December 4, 2013

shots! shots! shots! shots!

not the vodka kind.

travel vaccinations

yesterday we finished our series of travel immunizations!

i absolutely hate shots & needles. not like how most people do, i really freak out. so as i walked into the doctor for my first series, i texted ting to make sure we were 100% doing this, because if not – i was going to walk right back out. he texted back, “good luck. don’t cry.”

once we had our loose travel itinerary, we had a consultation with a travel physician to talk about what vaccinations we needed and the ideal timing for each. i immediately asked what was mandatory, while captain safety focused on what was recommended for preventative measures.

because of the type of travel we’re doing (going rural & not staying only at big city resorts) in conjunction with the duration we’re gone, we ended up getting what felt like the entire a-la-carte menu of vaccinations and prescriptions.

-typhoid :: oral or shot (we picked different options)
-rabies**:: series of 3 shots (days 0, 7, 28)
-japanese encephalitis :: 2 shots (days 0 & 21 or 28)
-hepatitis a & b :: 2 shots
-polio :: adult booster :: 1 shot
-tetanus :: every 10 years :: 1 shot (ouch!)
-seasonal influenza :: no joke, i think this was the worst one
-malaria pills :: we opted to go with an Rx for doxycycline
-cipro :: oral Rx pills for traveler’s stomach issues
-measles, mumps & rubella :: 1 shot

**rabies is expensive (to the tune of $1,000 per person). since it’s not mandatary, i was considering skipping the three shots and saving the cash. that was until our physician told us that only 1 person in the entire world has ever been documented surviving rabies. it’s pretty much a death sentence if you get it. i had no clue! did you?

we did as many as we could through insurance,
and for the rest we saw wonderful eileen at arcadia physicians travel clinic.
a fellow traveler, she accepted credit cards to let you rack up miles ;) IMG_3324

{eileen gave me a sucker after each visit}IMG_3322
{tough guy ting on his final visit}

IMG_3325{in front of the world map marking each of the outbreaks and dates}

we both feel ready for anything. polio? bring it. hep anything… yeah, whatever. we. are. vaccinated.

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