Booster shot of Pfizer, also gets its own post
I’m in the higher risk category at the moment, working to get out of that category (on the physical side,) but losing the weight at 48 seems to be about 2x harder than it was at 41. I’m also in a higher risk job where I’m in offices working with several medical staff (tenants at my work,) in a town that’s chucking Pfizer vaccines down the drain because people aren’t getting them. I’m conflicted about getting this at this point – and I’d rather have waited for the crossover study completion, but no lines and wasted vaccines drew me in.
TL;DR – lowest side effects thus far, there’s also no Android news I can find this morning that’s interesting.
At 6 months since my last Pfizer shot I know two people who had breakthrough infections (both mild,) and my kids have been around three confirmed cases. Booster shot for free is pretty much a non issue for me.
You can read about the previous shots here, here, and some of the search terms (such as how to get rid of a vaccine when it’s in your system,) that have come in here.
10/1 I was eligible. I had no particular plans to go and get a booster shot at the drive through center (my last experience getting a test for my covid-exposed kiddo at those was a 2+ hour ordeal,) but a new center had opened up smack dab between my work and my house. I drove by it after dropping my kiddos at school multiple times, hadn’t even noticed it until I got notified by the VAERS check-in that I was at 6 months. There was 1 car in the lot at 8:10am. I didn’t feel I was going to be a problem.
I pulled in, all I had was the photocopy Staples had made and laminated of my vaccine card. I think the originals are sitting in a bag somewhere that I took to Oregon. Tennessee has nothing that requires proof of vaccination other than various free donuts, beer, and other rewards businesses offer for looking out for your fellow citizen/their customer base.
I told the person I didn’t have the original, that this was a very obvious photocopy (the original had thermal stickers, Staples said they’d turn black in the lamination,) completely unable to be written on, but also only had two spaces for dates and dose info. Didn’t matter. I was asked to destroy the original card if I could find it. It’s somewhere.
Third dose in, I was actually surprised on this one because I’d felt the previous two (barely,) and I watched this time and didn’t feel this one. I was in an out in about 20 minutes (15 minutes they requested I wait to make sure I didn’t have an adverse reaction.) I spent the 15 minutes learning that the Oculus Quest 2 does not work particularly well in my car. I mean, it’s not designed for that, but yeah, nothing quite worked right and motion tracking was off (I was parked guys, car off, 5 cars in a lot the size of a Costco at this point.)
Side note, I poked my arm with a sharp thing later because I literally did not feel this one. I do not have nerve damage. I am not at a lower pain threshold than I used to be – just a very fine needle.
Day 1)
First side effects, or completely random illness hit me at 8 hours in, lasted maybe three hours, went away without any medication. Included very slight headache, feeling a little like I had fizzy tasteless soda on my tongue for a couple of hours (loss of taste or allergic feeling for me,) and then gone. Pretty much no issues that I could nail down were excessively annoying and had I taken a Tylenol I’d have probably not even noticed.
Day 2)
I felt a little hot but had no fever. Checked my temp a couple of times just because I was curious. No fever, in normal range. Could have been environmental but felt like something in me was ever so slightly off (then again, you look for side effects, you find them.) I was grumpy as all getout but I can’t pin my mood on physical circumstances so much as maybe it had to do with cleaning for several hours only to have kiddos wreck the place in ten seconds and the weather was terrible.
Random note – taking the Band-Aid off did not hurt, but it hurt worse than the shot did. Oh, there was a little soreness if I poked my arm right where the shot was. Noticeable but I wasn’t wall checking people so nothing.
Day 3)
This point I think my body said it’s go time. Felt ok all day, but that feeling of being too warm popped back, I sweated when I would not have expected to, drank lots of water. Walked about 4 miles chasing kiddos on bikes. No particular notice that anything other than I felt warm, was a little too sweaty, eh.
Maybe I’m fluffy, but I think it was vaccine related. Looking back at Dose 2 I was a sweaty guy in 40f degree weather that day as well. Oh, dose 1 as well. Let’s just say I consider this my “this is the vaccine and I know it” side effect at this point. This also involves oily ears which I assume is my immune system’s notification that it’s working now.
Yeah, sexy I know. So 2 days post shot I have a standing/running reaction that involves my sweating a bit.
I was dehydrated (mildly,) at this point. I was drinking my normal water intake, kidneys tended to be annoyed with me and I guess I should have upped it but really we’re talking side effects that were so mild I was not really feeling them.
Day 4)
Day four I woke up half an hour before my alarm and actually wanted to get out of bed. That’s strange. What I’d consider my baseline normal at noon was at 5am.
During the last rounds I had insomnia and weird dreams. This round I had waking up and a general feeling of unease about the world that I couldn’t pin on anything. Could be weather related but sleep issues I generally know what causes them.
I’ll update this if anything interesting happens. My second round involved nothing happening from this day until day 7 when I felt like it was hard to breathe and like I had a mild hangover. Looks like first round at day 5 or 6 was when I noticed the breathing was a little meh. We shall see. Breathing today 10 out of 10, would recommend.
Days 5-10)
Pretty much nothing. The only thing I recall during the time was that my nose got completely stuffy for 40 minutes out of nowhere while I was asleep. Woke up because I could not breathe through my nose. I guess a hard-to-breathe symptom, but last time felt like being short of breath, this time was just “what did I snort while I was asleep?”
