Fighting Covid-19 In 2021 Starts With Getting Vaccinated

My fresh start for 2021 begins with getting the Covid-19 vaccination. It was two days before New Year's Eve when I got the call. A close friend who just so happens to be a nurse called me asking if I was interested in getting the vaccine.

I told her, "well, I haven't given it a whole lot of thought just yet," considering the vaccination scheduling protocol. It just so happens she told me that there was an extra vaccine left over from that day's vaccinations that would be going bad in six hours, and there was no-one scheduled to use it.

I hemmed and hauled around for about half an hour trying to decide. I thought I had plenty of time before making the decision, but here it was the moment of truth.

Did I want to see the vaccine go to waste...No. So I put on a brave face and took my friend up on the offer. Was I scared? Hell yes, I was. This is a new vaccine that little was known about.

I told myself it is either take the gamble with the vaccination, or risk eventually getting exposed to COVID-19. That I knew was for sure extremely dangerous because hundreds of people across the world had already died from this dreaded virus.

My friend met me an hour later and administered the shot into my left arm. Was I still scared...yep, but it was too late now. The so-called miracle vaccine was now coursing its way thru my veins.

Now, what to do? I waited the allotted time to make sure I was not going to have an immediate allergic reaction to the medication. I talked with my friend about the side effects and how others have felt since receiving their first shots.

She revealed to me that most had little to no side effects from the first dose at all. Those who did suffer from a sore arm, mild headache, and some fatigue. Ok, I thought to myself, cool...I can handle that.

Within a couple of hours since receiving my first jab, my arm began to throb and I was feeling very tired. So I took a couple of Tylenol and went to be. The next day I awoke with an extremely sore arm, was a little tired and that was it.

Whew! I was so relieved. The first shot was a piece of cake. Now I was to get my second dose of the Moderna vaccine in late January and my friend said she would call me.

On January 26th my friend phone asking me to come to see her on January 28 at ten am. Now I have to admit since receiving my first dose and scheduling the second I had read a lot about the second dose.

All of which stated that the second dose side effects were very unpleasant. Great I thought to myself. So between the 26th and 28th I prepared myself for what was to potentially come following the shot.

Everything I had researched revealed that 80 percent of second dosers felt terrible. They had a headache, sore arm, fever, chills, extreme body aches, and fatigue.

So just to be safe I cleaned my house, caught up my laundry, and bought my groceries ahead of my appointment. I made sure that I had some comfort foods such as soup, jello, sherbert. You know the same things you would want if you had a case of the flu.

Day of I made sure to change my bedding and making plans to spend a couple of days in bed. Glad I did because the next few days were kind of rough for me.

This is how the next 48 hours went for me. Within an hour after getting my second jab I began to feel a little strange. I had a dull headache. The kind that reminds you of a mild hangover after a great night out.

I put on my comfy PJs and went to bed. I began to feel the fatigue coming on and then about ten hours after the shot BOOM it hit me hard. I was extremely fatigued, my arm was swollen and sore and the body aches were growing intense.

More Tylenol and lots of water round the clock. However, I felt worse and worse as the next day went on. I was chilling, my fever spike to 102 and it was a major effort to roll over in bed. My arms and legs felt as if they weighed a couple of hundred pounds apiece.

Friday night was miserable. I felt bad like I had one of the worst cases of flu ever. The entire night as I felt horrible I kept thinking OMG...You did this to yourself. You knew ahead of time how it might make you feel and now here you are.

The night seemed to drag on forever. Somehow I did manage to get some sleep. When I woke up Saturday morning I was feeling better. By afternoon I was mostly back to normal and took myself to Arbys' drive-thru for a sandwich and a milkshake.

By Saturday night other than the sore arm I felt as if nothing had ever happened. Now after having had time to think about it I have to say I am not regretting getting the vaccination at all.

Sure I hated feeling sick, but when I think about how bad I felt for just a day or two compared to actually getting COVID it was worth it to me anyway.

I will not be covered fully for another two weeks and even then it is only 95 percent. There is still that tiny 5 percent that COVID could find me and creep into my system. Hope not, but, still a slight chance.

How will this be my FRESH Start, well, I feel more protected against COVID-19. Will this change how I live my life in 2021? No, I will still mask up when I go out in public, still remain socially distant.

I will remain faithfully washing my hands and disinfecting my home. What has changed is that I feel more protected and happy that by getting the vaccination I can not only keep myself safe from the virus but everyone around me.

I am not here to judge or try and convince you to run out and get the vaccination. I believe it is everyone's personal choice and an important decision for you to make on your own.

I just hope by sharing my experience with the COVID-19 vaccination process will help everyone who is struggling themselves in making the decision to vaccinate or not.

For me Fresh Start 2021 as far as it goes for the COVID-19 vaccination I have no regrets at this time and hope to look forward to a covid free 2021.