As of today, CEO’s workforce is 50% vaccinated! Keep up the good work everyone, and read below for Teresa Raso’s vaccination story!
Teresa Raso- CRC Center Manager
Teresa Raso began experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 on Christmas Day. She woke up that morning not feeling like herself. What had started as a headache a week or two before was much worst. As she started cooking Christmas dinner, she started to feel really sick with body aches, a fever and nausea. She went to bed and stayed there for five days. She couldn’t have the light on, no tv, nothing bright. She had trouble breathing, and the body aches were terrible. “I felt like it was 200 times worse than the flu,” Teresa said. After about 5 days she started to feel a little bit better, but symptoms lingered for quite a while. “I lost concentration and would have a hard time remembering things. It took almost four weeks for me to get rid of the cough. I ended up having pneumonia on top of the initial COVID.”
Teresa lost all of her taste and smell with the illness. As of today she has regained about 20% of her smell and 30% of her taste. It’s hit or miss with what she is now able to taste and smell. Teresa has a lot of muscle pain in her arms and legs, and consistent headaches all the time now. She still loses her breath sometimes, even when she’s doing nothing; the shortness of breath will come on suddenly and she will have a hard time breathing and a constricted feeling in her chest.
Getting the COVID-19 Vaccine:
Teresa got her first dose of the Pfizer last month, and had no reaction to the first shot other than a little arm soreness. She is getting the second dose of the vaccine on Friday at the Armory in Albany.
“I had to wait 90 days after illness, and I wanted to see how it went for others, but everyone who took it seemed fine, and so many people took it and had no problems, so I decided to get it,” said Teresa. “My grandmother is 101, and my mother is 80. I would never risk going to her house without being vaccinated. Once I had more information about the shots, that helped me make the decision to get vaccinated, too. The more you think about it, it’s like any other shot. It was rushed and fast in development, but it was just like getting a flu shot. I’d rather that then have to get hospitalized.”
Teresa says she’s more than happy to talk about her experience with any staff that have questions.