I got the vaccine

(content warning for a half-vivid description of nausea and throwing up)

i got the first dose of the astra zeneca vaccine on the 7th of march. it would have been an uneventful sunday, but the vaccine required me to travel one hour by train, hang out 4 hours in a different town and then come back.

i did make a short vlog about it, in hungarian.

the vaccination center was an old, decaying hospital, the arrows intended to guide us were almost some magic help through a labyrinth. i did sign an informed consent form, despite not having been informed - it's just how healthcare works here. and i didn't actually mind at the moment, i thought i knew stuff. i thought it would give me a fever and some diarrhea.

i did wind up getting the shot an hour before the actual appointment, because i was so bored. it was a small town, all the points of iterest within 10 minutes of walking from each other, so i thought i'd chill in the waiting room, but i got the shot instead. the 15 minutes of waiting for allergic reactions passed eventlessly, and i could leave, on the marked route.

i came home and started getting symptoms maybe 8 hours after the shot. i thought it was just a slight rise in temperature, and went to bed. i awoke almost at midnight, curled up and shivering from the cold. i had a fever. and as i moved around to put another blanket on myself, i could feel my stomach turn, the same way it did after the operation done on me when i was 14. i remember having vomited that entire day, so i swore to sit by as still as possible, to try and avoid that reaction. my shivering did not want to pass. finally i looked around for some extra clothes to put on, and by the time i did, i knew my stomach had made a decision. i could feel the extra saliva in my mouth, and knew i had only a bit of time left. quickly, to the bathroom. projectile. as soon as my head was above the toilet bowl. thank me for knowing my body and not hesitating any further.

after the vomiting stopped, i tried to wash its taste from my mouth, with very little success. i had tears in my eyes - from the actual vomiting, from the fever, from the shock of this symptom, and also from not being sure if i should take meds. what if i threw those up too? i texted my father and he told me they take effect very fast. i did take the meds. a while after midnight, i was sleeping again.

i woke up a bit later, now too warm. too sweaty. that was good, the fever was subsiding.

the next day, it was all gone. i had a bit of malaise or brain fog going on, but otherwise i was perfectly healthy, no more fever and especially no more vomiting. of course, my arm was sore, which would persist over the following week, but by tuesday i could jump and run around, healthy as ever.

i consider myself lucky, not just for not having had allergies. but now, what do i do now?