(Sunday Paper, Year VI, Issue 20)

Allow me to start with a disclaimer: Everyone’s body is different and reacts differently to whatever is introduced.

That’s part of why I’m a little wary whenever people talk about how badly the second dose of the vaccine knocked them for a loop - you probably only hear about worst-case scenarios, it doesn’t necessarily mean everyone will have that reaction, and it might do more harm than good (discouraging people from getting vaccinated).

So, that said, I’d like to share with you my experience getting my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine this week.

And I think I’ll share it in interview form just because that feels like it might be more fun.

TL;DR (that’s ‘Too Long:Didn’t Read’, for those of you who’ve not seen that before. The abbreviation comes before a one-line summary of a long post, and it’s an internet shorthand that’s been around for a while but I recently found out some people don’t know what it means. So….TL;DR): My reaction was neither great nor terrible.

Hi John. What did you do to prepare for the second shot?

Well, everyone talked so much about staying hydrated so I made sure to drink lots of water all weekend. The shot was scheduled for 10:48 Monday morning, so I did that work over the weekend, drinking and drinking all day Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday morning I went for my long run, too. I was going to run nine miles but it started to get hot and I was sweating and I thought maybe I was going to end up dehydrated, so I cut that run short at seven miles.

Hm. Sounds like maybe you’re using the shot as a lame excuse for not completing a training run?

Well, I….hey, wait a second. Is this an interview about my running or about my experience with the second shot?

Right. OK, fair enough. Tell us about the actual experience getting the shot.

Well, it’s a really smooth operation at the Hynes Convention Center. You may remember my first shot was on Patriots’ Day, a holiday here in Massachusetts, so I parked on the street in Boston and didn’t have to worry about traffic and stuff. On Monday I took advantage of the free parking in the Prudential garage and walked right in - early for my appointment, even - had no wait, got the shot, waited out my 15-minute observational period, and was on my way.

Did you come right home?

Yeah, what do you mean? I didn’t go sightseeing or anything. (Although I did see something being filmed outside the Fairmont Copley - I didn’t see any actors or anything but it was a cool set-up.)

No, I mean did you go right to the car after your observational time was up?

What does that have to do with anything?

I’m just asking. You don’t have to tell us anything you don’t want to.

OK. Fine. I had to use the bathroom at Hynes because I’d been drinking so much water all weekend. Do people really need to know that?

We’re just trying to paint a full picture here. OK. What about the rest of that day?

Monday was fine. I guess I felt a little fatigued later in the day but I had also been up since a little after 5 in the morning - I did my exercising early since I wasn’t sure what I’d be able to do in the afternoon - so I don’t know if it was fatigue or I was just sleepy. But later in the day - maybe 4 or 5 o’clock? That’s when my arm started to feel sore. Kathy posited that maybe I did indeed have COVID last year if the shot wasn’t having a reaction. It wasn’t until overnight that I wasn’t feeling great.

Ooh, tell us about that.

Why do you say ooh? What, are you waiting for the bad stuff? I feel like that’s a little unprofessional.

Answer the question.

It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.

You’re going to lose the audience here. Just tell us about Monday overnight.

OK, fine. Monday night I went to bed a little after 9, I guess. Not too early but not super late. I felt fine. Then I was up at around 3 in the morning just parched. I got up to get some water, used the bathroom, and I could tell something was off. I was on and off with sleep the rest of the morning and just felt a little rotten on Tuesday. Nothing terrible - I could do stuff during the day like take the kids to school and appointments but I would rather lay in bed. So I did that most of the day when I could. I had that pain behind the eyes - I don’t know if everyone gets this…do you know what I’m talking about?

Well, I’m you, so yes. I get that. But you might need to do a better job of describing it.

OK. I get it when I have a fever I guess. If I roll my eyes in any direction, there’s kind of a slight pain behind my eyes. I had that all of Tuesday. It felt like I had a fever but I never actually had a fever. And then I went to bed early on Tuesday night. And that was about it.

Did you sweat?

Huh?

Was there sweat?

Um, yeah, actually. That’s a weird question but I guess I forgot to mention - Tuesday night I woke up one time in the night and I was just drenched in sweat. I had to change shirts. And then later in the day on Wednesday that shirt was still wet. And then weirdly on Wednesday I was a little more sweaty in normal activities than usual.

That’s gross.

You asked the question.

Well, I didn’t know you sweated that much. OK. Last question. Do you still think you had COVID?

I really have no idea. There are so many unknowns in this whole thing that I’m glad that I at least know this: I’m vaccinated. I am looking forward to letting these next couple of weeks pass and letting the vaccine kick in and seeing some people I love and moving on with life again kind of like we used to. Except a little safer, I guess.

Thank you for your time.

I mean, I was going to write this anyway, but thank you.

Notes

*OK. A few things to tell you about before we wrap things up for the week…

Yeah, we know - follow you on Twitter, Like the page on Facebook if you haven’t already….

I thought the interview was over.

I mean, I’m here anyway, so I might as well finish the entire post with you.

Yeah, I suppose that’s true. So do those links work or do I need to provide the Twitter and Facebook links?

No, they work. I think you forgot to mention one other vaccine-related item.

I didn’t forget. You just didn’t ask the right question.

Do you have anything else to add that’s vaccine-related?

Well, on Saturday I was back at Hynes to get the first shot for my older two daughters, since they became eligible for vaccines this week. That’s exciting.

So what else you got? Doing any comedy these days, funny boy?

Why do you say it like that? You’re kind of a mean version of me. No, it’s been slow in that department. But shows are coming back, and now that I’m fully vaccinated maybe I should start seeing what’s out there. It was kind of sad being at Hynes and looking across Boylston Street at a few of the venues that used to house shows that are now closed down.

Any running updates this week? (Like people care.)

Hey! They seem to care. It’s a big deal. I’ve never done something like run a marathon before. And yes, I will provide an update. First of all, my brother reminded me about Strava, so I booted that app back up. I had been using it for those 5Ks I ran back in the fall. So I’ll use it now to track my training. Feel free to connect on there if you want to share runs. (I’m also much more freewheeling in handing out Strava kudos than on any other social media for some reason. Maybe because running is hard.)

As for running, I did my shorter run on Wednesday this week, since I had the shot on Monday. And then on Friday I did my long run because I knew we had a busy weekend - I ran more than ten miles, so that’s kind of a big deal.

I hope you didn’t sweat too much.

Oh, I see. Finish back where we started. While I still think you’re mean…that’s kind of a classic John writing move. Nice work.