I’m not a doctor. I don’t even play one on television. However, I have gained a little medical information lately about specific medical maladies that could affect all of us. Now you take this Covid stuff — and I truly mean you take it, because I have had all the Covid information I can handle. My Angel walked in one day and said we should go down to King City and get our shots against this virus.
After all, I take a flu shot from the VA every year and never even flinch when the doctor says it’s time to be vaccinated. I trust the government about as far as I can throw it, but I figured that since I can’t remember the last time I had the flu, what could it hurt? So, we got all dressed up (Hey, it was King City!) and jumped into her car and headed south. There’s more about her car in a minute.
When we arrived, it was peaches and cream. Out of the car, into the hospital and “fill out this form.” Stand over there, go into the other room and get your shot (didn’t hurt a bit). Sit over there for about 15 minutes, so they could be sure we weren’t going to have an adverse reaction, and then back home. My Angel held my hand all the way. If they had been handing out lollipops to good little boys who didn’t cry or make a scene, I would have been handed two.
I had a small reaction. I had a little soreness that night that simply reminded me of how much of a hero I was and a pesky headache the next day that I can’t totally blame on the shot. I was pretty proud of My Angel. She didn’t even want an ice cream for being so good.
OK, that’s all in the past. Now they have come out with this booster shot that was supposed to come online when the antibodies from the first shot wore off. Hmm. That requires a little more of an investigation. So I sat down and did some reading about the effectiveness of the Moderna shot regimen. It was supposed to be the answer to all our prayers. I talked to my good friends, kids and My Angel and decided that I was old enough to make the decision to get the shot. Besides, it was available at our town pharmacy and administered by our town pharmacist.
So I moseyed on down to Gonzales Pharmacy and Jimmy said, “Sit down, I’ll be right with you.” Jimmy came out from behind his pharmacy wall, asked me to sit down and prepared the shot. He asked how I got along with the first shot and I told him I had no complaints. A little jab, a couple of pleasantries and it was all over. I walked out to my car and thought to myself that this shot had a little more soreness than the first two, but hey, I had done not only my patriotic duty, but also my duty as the head of my family to get as protected as I could from this scourge we are witnessing.
Everything was peachy until the next morning. My shoulder had really started to remind me that I had a foreign object piercing my arm the day before. Then the chills set in. I just couldn’t get warm. Another headache and no hunger at all. However, that was the only part of the deal with food. To be polite, I will tell you I never went out of the house and there was one room in the house that I pretty much homesteaded. This lasted for two days.
I’m not trying to tell anyone to not get the shot. I actually feel better, after four days. I feel like that should allow anyone who has taken this shot to not have to wear a face mask. I hate those things. I was actually going to try and get a job as a substitute teacher, but I would have to wear a mask, so that was out. Today I feel great. I’m not getting too far from home, but all unpleasantries are pretty much gone. So if you have been thinking about getting the booster shot, my advice is to go for it.
Now, about My Angel’s car. I want to tell you about this as it may help you make a decision when you go to buy a car. We had saved up all our aluminum cans two years ago and bought Lorraine a new car. Because I am not as young as I used to be when I worked on all my cars, we decided to get one of those maintenance policies. It was expensive because we wanted it to cover everything and we thought, from the fortune we were paying, that it would cover everything should something happen to her car.
So a week or so ago I sensed a looseness about the shifting apparatus and asked her if she would take it in to the Ford dealer in Salinas. That’s where we bought the car and the other three before this one. It is also where we bought the maintenance contract. “No problem,” we were told. “Bring it in Monday.” This is where the fun was over.
We were quoted a shameful amount of money to repair the car. “Hey!” I asked. “Doesn’t the contract cover this?” “Oh no!” I was told. “We have to charge you a diagnostic charge as well as a repair charge.” Can you see where this is going? “Well,” I asked. “What was the policy for that we had to sell our children to pay for?” “Oh that’s just for electrical problems.”
God Bless.
