Having reached a certain age, and having heard the horror stories of a certain number of people who fell victim to shingles, I jumped at the chance to get the shingles vaccine series as soon as my primary care system recommended it. I have never had any reaction to any vaccine – including all the COVID and flu shots I’ve gotten over the years – so I didn’t really pay much attention to the warning that came with this series of two shots.
By the time evening rolled around after my first dose, I was feeling fever-y, chilly, achy, and sweaty all at once. Tossing and turning trying to get comfortable, nothing worked until exhaustion put me out deep into the morning. When I went back for the second one, I asked if it would be just as bad. The nurse reassured me that most people only had a bad reaction to the first OR the second, never both. Being the difficult ass I so often like to be, I had to be contrary here too, so when the second night rolled around, the same fucking thing hit me, and hard. I was shivering and shaking because I was so cold, followed minutes later by a sweaty overheating menopausal scene where I couldn’t get out of clothes and bedding fast enough, only to have the trembling and freezing chills come back a minute later. This roller coaster, unmitigated by the Tylenol that was recommended, continued once again well into the morning, and I’m still not sure how I functionally performed at work in the office the next day.
So for this morning, you don’t get a cowboy post until later, because I’m spent and going back to bed. Here’s some split pea soup I made out of a hambone left over from our recent dinner party. Soup soothes the stomach and the soul – something for the booty and the mind at the same time.
