close

Prepping for the inevitable

4 min read

\It’s that time of year when people are rolling up their shirt sleeves for a flu shot.

Doctors are saying the flu season might be especially bad this year, mostly because we’re not staying away from each other this fall like we had been during COVID. Without social distancing, we’re breathing and sneezing at each other now, spreading flu cooties that are running wild in a population without herd immunity for it.

I’ve not missed a flu shot in probably 30 years, and I’ll get one again this year. But here’s my dilemma.

It’s also time for the COVID booster, and I’d like to get both shots at the same time, maybe in the same arm. And timing is crucial.

My immune system is strong enough that it gets all indignant after any vaccination. My first COVID shot clobbered me for a good day and a half, right before I hosted Easter dinner. The second COVID shot was just as hard, and ruined my birthday with body aches, a fever and an epic headache.

The third shot didn’t land as harshly, but I still missed a half-day of work as I mostly lounged around in my jammies and whined.

But that’s been a few months, and I’m pretty sure my immune system is revved up and ready to punch back at this next booster. A combination of the booster and the flu shot are sure to take me out for a day or two. And so, the question becomes: When can I afford to lose a whole day? And if I delay, will I risk catching a virus?

My schedule this month is like a tall, tall game of Jenga. We’re in final production of my next documentary for public television, and having “put the script to bed,” as they say, my role is to sit at my desk with my phone in hand, and put out the dozens of little fires that erupt at this stage. Where’s that video? I think I misspelled that man’s name. We need to trim three seconds. Each correction feels like a block in that precarious tower.

If I get the shots today, will I be able to work tomorrow or the next day? If my body rebels the way it’s wont to do, does it pull out a block at the bottom of the Jenga tower, and the whole works comes tumbling down?

Yes, that’s an exaggeration. The documentary is now in the hands of better and more skilled workers than I. If I were to miss a day at this stage, the film would still make its deadline, but not before causing my co-workers some epic headaches of their own.

It’s folly to think that any one of us is indispensable, or irreplaceable. I like to think I’m both of those things in a few places – including as a mother and maybe as a friend. But I’ve spent enough time in the television world to know that my colleagues are as good at their jobs as I might be at mine. They could handle a crisis. And they have my back.

When I reflect on the last three years at work, I am astounded at how productive we’ve been – even through the restrictions of the pandemic. I, and more than a few of my beloved buddies there, got sick from COVID and still got the work done.

And I suspect I’m about to get sick from the vaccines. The documentary must be complete and ready to air by Thursday. By then, our work will be done, and I’ll have time for a day of whining.

I’ll roll up my sleeve and say, bring it on.

Beth Dolinar can be reached at cootiej@aol.com.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $3.75/week.

Subscribe Today