It's interesting how phrases eventually can come to mean things similar to, but not equivalent to, what they originally meant. "A shot in the arm", initially referring to the euphoric effects of injected drugs, has come to mean, by extension, a stimulus.
Then there are the literal shots in the arm, which can be a pain in another body part. My doctor - wisely, as I have asthma - made the decision yesterday to give me the pneumonia vaccine close to a decade ahead of schedule. When he asked if I was left- or right-handed, I should have asked more questions...
...Ow. Ow, ow, OW.
The nurse is a pro; the initial injection didn't hurt at all. Two hours later, however, the entire upper arm was sore and hot. If the arm stays immobile at my side, it only aches; move it, and the pain vise tightens. Advil hasn't even taken the edge off.
According to the literature, this is a normal reaction.
So today is a cranky, sleepy (I routinely sleep on the side on which I was stuck), headachy kind of a day. There is some sort of spiritual application in there, about needing to endure the painful things sometime to receive the blessings, but I'm a bit befuddled by the pain and incapable of forming a conclusion.
Well, except for one: I think I would have preferred pneumonia to the vaccine.
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