unwelcome surprise

I recently started volunteering at a local hospital to get the rest of my hours for full fledged certification for chaplaincy. (This would be an easier part of the grueling process if I were actually working full time in a chaplaincy position right now, but since I'm not, it's become a real pain in the butt issue.) I went in to have my name badge made and get a TB test last Friday and the nurse offered me so much more. I forgot that I needed medical records, so she went ahead and did a blood test to see what immunizations I'd already had. Then she told me that they have come out with a new tetanus shot that includes a booster for whooping cough and assured me that I hadn't had it yet because it was so new. So, I left with not 1 but three holes in my arm. I was lucky, because she didn't give me regular Band-Aids, but pieces of gauze with tape instead. This really helped me plead my sympathy case when I got home.

I remembered the last tetanus shot and how much it hurt for days. So, she instructed me to take tylenol every four hours for a few days. This one actually didn't hurt nearly as much going in, but the next day I felt like I'd been run over by a bus. My whole body hurt. A few hours and a couple of tylenol perked me up a bit, but it made for feeling of general crumminess all weekend. I still have a lump today, and it's been over a week!

An added bonus: She finished the titer and told me that I have no immunity to the measles, so I'll have to come in for another MMR in July and one in August. I'm not sure if I posted about it or not, but when I started working at the other hospital a couple of years ago, my titer showed no immunity to Mumps or Rubella, so I had to have an MMR booster then. I'm sure I was vaccinated back in the day, so if I had produced my shot records it would have never shown up. I don't think I'm the only one because I know a girl who recently had the mumps. You might want to think about having your doctor run a check to see if you need any updates...but take some Tylenol before you go. :)