Not So Fast

I guess that theory is blown. I had assumed that because both Jeff and I had Covid so bad at the start of the pandemic that we would be immune from the side effects of the vaccines. Not so.

This morning after I looked up why Jeff is so sick here, it seems a previous bout of Covid means a harsher reaction. The exact opposite of what I assumed. Which just confirms what I had already suspected. I am not an epidemiologist. Nor do I play one on t.v. . Shocking, I know.

We’d both had the first jab in the past month. And it was no problem. Sore arm. I took a nap and woke up just fine. Jeff is a week ahead of me so he was summoned to get his second shot yesterday, and we toddled on down the road to the HULA in Lugo. In and out in 20 minutes. Just like before. No long lines that we see in the Vaccodromes in the paper.

We’ve been told that the second shot can be worse than the first. Our Ryan was ill for 36 hours or so. So we know people who felt sicker with the second one. I figured our immune systems would say ‘Oh yeah, I remember you.’ And it would just deal with it lickety-split. Not so fast.

Jeff started getting sick while driving on the way back from the hospital. We had an appointment to stop at our new gestoria to sign our tax documents, and by the time we got home he sounded like he had a frog in his throat. The headache and aches started. He’s asleep now after being up all night with a fever and chills, feeling like his bones are going to break.

He got Pfizer and I know there is no virus in any of the mRNA vaccines. But this was like a flashback to what he looked like last year in March of 2020. It’s always harder for me when he is sick than when it’s me. What I’m reading online says he will be fine 24 hours from now. It says that the more severe the reaction, the more antibodies you are generating. After getting the full course of the vaccine and having Covid, Jeff should be topped up with antibodies. Maybe he could sell them on EBay.

I just got the notification for mine next Wednesday at 8:30am. Perhaps it’s good we are a week apart so we can help each other. I know it will be fine but it’s a bit unsettling. A reminder of how much worse it could be if we didn’t have these vaccines. And to appreciate it much more when this whole pandemic is finally over for the world.

We are all so exhausted but in Spain, we are almost to the finish line. As a country we are nearing the 50% mark of people with at least one shot. And in Galicia we are well past that. Approaching 60% of the population. Jeff and I are amongst that group, for which I am incredibly grateful.

Time for his next Paracetamol. And maybe popsicles. It’s a rainy, cold day in Palas de Rei. Like Seattle. Thunder and lightning. The perfect weather to be sick and hold up in bed. Jeff will appreciate it when the sun comes out next week, just that much more. We both will. Just a little further and we’ll all arrive on the other side. Together.