Things have been looking pretty good for my immune system since I last checked in. Those pesky spike proteins seem to have gone away, and my immune system is presumably standing down, tapering off the number of anti-spike antibodies in my system. It will leave a few of them around, just in case, but for the most part, the invasion seems to be over. Perhaps there’s no need for high vigilance…or so it seemed…
Unbeknownst to my immune system, my wife and I just took the 80-mile drive to get our second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. As I write this, my cells are reading the mRNA from the injection and dutifully producing vast numbers of spike proteins, which are expressed on the surface and left over in the debris from dead cells.
My immune system is noticing the onslaught of the spiky invaders, and it’s realizing that this particular invader is a lot more durable than it seemed. Clearly, my immune system is going to have to ramp things up and make a lot more antibodies, because this is war.
So far, I can’t really feel it. My shoulders are sore, but that could easily be from something I did around the house yesterday, or from spending 4 hours in the car when I’m not used to that much driving. I just took my temperature, and it’s on the high side of normal for me, but it’s not actually out of my normal range, and it’s not high enough to count as an actual fever. My wife, on the other hand, is reporting a strong headache, and she may be headed for a worse time. I reported the aches and pains to v-safe, but I left out the slightly elevated temperature.
I sure hope this doesn’t get too interesting…
Keep us posted on how it goes. I get my second shot next week and I”m a little concerned about the following days…
Well, my cats get lethargic after they get shots at the vet, and I got sleepy after writing this post and took a nap. I know the immune system needs a lot of energy (protein synthesis is hard work) and it functions better if you get plenty of sleep, so this might be related. When I woke up, my temperature had gone down.
In a way, I’m disappointed. I was hoping my immune system would put up a strong fight, but from what I’ve read, a weak reaction doesn’t mean you’re not protected, so I’m trying not to worry about it too much. They say women get stronger reactions, and my wife still has the headache, and she’s been sleeping a lot.