I got the vaccine. Now what?

I received my Covid-19 vaccine on Sunday, March 21st.  I had become eligible for the vaccine based on D.C. guidelines (due to my asthma) in late February.  It took a few weeks to get an appointment due to the continued high demand and low supply.  Getting the email that it was my time to schedule the vaccine appointment felt like winning the lottery and I was even more excited to snag a Johnson & Johnson vaccine. 

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is one dose and based on what I’ve read and learned the efficacy level of over 70% (and much higher for warding off a serious case of Covid-19) was the ticket for me.  I received my shot about 11am on Sunday and besides some soreness at the shot location, I was doing fine throughout the day.  I started feeling tired and achy and had a headache beginning about 7pm that evening.  An hour later, after putting Luna to bed, I could feel side effects worsening and I took some Tylenol and crawled into bed.  I had a very restless night of no sleep and was feverish with alternating colds and sweats and ever-increasing headache.  By noon Monday my fever had faded and by the time I went to sleep Monday night I was feeling back to normal, though with lingering tiredness from the sleepless night before.  It was a rough 24 hours, but well worth it.

We have vaccinated our children on a slightly delayed schedule, and I typically forgo the flu vaccine (including this year), but I was on board with receiving the Covid-19 vaccine from the beginning.  The disruption to the world and to each individual life has been so immense for the past year that I never resisted taking the vaccine.  I believe the vaccine is available to save my life and for the greater good of herd immunity and saving other lives as well. 

I believe weakened supports from a mental trauma led me to an asthma complicated upper respiratory illness in Fall 2019.  I was briefly hospitalized in December 2019 with difficulty breathing and low oxygen saturation levels.  It was a significant and frightening experience. I maintained regular visits to my primary care doctor into March 2020 and still continue a daily regimen of treatments to prevent relapse.

For the past twelve months I haven’t fully trusted my health.  I’ve worked out more regularly and in significant ways, but I’ve also purposefully sworn off running, outdoor or endurance fitness activities – worried it could trigger an asthma attack that would send me to the emergency room where I would be more likely to contract Covid-19. 

That said, I haven’t been an absolute-ist.  I find great mental health concern in that too.  Our family formed a bubble with neighbors, and we sent our kids back to school and outside child-care when the opportunity arose.  We flew to Texas last summer to spend a month quarantined at my parent’s house to enjoy the lake and the wide-open spaces.  We’ve taken calculated risks, but adhere close to CDC guidelines. 

Personally, I’m slowly gaining trust and hope with my own health.  Once I’m two weeks past my shot, I plan to lace up my sneakers and go for that first intrepid run in over a year.  Slow and easy.

For years my yoga centering was focused on the breath, but the breath centered opening became a trigger for me and others.  I changed to a centering that mostly involves gentle movement of head, neck and shoulder – though I’ve recently begun bringing breath awareness back in.  For a while I was triggered going on walks too, but over the year I refocused as I sought out walking with friends for the connection versus the exercise.

I know triggers will continue and the reformatting and unlearning of pandemic ways will take time, but as more and more are vaccinated, I’m romantically optimistic for what is ahead.  I hope we all can be.  My work in therapy was much around learning that risk is inherent – we can not negate all risk – but we must learn strategies to cope and maneuver with the traumas (of which this pandemic is one) we’ve been through.