Tag Archives: health

Is This the Vaccine at Work?

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I go through an afternoon of flu-like symptoms and wonder whether it’s the vaccine actually working to fight COVID-19.

I’m curious.

I got my COVID-19 vaccine about a month ago. It was the Johnson & Johnson one-and-done vaccine that isn’t on the top of most people’s list of choices for getting vaccinated. Its efficacy is supposedly lower than the other two vaccines approved in the US — the two-dose Pfizer and Modera vaccines — and it recently was put on “pause” (and then resumed) when it was tied to blood clots in younger women.

I had a reaction to the vaccine that started about 12 hours after I got it. First, every single muscle in my body — including ones I didn’t even know I had — ached. Some ibuprofen got me through that. Then, for the next 36 hours, I was completely exhausted by mid afternoon. After a total of 48 hours, I was back to normal.

I haven’t had any reactions since.

I still wear my mask when I’m shopping and doing other things around strangers, but I don’t wear one around friends. But this weekend, I was in close quarters, maskless, with friends I know were vaccinated and some of their friends who may not have been. (After writing this, I discovered that they were.) I didn’t think twice about it, but now I’m wondering.

For the past two days, I’ve been completely zonked out again in the afternoon. While it wasn’t bad on Tuesday, it was terrible yesterday. I wasn’t even that active during the day — I went asparagus picking and then shopped for garden plants. When I got home at 3 PM, I was wiped out.

Around 4 PM, I stretched out on my bed to rest and read and wound up falling asleep. I slept on and off while my pups used my bed as a playground. I was so out of it that even them running over my body and making growling noises at each other didn’t snap me out of it.

A phone call at 6 woke me up. I fed my pups, let them out, and lay down again. I slept for another hour and then let my pups back in.

Then I got my pajamas on and stretched out to read again. By 7:30, I was dead asleep. And I slept until nearly 4 AM.

That’s a total of nearly 12 hours of sleep.

In all fairness, I did take an allergy pill yesterday morning at about 7 AM. My nose had been running like a faucet for the past two days, with sneezing and some small amounts of phlegm. The pills are generics and their “best by” date was back in 2017. The bottle says take one per day. I’d expect that if a side effect was sleepiness, it wouldn’t take 9 hours for that side effect to kick in.

This morning, I feel awake but still tired. I’m having a little trouble keeping warm with the heat in the house set to 71°F. I’m achey, but not terribly so — it could just be the aches that are common from non-movement for long periods of time. (If you’re near my age or older, you know what I mean.) My allergies are not bothering me (yet).

I don’t feel sick, if you know what I mean. Just run down and achey. Kind of how I felt after I got my vaccine.

So my question is this: Is it possible that I was exposed to COVID-19 over the weekend and my vaccinated body is fighting it off? How would I be able to find out?

Again, I’m curious.

Wear a Damn Mask!

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It ain’t over yet.

Yesterday, on Twitter, one of the folks I follow retweeted this:

I generally do not retweet something just because someone told me to. I’m not a mindless robot. But this one really resonated with me, mostly because I’d seen a couple in Home Depot a few days before that who were maskless and I wanted to assume it was because they had been vaccinated — and not because they were complete assholes idiots. Apparently some folks believe that because they’ve been vaccinated, they can’t get/carry/spread COVID-19.

This is not true.

So I retweeted it. And then I replied:

This response triggered two virus-denying assholes idiots to respond. One insinuated that it was impossible to “enjoy life” with a mask on.

Huh?

Science Mask
This is the mask I wore to get my vaccine last month. Double layer of fabric and comfortable. Why wouldn’t I wear this when among strangers in enclosed spaces?

First of all, let me clarify something. I don’t wear a mask at home. I don’t wear a mask while socializing (with some amount of distance) with my vaccinated friends and neighbors. I don’t wear a mask while driving. I don’t wear a mask anywhere that there’s no chance of swapping a significant amount of breathing air with someone I don’t know — for example, outdoors when I’m away from people. I basically wear a mask when I go shopping for groceries, hardware, etc. or talk to someone at my truck/Jeep/car window (think coffee, fast food, vet appointment). I wear a mask when I’m among strangers.

I don’t consider that a hardship. I also don’t believe it impacts my ability to “enjoy life.”

I have to wonder about people who make idiotic comments about a mask impacting their ability to “enjoy life.” Where do they think they need to wear their mask? What kind of mask are they wearing? Would they prefer to skip the mask and possibly get/spread COVID-19?

I’m sure that a person’s ability to “enjoy life” would be impacted by a COVID-19 infection, whether it’s their own infection or the infection of a friend or loved one who got it because of their selfish stupidity.

Wear a damn mask! It ain’t over yet.

Chicken Barley Stew with Vegetables and Kale

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A Mediterranean Diet friendly meal.

Chicken Barley Stew
Veggies, whole grain, and lean chicken. What could be healthier?

I blogged recently about going on the Mediterranean diet for my health as I’m getting older. I’ve got a few cookbooks with recipes, but after a while you get a feel for what you can come up with on your own. This quick stew is my own concoction.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 ounces chopped carrots
  • 2 ounces chopped celery
  • 2 ounces chopped onions
  • 1/4 cup uncooked pearl barley, rinsed
  • 1 1/2 cup low sodium, low fat chicken broth
  • 3 ounces cooked chicken
  • 1 large kale leaf, stem removed, chopped
  • salt and pepper to taste

If you don’t have a scale, 2 ounces is about 1/4 cup; 4 ounces is about 1/2 cup. If you don’t use low sodium chicken broth, you won’t have to add salt. I buy roasted “pulled” chicken at the supermarket. (Thanks, Bill, for the tip!) I only used 3 ounces of chicken because it looked like enough and I’m trying to keep calorie count down.

Steps

  1. In a small saucepan, heat oil.
  2. Add carrots, celery, and onions. Cook for 5 to 8 minutes on medium heat until soft.
  3. Stir in barley and cook for another minute or so.
  4. Add chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer and cover. Cook 30 minutes or until barley is soft. It will absorb much of the liquid.
  5. Add chicken and kale. Simmer until chicken is heated through and kale is wilted.
  6. Serve with salt and pepper to taste.

Yields one very generous serving or two small servings. Total calories is about 450. You can reduce the calories by using less barley (1/4 cup is 163 calories) or less chicken (3 ounces is 142 calories). I’m thinking I’ll make it with 2 tablespoons of barley, 2 ounces of chicken, and 1 cup of broth next time. That’ll chop off 100 calories and yield a single normal serving.

-o-

Oh, and isn’t it refreshing to read a recipe on a website that doesn’t bombard you with a million pictures and a long, boring story about making the recipe? Seriously: what are some of these food bloggers thinking? When I look for a recipe, I want the recipe, not details of the blogger’s intimate relationship with it.