Hope.

My alarm went off for almost an hour before I actually woke up, startled to see it was 7:26am. I just finished a week of working in the hospital, so waking up early wasn’t the best idea. But I scheduled my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine for 8am today, so I rolled out of bed, pulled on some jeans draped over a chair in my kitchen and headed out. I’ve been looking forward to this moment for months!

I received my second dose today at 8:12am.

I’m watching for side effects but so far just feel an immense sense of relief. I’ve been so vigilant, so careful, so methodical for months to stay safe despite the high risk of exposures in my job. And while I will continue all of that, I feel hopeful. Hope that these vaccines are the way out for us. The first step towards getting back to life as it was before, to “normalcy.” That maybe it won’t always be this way, the hospital full of patients critically ill from COVID or the after effects of surviving COVID, families FaceTiming their loved ones from their rooms in isolation. Hope that something better is coming.

My colleagues Dr Gleason & Dr OConnor got their second doses at the same time I did.