The COVID-19 Vaccine Kicked My Butt!

I was going to upload something else but after the kind of week I’ve had, I have to talk about it!

I’ve been trying to get the COVID-19 vaccine for months but it hasn’t been the easiest process. The first set of vaccines were “reserved” for the elderly, health and essential workers, or anybody in my constituency with the patience to beg. I know it was saner in other areas but not mine. I was shouted down at my center for being too young to take the vaccine so I left.

Fast forward to last week, which was a few months after the first batch of vaccines, my friend and I realized there was another batch being distributed and we made our way down very early to a health care center to get it. The entire process was stressful and took about four hours to just get the shot.

Now, the shot was completely painless. I’m not nervous around needles but I expected to feel something. My friend and I couldn’t even find the entry point after the shot and we thought we were lucky because most reports post-shot were very scary. We thought we were lucky but we didn’t know that was just the easy part.

I was strong enough to run other errands but towards evening, I felt it. I FELT IT.

My arm became so sore then my body started aching like I had been running all day. I immediately thought it was because of the stress of the day since I did most of it on an empty stomach.

By the time I was set for bed, I had a headache, full-blown fever, joint aches, a stuffed nose, a very sore arm, I was dizzy, and then I was restless. 

I went from being perfectly fine to feeling like I was experiencing malaria at its peak. I stayed in bed for what felt like hours praying for the morning but it was just 1 am. I had to push myself out of bed and force Panadol down my throat around 3 am for the crazy headache. It was only after I took the drug that I very slowly started feeling good enough to sleep. By morning, I was a tired mess. I only started feeling close to perfectly fine towards evening the day after the shot. 

During this whole thing, I was checking in with my friend to be sure I wasn’t transitioning to the great beyond but she was feeling the same way or maybe even worse because she couldn’t move at a point or raise her arm. That gave me comfort in a very weird way. 

The whole shot was painless but the side effects were crazy. Keep that in mind if you’re getting set to take the shot.

It’s been five days since my shot and my arm is still a little sore but I’m so ready to get the second dose and get it over with.