At approximately 1020am this morning, I was sitting in a CVS Pharmacy getting a Moderna Covid19 bivalent booster vaccine, along with a flu shot. Within 3 hours, I was having the weirdest, semi-conscious, somewhat lucid dream of my life. I may be needing tea and sympathy tomorrow if, by some reports, the second day is the kicker.

Because we’re Team Moderna here, I had been looking at the various pharmacy sites ever since the new boosters were approved by the CDC, trying to find Moderna vaccine available near me. Once again I had to go pretty far afield to find it; not as far as the very first time when I had to drive about an hour south for my first 2 vaccines. This time I only had to go 30 minutes away, which is a 50% improvement, I guess. But for my previous booster, we got to go to breakfast with family at a a nearby restaurant and then fan out to multiple pharmacies after to get our boosters.

David was off on a group gravel ride with friends, I had the morning free. So off I went, got my jabs, and on my way home caught up with a family friend via (hands free) phone as I drove.

During this call, I learned that a young family member’s toddler was never vaccinated, and is now ill from Covid for the second time. And the young family member sent a photo of a Covid test to others, asking “Does the faint line mean I have Covid too?”

DUH.

That is some world-class duh-nial there, kiddo. And it’s not the first time that this family member has questioned the evidence of her own eyes on a Covid test. She also wasn’t fully boosted, though with Omicron’s ability to evade previous versions of the vaccines, that’s not surprising. I’m just irked at her for putting her kid at risk, and wonder if she’s been hanging out with other vaccine duh-nialists and listening to the other insanities.

Anyway, after getting home and toddling around, I started to feel a slight headache, so I took a couple of Ibuprofen and settled down on the couch to relax.

While in the middle of composing a tweet, for God’s sake, I was suddenly aware that my consciousness was sinking deep into the couch and taking me with it. I remember thinking “This is a hell of a side effect, like a drug. Might as well enjoy it.” I couldn’t move, but I could think, and it was dark. I was comfortable and not scared, but it seemed like a very long time went by while I was… deeply cushioned and stuff was going on around me. It seemed like there were voices. For some reason, there was something about a dog or a coyote (NOT the cartoon kind).  At the time, I didn’t think I was asleep or dreaming, but the couch itself was rotated 90 degrees from its normal position and was against the living room windows.

After quite a long time in this altered state, my consciousness… resurfaced up from within the cushioning darkness and I gradually realized it was still full daylight, and then realized I was “awake” and could “move.” 

It took about 5 minutes or more to figure out that I must have been asleep and having a semi-lucid dream, but it was more a kind of twilight with some ability to think. I’ve had vivid lucid dreams before and this wasn’t that. Actually, I normally don’t experience the sensation of falling asleep; it has to sort of sneak up on me while my mind is distracted (usually via music or an audiobook and sleep headphones). Today I think I actually experienced the loss of consciousness to sleep. Very weird. 

I also spent a further 5 minutes or so trying to figure out if I really had been asleep, and if so, for how long. I woke up about 2pm, and had stopped for lunch before coming home, so I think I lost about 2 hours. 

As for other post-booster side effects, my shoulder muscles are a bit sore and my nose is runny, but that’s about it. 

David got back from his ride, totally wiped out, so we opted not to go out again for dinner with his dad (we went to a local brewpub last night on a whim). Tomorrow David has to get up ungodly early for an airport drop off; we’re hosting Guest Cat Gracie again for a week as a consequence. It’s nice to have a cat about the house.