Love In The Time Of Corona/COVID-19: I Am Not Throwin’ Away My Shot

by | Dec 16, 2020 | Doctor in the House, Introspection | 0 comments

Immunized. Protected. Vaccinated. And I had no idea I would get the COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer) until 3 minutes before it happened.

We shall travel again. There is hope.

And in the few hours since my shot I just shared mochi donuts with my staff, swabbed 40+ people for COVID-19, ordered a sandwich and kbbq for delivery, and put back in place a patient’s dislocated shoulder within minutes (usually takes longer!) while digesting said donuts and craving the kbbq. If there’s an immediate side effect of the vaccine, it’s extreme efficiency, eating well, and feeling bulletproof.

Now almost at 50 vaccines in my blood (after all we’re all travelers here who needed a few more before, right?) and I’m digging this feeling of invincibility and the day we’ll be traveling again. 🤷‍♂️ Just sayin’

And so a new dawn emerges in NYC. I can’t say this enough, we shall travel again.

 

. . .

(24 hours later)

 

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A post shared by Calvin D. Sun, MD (@monsoondiaries)

 

Any vaccine side effects so far? This☝️is my first 24 hours since getting the COVID-19 vaccine + 2 months since getting the annual flu vaccine. Does it look like my life has been ruined by 45+ vaccines in my blood?

Yes, vaccines can produce incredible anxiety of the unknown. But so has COVID-19 and we have plenty of data that it’s STILL killing 3000+ people a day. We have plenty of data that not a single vaccine has done as much.

I remind myself that I’ve always made a habit of “do what scares you.” Run towards the 🔥. Embrace change. How else do you think I — and thousands of my friends and readers of my travel blog I’ve taken physically along with me — traveled to 190+ countries in 9 years while as a FULL TIME medical student and doctor-in-training without skipping a day of class or missing work, while paying off $200,000 USD in student loan debt, and still graduating to become an MD on time? …And there’s a point to that seemingly unnecessary 😂😒 (sorry not sorry) statement: Does such a life belong to someone who has “suffered” from the nearly 50 vaccines in his blood?

And wouldn’t that be the irony…if you instead catch and spread to your loved ones a virus that’s being witnessed to be capable of slaughtering 3000+ people in one day after 8 months, instead of choosing 100+ alternative vaccines out there that have been studied through multiple trials…and has so far killed 0 people (let alone 3000+) a day after 8 months?

So you can let yourself be, or have a loved one possibly be one of the 3000 dead/on the lung transplant list/can’t eat or smell by 2022.

Or protect you and your loved ones with a simple shot where it’s somehow still allowing me to do all that☝️in the past 24 hours, and then get to come travel with me ASAP where we eat and drink — aka continue to consume way weirder and more dangerous stuff into our bodies than a vaccine — as we explore this crazy beautiful world together.

For immunizations, for travel and for the sake of your fellow humans; “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

 

. . .

(72 hours later)

 

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A post shared by Calvin D. Sun, MD (@monsoondiaries)

 

This☝️is now 72 hours since getting the COVID-19 vaccine + 2 months since getting the annual flu vaccine. Does it look like life has been ruined by 45+ vaccines in my blood?

Full IG Live with @lisalingstagram at hour 48: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CI85HhrKroR/?igshid=1iqhj59xtmgun

The post-vaccine experience may vary (honestly so far it hasn’t really lol) — but it’s better than the alternative experience with COVID at 3000 deaths a day — and at least for myself and so far 100% of those in my orbit (hundreds at this point!) who have gotten the shot are *ALL STILL ALIVE AND LIVING WELL.* ALL of us already back at work (heck I worked some 12 hours immediately after getting mine and had a great rest of the shift), saving lives, building houses, hiking, bouldering, seeing patients, and generally living our normal lives with a little more hope than we had before getting the vaccine. Our post vaccine sore arms and itchy left nostril (and I think that’s it) have all resolved on their own within 48 hours.

All that we feel left since is a pervasive feeling of joy, catharsis, and relief akin to that spectrum of emotions where one feels after graduating, or finishing an exam that you spent 9 months studying for, or delivering a child after 9 months of carrying it to term. It’s definitely been 9 long months, and we finally see a light at the end of this 9 month long tunnel.

For immunizations, for travel and for the sake of your fellow humans; “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

 

 

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