Fluzone Intradermal Shot

I've mentioned previously how I'm afraid of needles.  I avoid them.

 

Our office had a flu shot clinic last year and I politely declined to participate.  When the clinic was announced this year, I considered participating, but I was on the fence.  On one hand, I know the only way for me to get over my fear of needles is to be exposed to them more often.  On the other hand, I'm afraid of them.

 

For the last month, I've seen advertisements on television for a Fluzone intradermal vaccine.  This shot is supposedly as effective as the regular flu shot, but the needle is super tiny.  I asked our HR director if these shots would be available.  She checked and later confirmed the Fluzone intradermal vaccine would be made available at our clinic.  Woo hoo!



 

I signed up and committed to getting a flu shot this year.  Last Wednesday, I had lots of meetings, but I added a reminder to my calendar in Outlook to get a shot.  Someone stopped by my office and mentioned he had just gotten his shot and the tiny needle was painless.  I was excited!  I had about seven minutes before my next meeting, so I ran to the conference room where the flu clinic was being held and got in line.

The pharmacist (A.K.A. Nurse Ratched) wasn't as fast as I would have expected, but she got people in and out.  When it was my turn, I sat in the chair and explained to her how scared of needles I am.  She smiled like she understood and proceeded to give me my injection.  When the needle first entered my arm, I thought, "This isn't bad at all!"  She then began injecting the medication.  I let out an, "Ouch!"  That was not very comfortable.  It was over pretty quickly, but it wasn't as painless as I was expecting.  I joked with someone afterward it felt like Nurse Ratched got a running start.

I sat in one of the other conference room chairs while I recovered.  I always have to recover for about five or ten minutes because I go into panic attack mode.  After sitting for about four minutes, I walked back to my office for my next meeting.  I was sweating at this point, which is expected during the "recovery period."  That means I'm almost better.

My arm was sore for the rest of the afternoon, but it wasn't terrible.  The injection site was red and swollen the next day.  Apparently that is a side-effect of the injection.  The area was kind of hot and itched terribly.  The itching has gotten better and the swelling has gone away.  The actual injection site is still pretty tender and hurts when touched.  I suspect it will be completely better in a few more days.

From what I've heard, the regular flu shot isn't as bad as the intradermal shot.  I felt kind of bad because several people in our office visited their physician because they thought they were having a reaction to the shot.  Everyone who got the shot walked around with swollen, red spots on their arms.  I feel like my fear of needles caused everyone to be maimed.  I know I'm not ultimately responsible, but it's still kind of funny to think about.

The person who stopped by my office and said the shot was painless later admitted he was comparing this shot to the shots he got this summer before going on vacation to Africa.  I don't like him anymore.

I'll probably get the shot next year, but I'll be more likely to just get the regular shot and not the intradermal shot.  It hurt.

Weight Loss Update

I posted on 9/8/12 about my new weight loss goals.  That morning, I rode my recumbent bike for thirty-five minutes.  I'm very proud of the fact I rode another thirty-five minutes later that evening.  That mad a total of seventy minutes I spent working out on Saturday!

This morning, after my usual breakfast of an egg mcmuffin without Canadian bacon from McDonald's, I rode for forty minutes.  I'm on a roll!  It seems to be getting easier each time.

I don't know if Justin knows this, but I may have to treat myself to new clothes once I lose my first ten pounds.  At this rate, that could be achieved in a couple of weeks.  (I'm doing the "happy dance" while I'm typing this.)

"I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike...

...I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride it where I like!"

I'm going to be honest.  I've gotten fat.  I'm certainly not the largest person in the world, but I'm definitely the largest I've ever been.  I'm about forty pounds heavier than I was when I graduated from high school.  I want to be that size again.  Do I think that's a realistic goal?  Absolutely.  Will it be easy to attain?  Not even close!

My office building has a gym that's pretty decent.  I've worked out there a few times, but it's so hard to make myself workout after a long day at work.  We have a treadmill at home, but I just don't use it.  I need to and I used to, but I haven't been on it since we left Tifton.

The gym at work has a few recumbent bikes that I really enjoy using.  For my birthday, I asked Justin for a recumbent bike.  He delivered!

My birthday was a couple of months ago, but I've been too lazy to actually ride it.

Earlier this year, our office had a "Biggest Loser" contest.  I participated, but basically just made a $50 donation to the cause.  I was really into it initially, but I just got busy and was under a lot of stress.  I'm a stress eater and walked around the office with a bag of chocolate covered raisins for about two months.  My desk had about four bags of the faux Raisinettes at any given time.  I didn't want to run out!

I recently had an epiphany.  I am obese.  I passed overweight  a while ago.  My fat clothes no longer fit.  I had no energy.  I know my health was in jeopardy.  I love shopping at The Limited and I was about to get too big to fit in their clothes.  I was about to have to start shopping at their "big girl" store, Eloqui.

Starting Tuesday, I got back on Weight Watchers.  I want to eat all the time, but I'm resisting.  A coworker gave me a cupcake on Wednesday, but I gave it away.  Hardest thing I've ever done.  Yesterday, a coworker brought a box of Munchkins from Dunkin Donuts.  I wanted just one, but resisted.  Last night, we picked up food from Crawfish Shack Seafood.  I would normally have ordered the fried shrimp with fries and potato salad.  I got the boiled shrimp with corn on the cob and potato salad.  I know the potato salad wasn't the best thing and I probably won't order it next time.  Shrimp are pretty low in calories and fat, but they are high in cholesterol.  I think I'll be fine as long as I don't eat a lot of other high fat foods in addition to the shrimp.

I've also been using my recumbent bike.  I started out riding twenty-five minutes and rode for thirty-five earlier this morning.  My goal is to eventually start riding twice a day.  I think thirty to forty minutes each session will be good.

I don't know how much weight I've lost because the batteries in our scale need to be replaced, but I suspect I've lost five or so pounds.  I can tell a difference in my jeans and other clothes.  It's amazing what four days of proper eating and exercising can do!  The exercising was initially a chore, but it's very slowly becoming easier.

Slow and easy wins the race.

The Ship & Anchor Pub

My coworkers and I have Happy Hour occasionally.  Our location of choice is The Ship & Anchor Pub.  The Ship & Anchor is about a mile or so from our office, so we can get there fairly quickly.  The staff also knows us, so that's a good thing, too.  The best thing about The Ship & Anchor is the drinks.  They make a tasty cosmo!

We also absolutely love their food.  They have typical bar foods - nachos, wings, fries.  Their nachos come with chicken, but I always get them without chicken.  I also love their fries.  They're served in a terra cotta flower pot, which is kind of neat.  We were recently introduced to a new item on their menu.  Ghetto wings are rather yummy.  I don't eat the chicken, but I eat the little pieces of batter that are left on the plate.  Oh, my!  That is some delicious stuff!

Chef (that's what we call the main guy who runs the kitchen) introduced us to ghetto fries.  He seasons their fries with a special seasoning blend and then covers them with runny white cheese.  He then adds crumbles of bacon, which he excludes from my ghetto fries since he knows I don't eat meat.  He'll even bring a special plate of batter "cracklings" when someone at our table orders ghetto wings.

A small group of us decided to visit The Ship & Anchor today for lunch.  I had the lobster grilled cheese sandwich with fries.  The sandwich is a grilled brie and cream cheese sandwich with large chunks of lobster.  It. is. delicious.  So rich and creamy!

I really enjoy the atmosphere at The Ship & Anchor.  It's calming and a nice way to relax after a rough day at work.  When it's cooler outside, we'll even sit in their outdoor area, which is kind of nice.

Flashback Friday

I decided to share this photo of my father and me.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure of the year.  I'm guessing I'm three or four, but I don't know that for sure.  Without knowing the year, I don't really know where the photo was taken.  I'm assuming it was taken during a summer vacation.  I remember going to Daytona in 1986 when I was five, but I think this was before that.  My guess would be that it was taken in 1984 or 1985.

I also played around with Picasa and added the Polaroid look to the photo.  I kind of like it, especially for this photo.  It wasn't originally taken with a Polaroid camera, but it could have been.

My Birthday

My birthday was Monday, July 2.  It was a low key kind of day.  I don't mean for this to sound negative, but because my birthday is so close to July 4, it has been hard for me to plan parties in the past.  Most people are out of town or have holiday plans that seem to begin on or before July 2.

My mother's birthday is on June 30, so in an effort to keep from having two birthday cakes, we usually got my mother a cake.  I've whined about not having a birthday cake for years.  To end this vicious cycle, Justin got a birthday cake for me.  I ran an errand and when I returned home, this cake was waiting for me.  He's really sweet like that!

Later that night, Justin took me to TWO Urban Licks.  TWO Urban Licks is one of my favorite restaurants in Atlanta.  We began with cocktails.  They have these liquor infusions.  I'm not sure how they're made, but they're potent.  My favorite is the key lime infusion.  It has rum infused with something, coconut milk, lime, and brown sugar.  Justin had a sangria infusion.  They were both quite tasty!

We also began our meal with the watermelon and yellow tomato salad.  It has watermelon, yellow tomato, feta cheese, mint, and a chili sauce.  It doesn't sound all that appealing, but it is fabulous.  We had it the last time we were there and it is wonderful.  So refreshing!

For my entree, I had the scallops.  Justin and I have eaten at TWO Urban Licks five or six times and I've gotten the scallops each visit.  They're that good.  The three perfectly cooked scallops are served atop Gouda grits surrounded by a tomato sauce and topped with a tomato salsa.  The blend of flavors is perfect.  You wouldn't think three scallops would be satisfying, but it is the perfect amount of food.

Because it was my birthday and the waitress noticed this while checking my ID (Woohoo for looking like a teenager!), she offered a free dessert.  Justin and I planned to have a drink after dinner, so I got the carrot cake without the ice cream so we wouldn't have to rush home.  I love carrot cake, so it was a win win situation.


We visited Sister Louisa's Church of the Living Room & Ping Pong Emporium (It's a bar.).  It is a local bar that has tasty drinks.  I had my usual cosmo and we headed home.

As I said, it was a low key day, but a great day.  Justin got me a recumbent exercise bike, which we put together on July 4.  I haven't used it, yet, but I'm planning to get on it later today.  It's gonna make me skinny!  While we met my family in Macon on June 30, I got my birthday presents from my family.  My mother and Larry gave me a pair of gold hoop earrings.  They're really pretty and I know I'll wear them often.  My sister and niece gave me a pretty blue ring.  I'm not sure if it's topaz or aquamarine, but it's very pretty.  Justin's parents sent a check which was used to purchase some clothes at my favorite store, The Limited.  Shhh...don't tell Justin I went there!  I also treated myself to a much needed pedicure.

My mother is getting married!

My mother has been dating Larry for a about two years.  He is the first person she dated since my father died in 1986.  I've been expecting this for a while, so I wasn't totally surprised on Saturday when she showed me her ring.  It is very pretty!

Her sixtieth birthday was on Saturday, so we decided to meet in Macon for lunch.  After we sat down, she presented her left hand and I quickly spotted the diamonds.  She was so excited, so my sister and I were excited for her, too.

My sister and me. 

My JB and me. 

The happy couple!

Congratulations Mama and Larry!  Love you two!