My #2nddose 2nd dose of #pfizer #PrimaryImmunodeficiency
My 2nd vaccine was very much like my 1st. I got compliments on my cold shoulder top. The actual injection did not hurt and I was asked to wait 30 minutes again to make sure I do not have an allergic reaction. I giggled to myself overhearing several older people planning their weekends away and all the things they plan to do. I felt happy for them. I knew my path to normalcy would not be so clear or easy. I have an antibody deficiency disease. Am I even making antibodies to this vaccine? Would my T cell response to the vaccine be enough protection? These are all questions researchers will be looking to answer. I had also already scheduled an appointment with my infectious disease doctor in April to see how I made out with the vaccine. Overconfidence with this virus is dangerous. Slow and careful has been my approach to the pandemic & it has taken me this far. As one fellow primary immune deficiency patient put it, In past pandemics like the 1918 Spanish flu, how many primary immune patients could have survived? How many patients like us could have survived even without a pandemic back then? All our medical science & technology has been invaluable to patients like us. I called our grandkids on the way home to let them know grandma will be playing with them outside soon. They are too little to understand really but I have even dreamed of just being able to play with them again without fear of this virus. I know two weeks from now even if not fully covered by the vaccine I will be the safest I have been in a long time.
Later that night my arm was sore again. I struggled through a Zumba workout and went to bed. In the morning my neck & head hurt, but I am a migraine sufferer so I can't attribute it to the vaccine with any certainty. With some ice on my neck and Tylenol, I felt better within the hour. By later that night my arm felt better and I was able to resume all normal activities.