After we are unfortunately inflicted with the COVID-19 infection recently, I noticed that I'm sometimes out of breath easily. There is occasional coughing at times which is sometimes a hassle since my throat gets itchy to cough at the moment and to which I'm in public and enclosed space. I feel tired in my lower extremities though I just started my day of work. To those who have been there, how are you coping up?
COVID-19 booster shot experience
I am so grateful that we were already done with the booster vaccine for COVID-19. We were given options like Astrazeneca, Moderna or Pfizer. I chose Pfizer. And so I had it. I didn't feel anything when the vaccine was administered by a co-vaccinator. However, after 2 hours, I felt that my arm is starting to get sore with a pain scale of 2 out of 10. By 8 hours after, soreness had increased to 6-7.
Fortunately after a day, soreness had decreased but pain is evident when palpating the injection area. I was grateful that I didn't experience fever and flu like symptoms like I did when I had after my primary vaccine Astrazeneca first dose.
Hearing the all time high surge in cases (15k) yesterday is depressing. What we currently need to battle this pandemic are mass testing in order to determine who is currently infected, an efficient contact tracing system in order to early detect who might have been infected so we can isolate them, and the most important thing that we can do is to cooperate by stay at home. I believe that extending the lockdown is necessary because some people are too stubborn and still go out even they don't really need to go out. They try to test the law by breaking them which is super annoying and frustrating. Sorry to say this but some Filipinos are too undisciplined and lacked character to do the right thing even when no one is watching. I get it that we have to go out to work in order to survive because let's face it: we are on our own today. The government has incompetent appointments and instead of acknowledging their mistakes, they try to give illogical explanations just to justify their actions.
I badly want to shed my mask. It pains me that we haven't learned our lesson yet from last year and this time around it's gotten even worst. Hospitals are full not because of the deficiency in bed capacity but it was because of the lack in manpower. Nobody now wants to work in health care anymore. Why you ask? Being a healthcare worker and working in a hospital magnifies all the ugly things. Patients are twice or thrice more demanding. If it doesn't go with the way they want them to be, they file complaints and even posts them on social media instead of addressing them to the concerned party. It makes me question why I became one in the first place. I always wanted to help others, but I refuse to be a slave to the notion that just because I took an oath, I have to do it while sacrificing my safety. This pandemic has taken its toll on our mental health. Healthcare workers are continue to be demoralized with lower compensation but high patient load which could increased their risk to be infected and risk to bring it at home.
Please follow the standard health protocols. Don't be complacent. I observed way back before the lockdown that in that jeepneys that I took, there's at least 2 or 3 persons inside who doesn't have a face shield. Almost nobody does hand hygiene in the public transport. Now that there's a surge in cases, funny how there's a 100% compliance. People, did you know that prevention is better than cure?
More than 10 times of seeming endless contact tracing because of exposure to COVID positive patients, I was usually informed to monitor for any development of symptoms. Sadly, I'm back again to doing the swab because of being categorized as a high risk asymptomatic.😠I've been exposed to a recently COVID positive coworker because we usually rode the same public transportation together. Anyone who is waiting for their RT-PCR results can relate and experience anxiety especially when you know that your result is now available. A lot of things comes into your mind like what if I turned positive? What will happen to the members of my family? How about those people who I had in contact with? Where will I isolate? What will happen to me? For those who do not know, hospitals in the Philippines are now in full capacity for COVID positive patients. I could vouched that it's the truth as I work in a tertiary hospital and even my batchmates had inquiries who could help them find a hospital who can still cater for one. Anyway, by sheer luck and prayers the RT-PCR result turned out negative again which I'm eternally grateful. One thing that I can take away from this experience is that I cannot reiterate much the importance of face mask and face shield. When outside, please always put on your face mask and face shield. Never remove it at all costs. Avoid touching the mask/shield and if you do, promptly do proper hand hygiene. Please do handwashing if you can and as much as possible whenever you have access to soap and water. Never forget to also bring your hand lotion as dry hands can cause cracks in the skin which can be an entry for the virus or any opportunistic organisms. I understand that it's difficult to breathe in a mask especially those with certain conditions, but please understand that it is for your own safety too. If you can't then don't go out and loiter around outside. Social distancing matters too. 15 minutes or more time exposure to a COVID 19 positive person will put you in a high risk category.
I don't want to pinpoint and blame the Filipinos for the surge in the COVID-19 cases as a lot of us are trying their best to get by in this pandemic. Tremendous number of people lost their livelihood which is heartbreaking due to the fact that a huge chunk of businesses had to forcefully close. However, in my observation, some of us are that hard-headed. People knew that there is a curfew and unsurprisingly a big number of people are still penalized for being outside during curfew hours. People are undisciplined. Others lacked integrity. And it is not even because of one's educational attainment. We are not in preschool anymore. For this pandemic to end, discipline should start with you and me. Let me share one instance in the public bus that I rode recently. In the two rows in the front seat, I saw one boyfriend and girlfriend eating inside an aircon bus. On the next stop, two male guys sat in front of me and usually in the bus, seating is alternate. But the faces of the two guys are almost near each other's face while they're conversing with each other. Both of them had face shield alright, but I guess they were using it to shield the forehead instead.
I'm fed up with this. Is it all worth fighting for?
Healthcare workers were considered as one of the most vulnerable population given that they are highly at risk and more likely to be exposed to a COVID positive patient. And so we were given priority and with which I'm duly grateful. After contemplating for a while, I've decided to get the Astrazeneca vaccine from the current two available vaccines in the country. I'm more comfortable in getting this one and I have a better gut feel on this. The vaccination process in our hospital was organized and kudos to the vaccination team it was a breeze. I was already expecting some side effects. Let me tell you what I've experienced after vaccination:
0958H > Got the Astrazeneca vaccine
