I am officially vaccinated up!
Twelve weeks ago i had my first dose, i can finally say that on April 21st, I received my second dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. According to AstraZeneca who confirms 100% protection against severe disease, hospitalisation and death in the primary analysis of phase III trials.
Like most vaccinations you have to wait a period of time for it to really work, I was advised by the nurses who administered the vaccination in my home that within 14 days, a period that ended for me on May 5th.
My second dose was a very different experience from the first time around – where i had every side-affect going, this time my energy levels where low, felt like i needed a nap after any slight movement, my body ached for a few hour – I felt fine within myself, the best way to explain it ‘feeling discombobulated’ thankfully only lasting a couple of days then i fine.
Now more than ever, I’ve thought about how i will live my life with muscular dystrophy after getting my vaccine. While I’m not about to suddenly throw away the last 419 days of shielding myself away from society, by attend a large party, I just have less fear about the virus. As long as I’m still cautious and aware of my surroundings, It will be safe for me to start integrating myself back out again. Everyone will have to face the world at some point. But because of the added difficulty of living with muscular dystrophy, i plan to do it differently.
Imagine you’ve been locked away in a house where all the doors are locked and won’t open.The windows are all blocked up bar one, that has a small crack in it letting in the smallest beam of light. Separated from your family and friends. After over a year of just about keeping together and surviving as best you can, you are finally rescued. Obviously, you would be overjoyed to see the people you love again. But I’m guessing the first thing you would want to do is smell the fresh air and feel the sunshine on your face!
This is obviously not the situation with COVID-19, but part of me feels connected to that rescue experience.
I have a newfound appreciation for the little things in life that I once took for granted: eating out, visiting more than one friend at a time, going shopping (we have been getting Tesco delivery), going to watch movie, and traveling. I will also rediscover how muscular dystrophy makes all of that so much more difficult. It will be an opportunity, however, to move forward in my life, which had been put on hold by COVID-19.
My husband and myself used to like taking at least one holiday abroad a year, muscular dystrophy doesn’t make travelling easy, hauling various bits of equipment with us, my wheelchair and CPAP machine, finding excursions that aren’t physically taxing. Traveling has made us experts at working around whatever obstacle we face, and I’m hoping to bring that skill back.
Because I’ll have more autonomy with my vaccine, I’m planning on seeing and experiencing new things, traveling with my husband again and enjoying the things we lost because of COVID-19. Each adventure will be a new idea for a workaround and an opportunity to be open-minded about doing life with a disease that’s taken my muscles away.
I’m going to be more socially outgoing, because after extra introspection and time at home, I realised that not only have I missed out on so much before COVID-19 because I was self-conscious about what I could and couldn’t do in my wheelchair. Post-COVID-19 me is going to really drive my campaigning, say yes to more things outside of my home even if I don’t feel like going. being around people and loving them reminds us that we are human. It’s a connection that a lot of us, including me, have lost, however, we’ve interacted with others people online.
Even though my outside life has been on hold it has opened up more opportunities than I have had in the past, my world became more remote, giving me opportunities to reach people that ordinarily Would have been harder to reach and secure a meeting. With the added time I’ve had time to think about what I want the rest of my adult life with muscular dystrophy to look like.
The fear though this pandemic has been debilitating, and my hope is that the fear I have felt will soon fade away in time the more i start to venture out and interact with society. I am grateful and feel fortunate that in some strange way this is an opportunity to hit the reset button and come out of this like everyone else, ready to make my life and the lives of those around me that much better.
Have you had your second vaccination or are you still waiting?? How are you feeling about going back into society?? Leave me a comment.
Kisses K
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Past posts you might like to read
Kerry Thompson - My Life, Kerry's Way. 