Month: October 2023

Ageing comes for us all, and it expresses itself in many ways. For me, it’s expressing itself through the graying of hair at the temples and the slight bald spot forming on the top of my head (others say they don’t see it, but I certainly do whenever I look in a mirror).

And, as you may have guessed, through failing eyesight.

I’ve been nearsighted since I was seven years old, but lately my vision has reached the point where both the changing shape of my ageing eyeballs and the nearsightedness have combined so I couldn’t really see at any distance. It was a new and relatively inconvenient experience for me to have to take off my glasses so I could read books or use my phone. So, three weeks ago, once my finances had recovered from the tooth extractions I endured earlier this year, I took myself to the optometrist.

Continue reading “The New Glasses”

The latest versions of the COVID vaccines are finally out for distribution, and not before time too, as cases in New Brunswick are on the rise. Having not had a proper booster shot since last August, and not wanting to repeat my experience with COVID last December, I booked an appointment with the local pharmacy, and got my shot on Tuesday.

Having had both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines during the earlier years of the pandemic, I can tell you I preferred the Pfizer more, as it did its job without anything in the way of side effects, while the Moderna wore me out for a couple of days. This time around, I had to get the Moderna, as it was the first to have been approved.

So: the next two days had me tired enough to sleep eleven hours a day and with the general aches and fever on the second. But better two days of discomfort than the risk of getting infected while waiting for the Pfizer to arrive. Despite people’s insistence that the disease is “just like the flu now” and so on, it is so very much not. Long Covid can still strike after the initial infection and it will screw you over for weeks or months, long after you would have recovered from the flu. Plus, there’s the enhanced risk of heart attack or stroke that can also last for months afterward.

Believe me, if you’re still on the fence about getting the vaccine or getting the booster (and if you are on the fence at this late date, why?!) you really should get the shot. Holidays are coming up, and COVID is a terrible gift to give to the family.