Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Shingles, pneumonia, USPS and tornadoes



For three years Laura ‘s wardrobe, day in, day out, school dances excluded, consisted exclusively of skinny jeans or leggings. Skinny jeans, new or second hand, went under the knife at once, emerging in socially acceptable tatters.

Leggings merely suffered the snags of time. Sooner or later, flesh speckled the leggings. The wearer, indeed, all the wearers, were unabashed. I sincerely believe, leggings of the world suffer the cruel pricks of fate hourly. No matter, holidays, birthdays, even peg hooks and strip clips of legging packages in stores keep leggings coming on.

A strange conversation struck up recently.

“Grandma,” what do you think of dresses?”

I allowed I like them.

“If I send you a list, will you buy me one?”

The list landed square in my Amazon list file in a nano second.

We picked this dress first. I have great reservations. I may be mistaken. It will not go to school until I see half a dozen of that style go by on any given day. It certainly needs the appropriate front zip hoodie.



I steered the conversation to the ease of tee shirt top dresses. Laura was in favor, if she liked it.

“Show me one you like!”



She likes two. More clicks. In my defense, I also pointed out girls her age in Pakistan earned a few pennies constructing these dresses. Yes, she knew that.  We’ll see how these work out, and look for fair trade dresses next.


Laura bounced through the door tonight. “Did my dresses come?”

“We ordered them on Saturday!”

“I know, I know. I just wondered.”

We checked. We learned:

Shipped Sunday, April 15
Weather or natural disaster at 11:55 AM Monday, April 16 - from USPS

Etcetcetc.

Tornados rule!

A while back I got the first half of a pneumonia vaccination.  In truth, I watched my strong friend Jean carried away by pneumonia, and decided I’d give that one a run for its money. It’s a two shot protocol, the second shot from the drug store, as my doctor’s office generally does not stock Prevnar, the second shot.

I called the nurse to request the prescreption. In an expansive mood, as I don’t get vaccinated often, I asked the doctor send along the new shingles shot, too. The nurse called back with dire warnings. Be sure to get the protocol from the pharmacist; both in one day not recommended, blablabla.

I called the drugstore Monday morning. Come on down; they had it all; takes about twenty minutes, with paperwork. They dispense both in one day all the time!

The pharmacist shot shingles in my left arm, pneumonia in my right. That was yesterday. By bedtime, my arms wished I were dead and gone. In the middle of the night I got up and slugged acetaminophen.  Note to self: never do that again. Good news: I doubt I will.


36 comments:

  1. You are a brave soul to get two serious vaccinations in one day.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hari OM
    Yeeecchh... glad it didn't interfere with your typing to tell us about it. I like all three of those dresses and can picture Laura in them... though an aunty's eye might see a pretty little cardigan over the top one - or hoody. Whateva... YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. I had the second pneumonia and the flu shot (in one arm, because I have to) on the same day, and I thought I was going to die. Another thing not for the faint of heart.

    ReplyDelete
  4. My arm was sore enough from the shingles vaccine. Two must be brutal!

    ReplyDelete
  5. So sorry to hear about your arms. That sucks.
    Young Laura is growing into a young lady. I hope you and see settle on an appropriate dress or two. It seems you are able to do that and maybe those leggings will become a distant part of the past, ha ha.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I was thinking a cardigan over the first one would make it perfect for school. It's a pretty dress.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I usually don't have too much pain from shots in the arm, but I have read online that the Prevnar shot is causing people a lot of arm pain. I had planned on getting it, but my knees are so bad right now that I am using arm strength more than normal because I have to. I don't need more arm strain and pain from a shot. So I asked the doctor if he had heard anything about patient arm pain from the shot, he said that just that day he had taken his first call from a patient who had arm pain from it. I asked him if I could get the injection somewhere besides my arm. He said in my thigh muscle. So now I am wondering if it would be better to get it in my thigh on my better-knee-leg, or go ahead and get it in my arm, I'll be getting one total knee replacement in May, so I need to call surgeon just to double check if it's ok to get this close to surgery. I didn't know I was going to get knee surgery when I was talking to my primary care about the shot. I wonder what is in the Prevnar shot that so many are having more than usual pain. Please keep us posted if the injection place pain worsens or gets better quickly. I'm hoping it gets better quickly for you.

    Take care.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Prevnar was painful all night; shingles was horrid.

      Delete
  8. Those are all very pretty dresses.
    Sigh on the double vacc pain.
    I am putting off getting my flu shot. And haven't heard of routine shingles vaccinations here. I must check.

    ReplyDelete
  9. love the t shirt dresses, vaccinations, not so much for me

    ReplyDelete
  10. I get a flu shot every year. My good friend is a pharmacist and she is an excellent "shot giver", but sometimes it hurts to lay on that arm at night. She says to move your arm around a lot after you get the shot. I really should get that shingles vaccine. I hear bad stories about shingles. -Jenn

    ReplyDelete
  11. I hope it's a one-night kind of pain and then gone.

    I thought the pneumonia shot was a single shot. Maybe there are different ones.

    I like the dresses! Yeah, I'd be wary of the spaghetti straps in school. Surely there's something similar with a broader shoulder piece or even a bit of a sleeve? I'm sure you're on it :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. I liked the dresses...but the top one is certainly not schoolwear in my view.
    I don't understand the fascination of leggings...probably down to memories of the knitted horrors we were forced to wear as babies. Given the later horrors of childhood...liberty bodices and their ilk... it is a great wonder I didn't turn to naturism.
    Two shots in one day? Both arms? Too true, never again!

    ReplyDelete
  13. How interesting...Laura interested in dresses....has she met a young man perhaps? I think it is wise to get the shinges shot...I have been debating it myself.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I like the pictures of the dresses; all of them. I see a lot of the girls here wearing the style with the flowers on it. Looks very cute. Glad that Laura is branching out a bit on her wardrobe and trying some other things.

    Good for getting the immunizations; I think I would have gone for getting them all done at the same time too. Get them out of the way and move on to other more fun things to potentially do.

    betty

    ReplyDelete
  15. I'm a stickler for following orders concerning vaccinations, I would have had them a week apart. I'll be getting my flu shot soon. I'm not sure if I need one for pneumonia though, it may be recommended over a certain age, I'll have to check.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've been told I'm "one of those troublesome patients."

      Delete
  16. P.S. that first dress is gorgeous and would be great as a summer dress here in Australia as well as there, but a little too revealing for school, I agree with you on that.

    ReplyDelete
  17. They introduced the shingles shot here 5 years ago and it is given or offered to the 70 year olds. I don't have any shots but my brother takes them all and keeps me informed.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Shingles seems to last so long and be so horrible that any reaction to the vaccination is probably worth it. Mind you , I haven't had the shot yet ...
    I love that blue dress, such a pretty colour! Will she be wearing all three with Doc Marten's and attitude?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. All her Doc Marten's have a two inch heel, elevating her to five foot three. Yes, she'll wear them.


      Delete
  19. Attractive dresses..even a dedicated trousers person needs a couple...
    Interesting that your pneumonia shot is two part..just a single one here

    ReplyDelete
  20. I've had both. I can't remember which hurt. One did more than the other, if I recall.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I had shingles when I was 40. It was horrible. About seven years ago, I got a shingles shot because my doctor said that I could get it again. Now they have a new one and and I will get that one at my doctor visit today. I also had the pneumonia shot years ago and they now have a new improved one also. I will wait to take that one.

    All dresses are lovely and I am sure they will look very nice on Laura.

    ReplyDelete
  22. phew!!! when I saw shingles in the title I was afraid you were going to report having them. I suppose I should get it too, my sister did, but it goes against my stay away from doctors and shots mindset. I don't get the flu shot either. how fun that Laura is discovering dresses even though I never wear them myself unless it's a fancy night out somewhere. perhaps I'd be more interested if it wasn't all we were allowed to wear when I was going to school. even the first college I went to didn't allow the women students to wear pants on upper campus where all the classes were.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My grandma had shingles, when she was maybe ninety. It broke my heart.

      Delete
  23. The dresses look pretty. Sorry you had to take a pain reliever for those two shots.

    ReplyDelete
  24. She's going to look great, and you will love not getting either sickness.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Oh no. I got the first one of the new shingles shot last month and I have never had a shot that caused so much pain. Four days worth of itching swelling and pain. I dread the call to come in for the second one next month. This time I'm getting it in my other arm so I can sleep on the other side.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I forgot about the second. Shingles hurt far worse than pneumonia, and I had it in my trashed arm. I will switch to the pneumonia side for the second shot!

      Delete
  26. I like all the dresses Laura chose but I have to say I like the first one best. It looks like her.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I had a flu jab and a shingles jab on the same day. The nurse warned me of possible side effects from the shingles jab but I was fine. Sorry to hear the double jab affected your arms so badly.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I've never had either vaccination. Richard had shingles once and they were horrible. Taken care of many cases of shingles in the hospital too. And he also got pneumonia. Maybe I should look into it. Probably won't though.

    ReplyDelete