Tuesday, February 15, 2022
My medical appointments for this week were made before we knew that Linda’s hip replacement surgery was moved up to January instead of February. Still, I felt I really needed to keep them (it was easier than trying to rescheduled). And we needed eggs from Ron at the Alameda Farmers’ Market. So I got up early enough to get to Alameda, find off-site parking (at the old 99-cent discount store two blocks away), and walk to the farmers’ market just before 9 o’clock. I was early enough to get there before all the jumbo eggs were sold out, so I got 5 dozen.
I then went back to the car and put the eggs in then went into the discount store where I spent 8 dollars on “stuff” I didn’t need. I didn’t think there was an odd smell about the store (like Linda thinks) but there was definitely something that set off my allergies with watery eyes, a runny nose, and even sneezes!
10:35 a.m.
I got to the San Leandro medical facility with enough lead time to search for parking and finally decide to park in “the back 40” in the farthest row so that I could find it easily when I came out. I really had to go to the bathroom and didn’t know whether or not the restrooms inside the hospital were open to patients. Fortunately, they were; so I did that before going up to the 3rd floor where the Adult Injection room was located.
When the practitioner called me, I followed her to a room where two sites were located. When I asked her about side effects, she said, “Take off your jacket and we’ll talk about that.” That sounded ominous!
“I rarely, if ever, get any side effects from any vaccinations,” I told her. “COVID, flu shots, nothing.”
“That’s what everyone says,” she told me, “but the shingles vaccine is very powerful. Be prepared to have side effects!” She went on to describe flu-like symptoms, fever, soreness, body aches, and told me to take Tylenol for pain.
After the injection she put an adhesive spot on the injection site then put a cold pack on my arm. “Put your jacket on,” she said, “and that will hold it in place. But when the coldness wears off, use another ice pack. This one is not reusable.”
She gave me an information sheet for the “Shingrix Zoster Injection” and told me to come back for the second injection after April 15. “You don’t have to make an appointment for the second injection,” she said. “Just walk in.”
I stopped at the Kaiser Pharmacy because Linda asked me to get some Neosporin for her. All they had was Neosporin spray, not the gel in a tube. Later that night, Linda told me she took it out of the package and tried to use it but it wouldn’t work. So, since it “wasn’t working anyway,” she took it apart and then put it back together. And then it worked just fine!
Wednesday, February 16, 2022, 2:30 p.m.
I felt fine on Tuesday night after the shingles vaccine, not even any injection site soreness, so I drove to Union City for my acupuncture appointment #12 with Sophie. My last ones were December 16 (#11), October 21 (#10), and July 14 (#9). They don’t seem to be limiting me to 10 individual appointments like it was when I started in 2018.
I started out at 1:30 p.m. to give plenty of time to drive there and find a parking place and walk in. Sophie wasn’t as chatty as usual. I told her that Linda had just had her hip replacement surgery and that I had a shingles vaccine yesterday. She was more focused on getting her daughters fully vaccinated. But she said she was “overdue” for her shingles vaccine but she thought she’d get it on a Friday when she would have all weekend to recuperate.
I was not as comfortable as usual on the acupuncture table and I started feeling worse on the way home. However, we had our Zoom chat with Alex at 5 p.m. After that, I took a Tylenol with my evening medicines. I was feeling like I had a low-grade fever and my body ached all over. So I bundled up while I ate supper and settled in to watch General Hospital and Dateline.
On Thursday morning, I felt much better, but I took another Tylenol anyway.
