Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Tuesday Slice: COVID Diaries--Here we go again?

Oh, I was so sick two weekends ago...yet so satisfied, and dare I say it, a bit smug.

I scheduled my Moderna booster on the Friday afternoon that our district's Fall Break began, just in case I had side effects.  I planned well; within fifteen hours, my temperature started to rise, peaking at 101 before I cried uncle and took some acetaminophen.  There was joy in those feverish chills as I pictured little antibodies multiplying in my bloodstream, hoping my unmeasured numbers equalled those of my friends who participated in a state study and proudly, happily published their findings. I imagined an invisible suit of armor surrounding my body as I ventured into the not-so-sterile elementary school environment each workday.  I even dared to dream--gasp--of a maskless summer in 2022.

And then COVID-Omicron variant made the news.  Here we go again, I thought.

When the scientists have more questions than answers...that's when I start to worry.  My invisible armor doesn't seem so protective right now.  I was already a bit leery of attending an in-person statewide conference in April, but now I am fully sixty percent against going.  We went to an outdoor event with some brief indoor shopping in close quarters, and we were the only ones wearing masks in the building; outdoors, we saw only one other family in masks, out of hundreds of people.  Were they confident in being vaccinated, folks who don't believe that COVID is a problem, a mix of both?  Does it matter in the long run, as long as my family is vaccinated?  I've got more questions than answers these days, too. 

I am praying that next Christmas season, these COVID diaries will be a thing of the past.  For now, let's mask up and carry on, and pray for those researchers and medical folks in the field.  Looks like they will need our support for awhile longer.

6 comments:

  1. I love your description of your Covid antibodies fighting crime, and feel the same as you about this new variant. Just when there's a light at the end of the tunnel, it flickers out. One day...

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  2. Last November 30, I couldn't imagine we'd still be here.

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  3. More questions than answers seems to be the way of the world these days. Glad you got your booster. I got mine a few weeks ago, too.

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  4. I feel everything you wrote, Chris!
    I feel so discouraged. My husband and I are fully boosted. My kids will be considered fully vaccinated in 10 days. YET, I'm worried that the normal we thought we'd go back to is no longer here anymore.

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  5. Some people think that creating the kind of images you do here, of your armpit building, actually creates physical changes in the body. Keep up the good, protective imagery! (And the boosters)
    My favorite line is … when scientists have more questions than answers… but that is life, reality, growth. We just aren’t usually following it on the news so closely, ugh.

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