Vaccines and Sickness and Death

The vet came at 7:00 to cut all the tails off the piggies. He said I should have done it as they were born, but I didn’t know. He had surprising news: Barb kidded in the night! She was two weeks early. He said the kids are tiny, two bucklings.

Everyone except for me was scheduled to get vaccines for Yellow Fever yesterday. I had gotten mine last year, and it is good for five years. Steph said she hoped it would take only half an hour.

I was glad I didn’t need to go along because my allergies were really bothering me. I had used up my allergy medication, so Steph was planning to get some while she was out. I decided to lie down awhile to see if it would help. It didn’t.

They didn’t get back until after noon. When the children came in, they were exclaiming about a dead cow in the neighbor’s field behind our barn. I went out and found Lucrecia helping her mom and dad butcher a young bull that had bloated and died.

My head felt terrible, but I decided to help them. They were nearly done, but I helped them saw some pieces apart and got tubs to carry the meat across the field. They gave us a leg for our help.

I watched the ladies wash out the intestines in the creek. They moved the scum on top of the water aside before scrubbing everything with creek water, talking excitedly about how good the intestine soup would be.

By the time Steph got back, I really felt gross. I took my temperature, and it showed 99 degrees. I thought I surely felt hotter than that. I lay down again for a little while before getting up to take my temp again. Duh! Maybe I should take the cap off!

That time it registered over 103 degrees. That was more how I felt. I was sad to call Rafael and tell him not to come for Bible study because of my fever. Steph had found my allergy medication in town, so I took that and Tylenol and stayed on the couch all evening.

I took a second dose at bedtime. I was already feeling much better. This morning I awoke feeling 100% better. No fever, no headache, no sinus pressure. Praise the Lord.

I’m not sure why I’m so delicate. I had been working with guinea pigs a couple times this week, and I’m super sensitive to them for some reason. I should have taken the allergy medication then, but I was out of it. I’m glad it kicked it so quickly.

Being delicate must run in the family. China reacted to her Yellow Fever vaccine by essentially falling to pieces. She’s been down ever since yesterday afternoon and shows no sign of feeling better. Thankfully, Steph and all the children are fine as frog’s hair. And gratefully, I’m feeling fantastic again, too.