Last Wednesday, I left work early (on an hour of sick-leave) to get my COVID booster. And knowing my robust reactions to COVID shots, I also took Thursday and Friday as vacation leave. I spent Thursday at Exposition Park, visiting the (finally reopened) California African-American Museum (which had most of its gallery space devoted to an exhibition on George Washington Carver), the California Science Center (they're putting the exterior panels on the new wing, building it around the Endeavour, which (when the wing opens next year) will be the only shuttle on display as a launch stack, and the Natural History Museum (which just opened a new wing of its own). Also, it looks like they've about finished the exterior of the George Lucas Museum of Narrative Arts.
Looks like the shot didn't get you down too much. Each booster gets easier for me. For those who think it's gone; our grandson came down with it when we were visiting at Christmastime. It was New Years Eve and he was so sick he couldn't drive home. My husband and the father had to go get him so someone could drive his car home. We sequestered him right off and nobody else got sick.
I came down with it on December 29, 2023 ("Five Gold Rings Day"). I'd taken the day off to visit the Museums of Exposition Park. Then I came home, did my weekly swab, and immediately wished I'd done it that morning, before heading out to Exposition Park, and potentially exposing hundreds of people (even though I was wearing an N95). I promptly stuck the chromatographic cell from my swab into my breast pocket, and got my butt over to Kaiser Urgent Care. The receptionist took one look at it, and had no further questions. The doctor took one look at it, declined to bother with a lab test, and promptly sent a prescription for Paxlovid to the pharmacy. Paxlovid has a really obnoxious side effect: it gives your saliva the most beastly taste. I'm told that a number of anti-cancer drugs also have that side effect. But it kept me out of the hospital, and while it lasted a lot longer than the worst vaccine reaction I'd ever had, it wasn't much worse. I didn't bother to swab myself again until 1/2/2024; I was clear by 1/5/2024. That was less than two months after the only booster I had that didn't give me a noticeable reaction.
I don't understand why they bother and then let it disappear again. Maybe I'll have a chance to post my trip report.
