Nadene Goldfoot
Multnomah County, Oregon contains the 2 largest cities in Oregon; Portland and Gresham. The Covid 19 vaccine is being held in Portland's Convention Center in NE Portland. I live in Gresham, which is 12 miles from my son's home in Portland in the SE side.
My appointment was yesterday but was canceled due to the snow that we received starting Thursday evening. Today is Monday. It was moved 2 days ahead to tomorrow-Tuesday., As of now, we still have over a foot of snow that has not melted though the temperature has risen. I live in a neighborhood with cul de sacs where the snow has blown in and where cars cannot get out. It's still here; mounds of it, especially behind my car which is in my carport. My snow shovel is still in my shed because the door is sealed by all the snow against it. Who thought on February 8th to take the snow shovel out for a soon-to-happen blizzard of snow?
I'm 86, and we have been scheduled to get our shots with the 75 year old's who were just scheduled also for tomorrow. I'll never make it, however unless a miracle of a strong rain takes place tonight and washes away all this snow.
All this hurry and never mind what the weathermen were saying. There's going to be a lot of cancellations. This is creating stress within me and I imagine stress with others as well. Like many other seniors, I have my son lined up to drive me to the Convention Center from his home and stay with me in line. I don't want to try to manage all this alone; parking, walking to the distant exit from the parking area below the building or up stairs. His appointment and his wife is on the next day! He'll have to go there again, poor guy. This time the line may be quite long.
I sure wish someone was thinking about us oldsters and didn't expect us to drive to Portland's Convention Center for our shot. That's a good 15 miles away. Lucky us being a part of Multnomah County!
I tried to manage the website for the Convention Center and am getting no place without my son here to help me with it. I can't get into a part that reschedules appointments or even makes them. I'm at the point of becoming hysterical! Hours of working on this and I'm getting no place.
I've checked everywhere in pharmacies about when I can get the vaccine. They are all full up with appointments and a limited amount of vaccine. If there's a cancellation and I call at that moment, I could get in; a thousand to one opportunity.
My son and daughter in law were at the center today getting their 2nd vaccine. I had casually mentioned that they ask about me and how I can reschedule. They did it after their vaccination! I actually spoke with a lady in charge and after a few questions and answers, am scheduled for Sunday! What a miracle! Snow is still on the ground but gradually disappearing. Our 6-7 inches yesterday should be a little lower and the short path Molly and I shoveled that had turned to water is dry this morning.
I have more snow pictures to post here but can't as I don't have an available port for my camera. I'm going to wait on pictures from now on. It was possible before when I had a battery keyboard and mouse. These electric ones are using the ports.
Sure glad that my son asked about me at the Convention Center and they took the time to help him and myself. That is amazing!
Today is February 21 and I left the house at 7am this morning and headed for my son's house 12 miles away so we could go to the Convention Center to get my 1st vaccine for Covid 19. The Convention Cenrer is absolutely huge. I'm glad my son has been there 2 times already for his 1st and 2nd vaccines. I was put in a wheelchair and taken around, finally winding up at the station where a National Guard medic gave me the vaccine. She did it so well I never even felt it. So far, I feel fine. I'm so glad it's over. They even had a station for us to go to where they made the 2nd appointment for me. The organization was wonderful there with plenty of assistants walking us to the different places we needed to go. We had to take one elevator-just us in it, to one floor and then we took another elevator to the next floor. From the wheelchair view, it was awesome! I learned that my son was very smart to get an early morning appointment for me, even though I wound up getting out of bed at 5am. My medic said she was up at 4am. It paid off as there were fewer people in the center early in the morning.
One thing I noticed was that my left arm where I got the shot was hurting so much; the whole arm. I could hardly bend my elbow. I was attributing it to pulling a muscle I hadn't noticed from shoveling because my rib was hurting so much when my son informed me that it was the result of the vaccine. He had had the same experience. He was right. I did notice it only after the vaccine, about 3 hrs later. Dumb me! This morning when I got up, I noticed that I was feeling much better and that my arm was back to normal. Being very careful of my rib, I gingerly picked up my dog off my bed and let her walk with the leash to the porch. No more carrying her and feeling the effects of her 20+ lbs affect. Result is that my side feels better.
I hope there is no problem 3 weeks from now when I need the 2nd vaccine. Thank you National Guard people and whoever organized the whole affair. You did a good job.
9/20/21 Update: I'm getting my 3rd vaccine, a booster on 9/22/21, Wednesday. At 87, with heart problem, this is necessary. I've already had the Shingles vaccines and the yearly flu vaccine. We have to keep up with of them. I never realized what a dangerous environment we are living in.
Update: 9/22/21: My booster for COVID took place at a different Walgreens pharmacy due to only certain ones had the Pfizer and they didn't get the word as to who was eligible for it as soon as it had come out. 65 and over were eligible along with those who were immune deficient for reasons like cancer. After 3 tries, the 3rd was the charm. I got it. We're all learning how this is working.. There were long long lines of people in Texas getting th4ir booster as shown on TV. I can't complain. When I went in the pharmacy there was only one other lady ahead of me and she was getting her flu shot. I was there at about 10:30am after my son had come over and handled the automatic phone response to find out if they were giving the vaccine or not. I had messed that up and didn't get through.
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