Pfizer Booster. I got the shot around 11:15 on Monday, October 4th and although the shot itself hurt a little and my arm felt like I was sucker punched yet again… I felt okay the rest of the day. No fever, no headache. Just a sore arm
I woke up on Tuesday, October 5th and had a fever and every joint in my body was both sore and stiff. I didn’t feel as awful as I did after the 2nd Pfizer shot – but I still felt it. On Wednesday I did return to work, a bit stiff and walking like an old lady, but the fever was gone and I was functional.
Around the time Jacob is on the bus to head home (about 1:55pm) he texts me saying he has a stuffy nose and a sore throat. Jacob does have seasonal allergies so we weren’t sure if it was allergies since he said he doesn’t feel like he has a fever. It could also be a run of the mill cold. But I looked in our area for rapid test sites just in case – and none are available. So I decided to pick up the at home COVID tests at CVS.
Even though the likelihood of it being a cold or allergies is high – I don’t want to be that a$$hole sending her kid to school cause “I’m pretty sure it’s just allergies” so I bought 2 boxes (there are 2 tests in each, so a total of 4 tests) at my local CVS. I will be going back to pick up 2 more because they are good to have just in case.
We did the at home test and it’s negative. The test was easy to use but you do need to follow instructions. When Jacob is feeling better I might do a step by step of testing for the at home kit.
The at home kit required I do a nose swab – both nostrils for 15 seconds, then laying the swab on the lower end of a test strip and wait for 1 line (negative) or 2 lines (postive) to appear. This reminded me of a pregnancy test, minus the whole pee thing, so when it came back 1 line I yelled out “NOT PREGNANT!” and then Nick looked a little worried.
So there we have it. I have my third shot done, Jacob is vaccinated and we had our first COVID possibility and we got to use the COVID at home test for the first time.
Jacob is doing better. I kept him home Thursday and Friday (a fever kicked in late Wednesday night) and now he’s stuffy and the sore throat is gone but a cough has taken its place. We did a second COVID test just in case, and he’s still not pregnant, so it’s all good.
And I’m sorry if you don’t like the not pregnant references, I make jokes out of relief and that’s the one in our house. If you saw the test strip, its just like a pregnancy test and you WILL question if you see a faint second line or not.
I do urge you to get at home kits whether you are vaccinated or not. They were $23.96 at CVS for 2 tests per kit (so about $12 a pop) and out here they have a max of 4 boxes to buy. I will go over the test in another post just to show how easy it is to do.
Now I’m hoping I don’t get Jacob’s cold – but it’s been a busy week here, which is why I’ve been so quiet.
Now I’m working on more posts, so have a great rest of your day.
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9 comments
Your “energetic little boy” is pushing 16, so you could update your bio.
I can’t understand how you find “comfortable” being injected exo-genes. Those genes will never leave you system.
I had Covid twice, survived without long or short problems, and I’m 66.
Congratulations on surviving. Many other people have not and will not. I don’t understand why you are using a beauty blog as the site for your misinformed fearmongering.
My little boy will always be my little boy, that never changes. The age of my “energetic little boy” doesn’t impact my reviews or my content, so that really shouldn’t matter.
I know several people (not just heard of, actually know) that had COVID just once and didn’t survive, or survived and 3, 6, or 8 months later are still living with effects from it. I’m glad you survived, but not everyone is as lucky.
I’m loving these updates, thank you so much for sharing your experiences and information with us! I’m just past the 6 month mark of my second Moderna vaccine so I’m hoping to get my booster soon as I work directly with the public.
p.s. I’m happy to pump myself full of “exo-genes” if it helps keep me safe and helps dampen the spread of the virus!
I was fine getting it for me, and I said in a previous update that I was nervous about my son having it – and it took me a lot of back and forth to decide what to do. I do think we made the right decision for this household though. If it helps lessen the effects of Covid – then with the high rate of possible exposure Jacob faces at school, it was worth doing. Plus I gave him the choice too and he wanted to do it. Almost 80% of his school (staff and students) are vaccinated, and so far there hasn’t been a single “Your child may have been exposed” notice. Last year during the remote and hybrid (I think half the students were on hybrid) we got 2-3 notices a week.
Nick had gotten Moderna, but he works from home primarily so I don’t think he’ll get the booster unless it changes to needing to be in person.
Thank you for sharing, and thank you for shutting down misinformation. Your original posts were before I was eligible for a vaccine, and they gave me a reference point when my time came. It took courage to put yourself out there to the community, and I appreciate it.
Thank you Jessica – I’m glad it helped in some way. I appreciate you letting me know!
Hi, thank you for the update. I’ve been working from home for over 2 years now. A few weeks ago,my manager told us one of our co workers died of Covid. He felt bad on Tuesday, tested positive Thursday and died on Sunday. He was 35 with a baby due in a few weeks. He was healthy; no underlying health problems according to his family. He was not vaccinated.
Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry for his family’s loss. I couldn’t imagine, he’s younger than I am and with no underlying known health problems.. that was so quick :(
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