Contagion . . .

I am a mass of nasty bugs that my beleaguered immune system will have to fight all at once, today . . . OK, what I’m really saying is I got my medical pre-deployment stuff done and had to have a bunch of immunizations for some scary stuff: smallpox, typhoid, anthrax, and the flu. Oh, well, that last isn’t so bad! Anyway, my arms hurt tonight and I’ve been warned drink lots of fluids and get some good sleep tonight, because the typhoid shot, in particular, tends to take it out of you. I guess I can expect to feel feverish and ill tonight and tomorrow. And just about when I’m getting over that, I’ll probably catch the flu! Last time I got the flu mist, that happened . . .

However, it’s all good. I’d rather know I’m immune to these things than worry about them ahead of time. And oddly, it seems that all this chaos and craziness agrees with me: over the past few weeks, every time my blood pressure has been measured it’s gotten lower. Today I was 110 over 60, which is practically unheard-of, given my slight tendency toward white-coat hypertension.

I’m thinking that I must do better with grand, sweeping changes in my life as opposed to constant low-grade stressors like school deadlines and the numbing boredom of a dull office job. But anyway, I’ve rarely been in better health than I am at the moment and I aquitted myself admirably while being stuck with all those needles–the tech who did all the needle-sticking kept commenting on how good-natured I was about it. I guess that cheerful stoicism about these sorts of things isn’t the norm when you perform immunizations on a daily basis?

I do better when I’m used to being at the doctor’s office. When I first went into the Air Force and went through OTS, I was horrified at the thought of needles. However, since they require a full range of immunizations when you first come in, as well as multiple labs that require you to get blood drawn, I managed to get so used to the idea of being stuck that it just stopped being a problem. I don’t like it, of course, but it’s really no worse than accidentally bruising yourself–you just know that the pain is coming instead of it surprising you.

Anyway, this isn’t such a compelling post, I know, so we’ll blame my typhoid immunization and draw the conclusion that it’s time for me to go to bed now. Bonne nuit!