I may be feeling flu-ish and my left arm itches like crazy, but who cares. After nearly a year of aspiring, I have leaped every hurdle on the obstacle course to Shingrix and gotten both the recommended shingles shots.
It was one of those decisions that’s easy to make and hard to implement. Kind of like sketching your dream house on a cocktail napkin and then actually building it.
The madness started with the doctor giving his usual spiel to over-50 patients last fall about the horrors of shingles and extolling the virtues of this new vaccine (SO much better than the shot you already had).
It was an easy sell. I had already come down with the shingles once, despite the shot I already had– a mild case, maybe thanks to the vaccine.
Back then, even though it was a mild case, I’d Googled all the bad things that could happen and imagined they were happening to me. I also became a magnet for stories about others who had contracted shingles. I had not collected so many horror stories since my first pregnancy, when I was unlucky enough to be working in a newsroom and privy to every wire story that came in about birth defects.
So I was primed to get this new miracle shot. The problem was, after the doctor’s compelling pitch, he also admitted that he had none of this wondrous new vaccine and didn’t know anyone else who was stocking it but call around.
With that, I got on the waiting list for every pharmacy I could think of and prayed I’d get a call. Or not get a call because the other problem is that side effects can range from nothing to 2-3 days with flu-ish symptoms, to in rare cases, call 9-1-1. And what do you do if you’re about to take your trip of a lifetime or are in the middle of a particularly over-scheduled week and suddenly get “the call”?
I knew what I’d do: drive myself crazy trying to do “the right thing.” Take the shot and have to cancel the trip? Take the shot and have to cancel the speech? And to make things worse, I’d have to drive myself crazy twice because two to six months after the first shot, there’s a required second shot … and also a waiting list.
To be fully prepared for the moment of decision, I checked with friends who’d somehow managed to get one or both of these miracle shots, and checked on their side effects.
“Arm as big as a baseball,” said one about Shot #1, “but I could still function.”
“A kick in the butt but not for 24 hours,” said another about Shot #2.
After months on the waiting list, I got the first call, checked my calendar, and told them I could be there in two days if they could hold it. To my surprise, they agreed.
I’m embarrassed to say that Shot #1 was a yawn despite the request that I stay in the store (and please feel free to shop) for 20 minutes in case I had a reaction. My arm – and the rest of me – were fine.
The call for Shot #2, two months later, could not have come at a better time. I had sentenced myself to stay home and work on projects for the next two days anyway.
I’m still waiting for the “kick in the butt.” Meanwhile, I’m strictly following advice not to over-exert myself. No exercise or taxing work projects for at least a few days. You just can’t be too careful.
Copyright 2019 Pat Snyder
