The Most Important? Be Proactive in Your Own Care
PHOTO CREDIT: Arek Socha from Pixabay
On April 12, I received my first COVID-19 vaccine — Moderna, for the record.
In the year leading up to this important milestone, there was increasing awareness that the systematic spread of disinformation on coronavirus, originating from the highest levels of government, could callously kill you. Indeed, as the once-respected Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) became politicized and marginalized, we learned the value of cohesiveness and circling our wagons around respected resources within the media in a time of crisis. Credible testimonies and streams of information disseminated by trusted peers became life lines. They may well have saved our lives.
Therefore, pay attention.
Jamaican journalist, Michael Sharpe, whom I met as a teen at summer camp, got his first COVID-19 vaccine on March 14. Shortly thereafter, he tested positive for coronavirus. Reportedly, he had underlying heart issues. By April 20, he was dead.
Another friend suffered a similar fate. By his own account, he got his first COVID-19 vaccine on March 30. Reportedly, he had been recently diagnosed with leukemia. By April 20, he, too, was dead.
A client of mine also had a similar experience. She got her first shot on March 11 without knowing she might have already been infected with coronavirus. In the ensuing days, she became violently ill, long enough for me to know it was no longer vaccine-related. She was manifesting full-blown symptoms of COVID and I insisted that she keep demanding her doctor’s attention. Her illness had been minimized, incorrectly attributed to vaccine-related symptoms. By fate, extenuating circumstances intervened for her to have a coronavirus test on March 29. It returned positive. On her doctor’s advice, she received her second shot of the vaccine on April 13, much earlier than current CDC guidelines, without major incident — until April 22. She was roused from sleep by the inability to breathe with nausea, dizziness and a rapid heartbeat. By her own account, she felt cold and clammy — drunk— as with alcohol poisoning. Her doctor now classifies her as a “long hauler”, people who have not fully recovered from COVID-19 weeks, or even months, after first experiencing symptoms. Long haulers may actually experience continuous symptoms for weeks or months, while others feel better for weeks, then relapse with old or new symptoms.
All this to say, I’m seeing correlations — and this is often the first step in becoming proactive in your own care. Primary care physicians are not keeping up with the voluminous information associated with this disease and the associated vaccine — they are not immunologists. Meanwhile, people are getting the COVID-19 vaccine without knowing they are infected with the virus, and symptoms from the vaccine may well be disguising the immediate effects of the vaccine on underlying comorbidities.
The CDC advises older people or those with multiple or severe health conditions to speak with their healthcare providers about steps to manage their health risks. But, do they? And when they do, isn’t the consensus among medical practitioners that the “cure” is better than the disease when there are underlying comorbidities? Essentially, a Catch-22 situation. And the niggling question in my gut, especially after the halt in Johnson & Johnson’s Jansen vaccine, is whether there was sufficient time to fully assess broad spectrum risks in the clinical trials. What were the ratios, for example, of men:women, whites:people of color, people with different comorbidities: healthy folks, etc.?
Do not misunderstand, I trust the science. The data indicates clearly that the curve of new infections has completely flattened in countries like Israel where vaccination rates are very high. The benefits clearly outweigh the risks, as we can now see in India where COVID vaccines are in short supply, and people are dying in the streets from the disease. However, let us not minimize the fact that, technically, we are still guinea pigs in “Phase 4” of the standard three-phase clinical process of vaccine trials. After the disinformation campaign on COVID, callously initiated by the former Trump administration, and the clinical observations being reported after vaccination, it’s going to take a concerted campaign to get to “herd immunity.”
The Washington Post reports that, as things stand, “plummeting vaccination rates have turned what officials hoped would be the ‘last mile’ of the coronavirus immunization campaign into a marathon, threatening President Biden’s goal of getting shots to at least 70 percent of adults by July 4.” Indeed, the steep decline began in mid-April, when federal officials temporarily suspended the Johnson & Johnson vaccine while they probed rare blood-clotting reactions. Reaching that goal is deemed critical to prevent a resurgence of the virus – especially mutations – as early as this winter or next year.
Former President Barack Obama recently tried to reassure the public, urging skeptics to trust the COVID vaccine because the ‘wealthy and powerful’ are also being inoculated. But lest we forget, the COVID-19 vaccine was approved by the FDA “for emergency use.” Technically, it is still an experimental treatment. Which is likely why the anecdotal experiences of our symptoms after each vaccine are being so meticulously solicited and tracked. But more importantly, do not minimize your symptoms from the vaccine that may commingle with the response to the vaccine created by comorbidities.
I strongly believe now that the CDC should be recommending a test for coronavirus immediately prior to taking the vaccine. But if they do not, as far as you are able, get the test yourself.
After the experience of caring for my elderly, near-87-year-old mother upon receiving her second vaccine, I determined to get both the rapid and PCR tests before taking my first shot. My appointment fell within her 14-day window of likely symptoms. But I had become increasingly concerned that she had developed COVID. She was experiencing severe cold-like symptoms — and associated pink eye — and had become so fatigued and weak, with signs of delirium, that we were actually readying ourselves emotionally for her transition to the great divide. A significant challenge was to keep her sufficiently hydrated and to get her tested also for COVID. She was negative.
Over several days, the anxiety-inducing situation was a profound reminder why geriatric medicine is a distinct specialty. The elderly do not necessarily experience the same symptoms with certain diseases, including COVID. Neither do women experience the same symptoms as men. In this pandemic, in fact, it is women who are reporting more side effects, from mild nausea to the most rare and severe conditions. It is people of color who have suffered disproportionate loss of life. Even in my small circle, my two friends cited — and my mother — are people of color. My client, vaccinated while infected with COVID, is white.
Other Life Lessons from Lockdown
To be sure, this past year hasn’t been easy. Nevertheless, it has confirmed, yet again, how much my well-being isn’t determined by random externals. I don’t need movie theaters and restaurants, crowded public spaces and gatherings to be “happy.” As cliche as it sounds, real joy comes from the inside. And I continue to find so much freedom in that space.
I am still healthy when so many are not; still alive when so many are not. I have food on my table when so many do not. I have a roof over my head when others do not — or are in jeopardy of losing theirs. I have a family and friends that love me and actually seek out my company when others are not so lucky. I can work from home when so many cannot. I can enjoy a sunset on the beach at will when many cannot. I am purposeful when so many are not. I am never really lonely — or bored. I have limitless entertainment at my fingertips when so many do not.
This past year, the universe has conspired to remind me that there is no point in burdening my soul with the things over which I have no control and which have no bearing on my immediate well-being. I did everything within my ability to keep myself and my family safe in a global pandemic. I stood up for what I believe and my core values. In the spirit of my Jewish credo, “Tzedek Tzedek Tirdof” — Justice, Justice, you shall pursue — I spoke out. I wrote fearless political commentary. And last November, together, we ousted the most blatantly corrupt white supremacist this country has ever seen from the highest office in the land. Through a jury of twelve at the Derek Chauvin murder trial, I learned that, sometimes, the rest is truly up to God. And the more I determine to grow in that space of knowing that the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice, is the better off I am becoming — on several fronts — in a time when I am not supposed to thrive.
I am even more convinced now that what’s meant for me cannot be thwarted; that who/what I hunger for also hungers for me; and that when the time is right we will both sit at the same table — figuratively or literally. What’s meant for me will flow into my life — effortlessly. I won’t have to debate, question, worry, chase, doubt or fight for it in ways that change who I am.
I have met me again this past year — and I like her! And with that I say, do not fear “eating alone” because not only should you know what you bring to the table, but you should value yourself enough to wait for someone worthy of your company. Some of the people and situations we chase are dream killers.
Sometimes, we are so caught up in the “When?” “Why?” “Where?” “What?” and “Who?” that we forget just to be present in the important moments and seasons of our lives. The moments when we are called to be still. The moments when we should ask the most important questions of all — questions that make us reach into ourselves and let the universe know that we are truly listening and ready for what it has for us. More often than not, it is far better than what we grasp so tightly.
Many times, we think we know what we want, what’s best for us. But thank Wisdom for not letting us have it. We would destroy ourselves — and this planet. Did you even know that, in this past year of global lockdowns, our carbon footprints on this planet have decreased, biding us a little time? Indeed, how long were we seeking a global consensus to reduce emissions that affect climate change? After a near halt to the regular pace of life, the people in India can actually see the Himalayas for the first time in decades. Nature has returned to urban areas ; people are reconnecting with loved ones in ways that will challenge companies to reconfigure physical work spaces to provide more security and privacy or extend work-from-home options.
Does this mean we shouldn’t have goals? Of course not. But we shouldn’t be so fixated that we miss the signposts that are saying, “Turn Here,” “Caution,” “Stop,” “Chill!”
The point of this journey called Life is to grow; to receive answers to the more important questions that make us better people, more ready to appreciate the real gifts — not just the things — that are bestowed: Opportunities. Love. Laughter. People. Life!
Give thanks out loud. And on our journey toward national wellness, let us remember the near-600,000 souls from whom we learned how to fight this dreadful disease. May we never again take for granted the service of nurses, doctors, first-responders — all who came alongside us, risking lives and families to care for us — some of us profoundly undeserving by our carelessness and arrogance — when we were unable to care for ourselves and our loved ones.
Let us remember, too, that real lessons are never learned in the light. Often, the light is merely a reminder that we emerged from darkness. And survived.
What’s your big lesson from the past year that you wouldn’t have fully appreciated without the circumstances created by the coronavirus pandemic?
RELATED VIDEO: Why This Guy Is Dead Wrong About COVID Vaccines | Bossche Debunked
