Hypochondria as a legitimate hobby

[isadora]

Maybe you should put on some pool floaties and go with it? Ehhh? eh.

Happy about your parents, tho! I know lots of rich folks skipping the line via hospital or school connections. It bugs me on one level but the faster we get everybody done, the better, I guess.

[IssieCol]

We've had so so luck in getting all the parents vaccinated. My parents were able to get signed up and they've both received their first shots and scheduled for second. Same with my sister's MIL. We're still working on getting Mr. Issie's parents taken care of, but that's our goal this weekend. One of my doctor friends spent three hours refreshing the site to get her parents and grandmother appointments so we're hoping our experience goes much faster than that, but we're prepared to get carpal tunnel if need be. Our hospital received some extra doses and opened up the portal to allow employees to sign up one family member, but that person had to be 75+ so my sister got her MIL on the list, but neither my MIL or FIL are old enough. I'm hopeful that Fauci's prediction of everyone having easy access to the vaccine by April comes true. It's insane how the Trump admin messed this up so bad, honestly.

[ophy]

All righty folks, it's about that time in every global pandemic when we all share tips on How To Find A Vaccine!*











* disclaimer: I only have tips for finding vaccines in the US (sorry dada!). And I know that even though it is very Hunger Games-esque here, we are still very fortunate and privileged to even have to opportunity to find doses and that not all countries are vaccinating at a high rate yet. I hope the situation improves for everyone very soon!




So! mr.o's group became eligible in our state (he works directly with the homeless and other vulnerable populations in his job) and I was STRESSING over getting him an appointment because getting through on the official phone lines was impossible, and none of the major official locations offer online appointments here yet. He also tutors at risk high school youth every week at the high school downtown and on the weekend he volunteers to deliver donated furniture to transitional houses and group homes (I KNOW he is a SAINT and I am a LAZY ASSHOLE) so I have been white knuckling it all year every time he gets a sniffle or a cough, and I also knew he was too busy to find appointments himself so I spent days calling, researching, refreshing sites until! I joined a vaccine hunter group on Facebook and used their tips to snag him 1st&2nd Dose appointments at Walgreens. I will now pass what I learned to y'all.



If you or your loved ones are eligible and you can't get through to the state or county for appts, firstly look for a local vaccine hunter group (like literally just type in vaccine hunter and your state or city name into Facebook). Their info is very area specific, obviously, and people are contributing sites and info all day.



These aggregate sites scrape most (not all! which I will get to in a minute) available appointments by zip code/city:


https://www.vaccinespotter.org/

https://vaccinefinder.org/

https://getmyvaccine.org/



This article had some tips about how to automate site refreshing for appointments:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/tech-ti...re-11614594600



Many states/cities also have 'Vaccine Angels' who will help you score an appointment if you meet their individual threshold of need, by the way. They are just random volunteers helping out, usually found through facebook.


The first step should be to find all the providers in your area. Health clinics, mass sites, Walgreens, CVS, Grocery stores, etc. Some of them have different requirements - some ask you to create a profile online first, some want documentation of your frontline job or health condition, or your insurance card, etc. It can vary a whole heckuva lot. And they update their appointment lists on different days/times, so nailing that down is tricky, but helpful. For example, I got mr.o's appts because the vax hunter group told me that in our area, there's no point in even trying to book anything at Walgreens until midnight, and they fill up in minutes. But the profile/account I had to create to verify eligibility takes several minutes to fill out, so I did that that earlier in the day. I had mr.o booked by 12:04. He will be getting his first dose today.

*side note on Walgreen in particular . . . when I tried to book during the day, they give you two options: Book 1st&2nd Dose or Book 2nd Dose only. (they book three days out, by the way) The site kept saying appts were available, and so I could snag a 1st dose . . . but when it took me to the 2nd dose screen, none of those were available so it automatically canceled the first dose. You can't just book a first dose alone. It's a known glitch they are supposed to be working on! CBS did a segment on it: https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2021/03...-appointments/

If you try to go around the system by pretending you've had a first dose already, and select Book 2nd Dose Only, it will ask you for a bunch of specific details about your so-called first dose, so I don't know if that's a good way 'round it. Also it seems like that will mess things up when you try to actually book your real second dose. Anyway, MIDNIGHT was when they release 2nd dose appointments in my area, so that's what worked to get both scheduled. If you are eligible, and Walgreens are providers in your town, I would try that first. If I had only followed what the county told us to do, there's no way in beek's green earth that mr.o would be already getting his shot.



My Group (chubby LAZY ASSHOLES with asthma) opens up soonish, so I hope the midnight at Walgreens thing works just as well then. They may have gotten the glitch fixed though, which should make it easier in general.


MIDNIGHT AT WALGREENS sounds like the code name for an obnoxious 90s rave or something. WHOO HOO MIDNIGHT AT WALGREENS.








WASTE NOT WANT NOT:


If you are not eligible or if you are having trouble in your area getting appointments anywhere, you can also try for a 'wastage' dose. Basically, most sites will have no shows and cancellations, but once the doses are thawed out they HAVE to go into SOMEONE's ARM, so the idea is to make you sure you can BE THAT ARM. The best way to BE THE ARM is to contact all providing pharmacies and find out their wastage protocol. This varies a lot, even within the same chain! Some have actual waiting lists they will put you on and then call you to get there in like, 30 mins if you want the available shot. Some don't have lists, they just offer the leftover shots to whoever happens to be in the store at the time. Some don't have lists, but they will tell you a time that you can stop by or call each day to check for shots. Some will get really annoyed and tell you they never have any waste at all and to stop bothering them. It just depends! And some you can't contact by phone to even find out, you have to walk in and ask at the time. The vax hunter group is really good for this . . . the peeps in there post lots of info about the specific pharmacies and how to be successful at them. It's higgeldy piggeldy though, so you just have to sift through and monitor it if you are serious about a wastage dose.

Two of my mom's friends in TN got their shots through wastage -- one of them just happened to be shopping in WalMart late in the evening when a shot became available, and the other one walked into a Walgreens and just asked at around 6:00, and they offered her one right then.

One person on Facebook said they spent a whole day going in person to every pharmacy provider for 25 miles to see about getting on their lists, and the next day she had offers for shots from three of them. I've seen others say what worked for them was just to call at around 7-7:30 every evening until locating one.

The tricky thing about wastage doses is that you often can't schedule your second dose when you get that first wastage dose (unless it's the J&J Janssen shot, of course, because that's a one shot dealio). So you'll have to scrounge for a second shot (and obvs it has to be the same manufacture) in a few weeks. In theory, though, you should be able to schedule that second shot through Walgreens three days out.



The site says they keep a master list of wastage wait listers but I have seen ZERO evidence that anyone has been called from this list, so I dunno:


https://vaxstandby.hidrb.com/




The vax hunter group will also usually post info about mass vaccination sites that operate on specific dates, often on a first come first serve basis and sometimes without regard to what phase you are in. There aren't any in my area, but that's how my mom got her shots in TN. That mass vax site did let her schedule her second one when she had her first.



Now! A word about 'lists' of 'official' 'providers'! So apparently, they aren't very comprehensive. I found three privately owned compounding pharmacies in my area that are offering shots but aren't on anybody's list anywhere. They aren't taking appointments, but I was able to get on their waiting lists just by filling out something online. These aren't wastage shots, though, so I don't expect them to call me until my Group is open. One of the pharmacies said they did 200 Moderna shots last week, and yet I wouldn't have even known about them if I hadn't just decided to check the websites and Facebook pages of every single pharmacy around. Many people have found better success with small rural pharmacies rather than ones in town, too. Also, grocery store pharmacies . . . one that is ten minutes away from my house just started doing shots this week, but aren't on anyone's list yet either. So the key is to drill down to individual sites and pages and not just rely on what your county or state is telling you. If you can find a place that just got their first shipment and nobody else even knows about it then yay, jackpot.



Does anyone else have some tips/success stories?




OKAY GOOD LUCK AND STAY SAFE AND I LOVE YOU ALL.

[Res]

As an Indigenous person, a diabetic, and a cancer survivor I am in a priority group. My brother got the vax because his age put him in the 'elder' category on our reserve, his son got one as a front line worker (volunteer firefighter, helps elders in community). Since I don't live on reserve I have to register with the Indigenous health centre in town. I've called and emailed but haven't gotten a response - my sister called and emailed the same day I did and heard back 5 days later, it has been 7 days for me.

today I had another 3 month appointment for my clinical trial follow up - I've gained weight. :\ But - not as much joint pain as before, surgery has healed up really good, most of the radiation discolouration has gone away. Also, my oncologist has said that the vaccine shouldn't cause me any problems or interact with my current meds in any way. so yay!

[dada_teacher]

I hope you hear back from them soon, Res!

[Linda]

I've had my first vaccination on Saturday. I feel like we're much more organised over here because of the National Health Service.

[ophy]

I'm happy for you linda, and infuriated for you, Res!


mr.o came home from getting his first Pfizer shot today and went straight to bed. I assume that mean it's working.



So it sounds like that Dr. B site as a mega list for waste shots is a legit thing and might be worth signing up for.



https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/09/h...oses-dr-b.html



Here's the link again:

https://vaxstandby.hidrb.com/



Now if only there was a shot that could GET ME OFF THIS MOTHERFRICKIN BEEKDAMN BOAT. So ridiculously boat-y today that I can't walk across the room without falling down or walking into the wall.









(I have an appt to see an ENT on Friday, and I think there's going to be an MRI involved yikes I don't wanna.)

[isadora]

Thanks for the roundup, o! I also joined a local vaxx hunter site and, yes, it's all very Hunger Games/Lord of the Flies! I did learn that there's a mass vaxx site in Quincy, Illinois, that has tons of appointments because it's 4.5 hours from Chicago, in the middle of fucking nowhere. They also don't care what phase you are.

This entire process is MADNESS. Unless you get a hookup from work or church, you're on your own. And, like you said, everything seems utterly random. However, in the Chicago area, it feels like the influx of vaccines is finally happening. There's a big county-run site next to my house and somebody posted the sekrit link to the event signup page. They had a ton of availability for this week BUT I'm technically 1B+ in Illinois (and my county has declined to add 1B+ and are still in 1B). I was nervous that they'd turn me away and I'd be taking a seat from an elderly person or frontline worker. However, I bookmarked the SEKRIT LINK and plan to check it like crazy and as soon as my county expands coverage, I'll use that link to get it.

I could do Walgreens as they apparently DGAF what your status is. But it's A HELL SITE OF NONSENSE, and I already have a full-time job. Allegedly, they release appts daily but bulk dump appointments on Tuesdays and Saturdays. ALSO, I heard today that many people are having better luck using the 1-800-WALGREENS toll free number to book appointments. At least today they were!

I'm on fire to get the vaxx because I want my meager life back! But I also don't want to cut the line. So... ugh.

And you're also right that if you just sign up through your health department you'll be waiting forever but that does depend on the state. Diesel got hers already and she just signed up with her local health department like nbd! They contacted HER. CAN YOU IMAGINE?

I'm hopeful that the surge in vaccines will mean the next month will just be all vaccine ramp up all the time, and I will manage to make it happen by the end of next month. Alaska just became the first state to offer it to everyone over 16. I'm also hoping to get the J&J one and done because I just WANT THIS TO BE FUCKING OVER.

[ophy]

Mr.o took a three hour nap after getting his Pfizer shot yesterday, but woke up totes fine and dandy this morning. That's encouraging.

I've become super obnoxious, reminding him like every hour on the hour that I BASICALLY SAVED HIS LIFE with my superior googling and scheduling skills.







Oh and y'all, this site links you to a vax hunter group in your area. It scrapes FB and reddit and others:


https://www.vaccinehunter.org/



And side note, just in the past couple of days it seems that corporate is cracking down on Walgreen's using no waste dose waiting lists. I guess they aren't going to be allowed to take names and numbers to contact people anymore? Although it depends on the pharmacists whether or not they comply, I dunno. Still worth checking with your local place I suppose. This stuff is changing every day, it's like whack a mole.



So! Our gov is supposed to announce tomorrow that they are opening up my group (chubby LAZY ASSHOLES with asthma) a week earlier than expected, so I will finally get to put all this info into practice for myself.

[vanessa]

O, I hope after all this work that it is easier for you to get scheduled for your vaccine. And also that your ENT can get you off that damn boat.

Res, I hope you get your vaccine soon!

I am not eligible in my state yet, so I signed up with Dr B. I am a rule follower so haven’t pursued a vaccine yet, but I am willing to use a leftover dose. My hope is that the governor lowers our eligible age to 50 (as a lot of states have done), cause then I qualify and can start refreshing the Rite Aid site at midnight like all my BFFs did to get their appointments.

[LaaLaa]

ophy, that was a MASTERFUL post. I’ll pass the info on to Mr. Laa because I barely have the energy to sit up right now, let alone WFH, let alone wrestle virtually with the masses for a syringe. I’m still hella pregnant, so I have no idea what group I’m in, but tbh I‘m kinda fine hanging out with my people 6 feet apart once the weather isn’t shit.

Diesel got hers already and she just signed up with her local health department like nbd! They contacted HER. CAN YOU IMAGINE?

My 75+ dad was actually just about to get his second dose from the hospital that treated his cancer when our county finally contacted him to say it was go-time. It’s a total shitshow. My state is, what, the third worst in the nation with the vaccine rollout? I know old people who had to daytrip to small towns that don’t give a shit what area you’re from, and I know non-essential people in their early 30s who mysteriously jumped the line.

[Res]

Got an appointment! It's in a couple of weeks, but I GOT AN APPOINTMENT.

I feel so relieved.

[ophy]

THAT'S AWESOME, RES!!!! Definitely such a huge relief.



Laa! Pregnant women are at higher risk and absolutely CAN get vaccinated. You should think about it, for reals:




https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019...pregnancy.html






In non-C19 news . . .


Went to the ENT and the ENT was very discouraging! He can't fix me! I am STUCK ON A BOAT INDEFINITELY.

My doc had said it was an ear infection and/or crystals dislodged from my labyrinth, so that's how she was treating it. Yesterday, the ENT said it was neither of those things, so all of the antibiotics and ear/head gymnastics I have been doing for two months were POINTLESS.


No see, this is the kicker . . . he thinks my ears are fine it's MY BRAIN THAT IS BROKEN. His best guess is that I either have mal de disembarquement syndrome (i.e. French boat disease, I guess) which is a neurological disorder that can last weeks, months or YEARS and has no real treatment . . . or! it could be brain tumors.

I mean . . . neither of those sounds great? But based on the audiologist's report, he doubts it is brain tumors because that normally involves hearing loss and my hearing is near perfect (that was the ONE good thing!). So he is going to send me to a vestibular rehab place (outpatient thankfully, and only 10 mins from my house) for a few weeks so they can re-teach me how to walk and balance so I'm not walking into walls and stumbling like a drunkard anymore and then if I'm still on the beekdamn boat in a couple of months I can come back for an MRI to officially rule out brain tumors. I dunno, I'd kinda like to rule those out now, but wevs. The only other thing that he says sometimes helps people with French boat disease* is a daily Valium prescription, but he thinks that's mostly just because people taking Valium everyday don't care if they are on a fucking boat or not. There's no pill that will actually make it go away. And neither will getting on an ACTUAL boat, because yes I asked.


* he did not call it that

As a person who has only left the house like, twice in a month, I'm not thrilled with the idea of going to physical therapy several times a week during a pandemic.


And! This one lady on the interwebz had French boat disease for EIGHT FUCKING LONG YEARS.

I am tired, I am seasick, I can't do anything properly, this is wrecking my life, I am UNHAPPY.


EIGHT FUCKING YEARS, NO FUCKING WAY.


But you know, it's PROBABLY not brain tumors, so . . . probably yay?








I had pinned so much fuhreaking hope on this ENT visit, so I'm a bit depressed now. Might have to do a Taylor post just to distract myself.

To be honest, I came out of there very confuzzled because I don't understand why doing some of the head gymnastics seems to help the spinny spinny vertigo go away if it was my brain and not my ear crystals? And I don't understand why I've had ear pressure and pain and why the antibiotics did seem to reduce the boatiness for a few days if it wasn't an infection?

Gonna have to call my doc next week, because I just don't get it. If any of you medical folks out there have an idea, I'm all (near perfect) ears. No other ENT in in town handles vertigo as a specialty as far as I can tell, so if I want a second opinion (which would really be a third one?) I'd probably need someone to drive me a couple of hours away for it.

[vanessa]

Yay Res!

Ophy, it feels to me as a non-medical person who is only good at diagnosing computer problems that maybe a second/third opinion would be a good thing. I also think French Boat Disease should qualify you for a vaccine.

[ophy]

Haven't gotten much sleep, but I do have a shot appointment! Was trying to book one for Wednesday or Thursday, but the website snagged tomorrow instead. I was so bleary eyed I didn't notice the date, just grabbed it. But it is weird because Walgreens normally only books three days out? Tomorrow shouldn't have even been an option! So uh . . . I'm getting my shot six hours before I'm technically eligible for it.


The fact that I feel guilty about that is so dumb, I know.


A little worried that the tomorrow's glitch means my appointment isn't really in their system, but I guess I'll see!