Vaccines and Injured Birds

Today was vaccine day. It's practically a morning date. Matt and I both set up appointments at the pharmacy for our flu and Covid vaccines. He also got an MMR because he's not entirely sure if he ever got that second shot, and considering the way people in the U.S. are trying to Make Measles Great Again, better safe than sorry. (I know I got my second MMR shot. I have my lovely yellow, military-brat immunization record that my mother gave to me when I moved out. But I still contemplate getting another one...just in case. Not today, though.) 

I get the Covid vaccine in my left arm, the flu in my right. The very first set of Covid vaccines (April and May, 2021), made the lymph node under my left arm swell. And it got stuck that way for months, resulting in my first official mammogram. It eventually shrank back to mostly normal, but it still flares with every new Covid vaccine, so I figured instead of having a potentially wonky lymph node under both arms, I'd just keep torturing that one. But I prefer not to double up vaccines in that arm when I get the Covid shot...so both arms it is. I like to spread the pain around. It's a good thing I sleep on my back. 

I'm also counting down the time to when I start feeling side effects. The second shot of the initial set of Covid vaccines gave me a fever, body aches and chills and that pattern has continued, slightly less each time. But still enough to make me curl up on the couch with several blankets and a mug of tea. 

I'm already feeling fatigue, though that could be from the not quite six and a half hours of sleep I got last night, combined with the bird rescue we had to do after the vaccine. 

Before we headed to the pharmacy, I heard a skittering in the leaves and seed pods in our front yard, looked over and saw a grey ball of feathers. At first I thought she was sunning herself, but when I took a step closer and she didn't fly off, I realized something was wrong. I started looking up wildlife rehab places on the way to the pharmacy, figuring we'd try to take her somewhere if she was still there and alert by the time we got back,

She was. 
 

What followed was a series of texts to the rehab, complete with pictures and video so they could assess the bird's condition and then an appointment for drop off a few hours later. 

We got her into a shoebox with a few towels and placed the box in a warm spot. Matt checked on her right before we left to make sure she was, in fact, still among the living. She turned one dark eye toward him and smacked the side of the box with her wing. 

At the rehab, they had us wait in our car. One of the volunteers came out in scrubs, gloves and a mask. They're taking bird flu seriously. They conduct their initial exam of the bird outside. They gave us an intake number and said to give them 72 hours before checking in (if we hadn't heard from them by that point). Head injuries (we're working on the assumption she hit a window) are a 72 hour, make or break. 

So here's hoping she'll pull through. 

But if not, at least she was able to go somewhere safe and warm for whatever time she has left.