That also makes me wonder whether my body’s endurance is being pushed beyond its comfortable limit because of the incidents that happened, but it’s sheer luck that no one was a witness to it. No wonder I used to joke with college friends that sleep is for the dead, lol.
Maybe my words are returning to haunt me.
Anyway, let’s get down to today’s post, though. While the memories of it are still fresh in my head, it’s better for me to pen it as a way of remembrance. Otherwise, I’ll definitely forget what to expect if the process is to be repeated - and truth be told, I won’t be surprised if it happens.
As the appointment for my first dose had been scheduled (this was way back in August), that’s where I headed for my second dose too, but more on that later. The moment I arrived at the centre, I was super thankful that I had searched for the location and its nearby parking bays beforehand on top of having an early breakfast. Not to mention, I was extremely relieved that I already had most of the recommended items in my backpack:-
Those manning the counters wanted to have a look at my IC so that they could verify my identity and confirm my presence with the appointment on MySejahtera. Once that was done, he passed me 2 sets of forms to fill in - one for the centre's record and the other is for yourself - before it was followed by a number to line up for my turn.
6 of us were allowed to enter at one go as we were brought to the first station where the person in charge lifted my details from MySejahtera and cross-checked it with my IC. I was asked about my current occupation as well as any history of severe allergies. Next, we were brought to the second station, which involved a quick glance into our medical history and to assess our eligibility to receive the vaccine.
The way they handled the crowd was rather alright, considering that only a limited number of people were around at a time with the usher guiding them from one point to another. Maybe it was because my appointment date was on a workday, which explained why I hadn’t needed to wait for hours to enter the booth to be jabbed by that little needle.
My bum hadn’t even warmed the chair at the waiting area when the nurse poked her head out to wave me in. Then, she prepared the vial and solution while her colleague helped to confirm my details once again. The nurse waited for me to turn my attention towards her before she showed me the actual bottle (indicating the type of vaccine to be administered) and amount of solution in the syringe. If you haven’t been following the news on vaccination, there were allegations of people being injected with empty vials or given a lower dosage than required , but I’ll let you read more about it on your own time.
Me: “Would it be extremely painful?”
Nurse: “Nope, it’d be like an ant bite.”(Translated from the original conversation, which was in Malay:-
Saya: “Nanti suntikan akan sakit tak?”
Jururawat: “Tak, ia akan macam... gigit semut.”)You’d feel a slight pain when the solution is about to be injected into your skin, but by the time your body registers the pain, the process has already been completed. I had expressed my shock when she informed me that she was done with administering the dose and that I had to head to the final station to obtain a set of further instructions. It’s mostly the receipt of a vaccination card that bears the time and date of the 2nd dose as well as them explaining what to do if there are further side effects.
We were all left to our own devices in the waiting area for a minimum of 15 minutes for any side effects (rashes, difficulty in breathing, and the like) to present themselves - although you’d be more than welcome to stay for up to 30 minutes to observe your condition. I heard that some folks felt so fine that they bypassed the waiting area and headed home instead, but mind you, they are far and few between.
Below would be what greeted me after the inoculation, but please take it in mind that the side effects are all dependent on your body’s reaction to the vaccine. To be honest, even though I had applied for a day off, I actually wanted to return to the office right after being inoculated since I felt alright, lol. I still believed that I was in perfect health when I left the vaccine centre, but it was close to 5 minutes later that I started to break out in cold sweat while lining up at a nearby cafe for a drink. Welp. Even though I was slightly panicked, I tried to stay focused on grabbing a healthy lunch before heading home to rest.
The rest of my side effects came an hour later when I fell asleep without even knowing it. It was at around noon when I woke up with a sore arm. Even though I had stocked up on Panadol, I was arduously trying not to take the tablets and used cold compress in lieu of it. One comical thing here was that I had resorted to a frozen tube of cream cheese.
24 hours after the vaccine, I could barely lift my arm as it weighed a ton. My gosh, I even had the desire to sleep more too... It must have been amplified by my terrible sleeping habits. The irony was that I had to rush on my freelance work. Wonder how I made it out in one piece without asking for an extension.
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