More on Getting Vaccinated

In a recent post, we wrote about the process of getting vaccinated and immunized for our upcoming trip. Just the other day, we completed the final steps of getting our shots, pills and more. Thus far, this process has been one of the more cumbersome and time consuming affairs to prep for the trip. While at the medical Center on Monday, we certainly got the impression that they don’t have a ton of people coming in for world travel vaccinations. There was revolving confusion, waiting and more waiting. Once back from our trip, we look forward to leisurely paced suburban medical practitioners. You know:  Giant fish tanks. Friendly nurses. Etc.

The precautionary steps that Dr. Park recommended included three series of shots to prevent diseases that I’ve only really read about and some that I can barely spell (Hepatitis A, Polio Booster and Japanese Encephalitis), one oral vaccine prescription (Typhoid), and one set of pills to prevent…um…gastrointestinal emergencies (Ciprofloxacin –made famous by the Anthrax scare which also has an efficacy to treat diarrhea). We topped it off with a regimen consisting of boatloads of Dramamine for motion-sick-prone Brooke. Trust us, with sixteen different flights scheduled – she needs it.

The nurse was actually a lot of fun. She told us a few jokes to distract from the combined the six pricks that we received in a few minutes. The shots were overall painless with relatively small needles. One burned just a little bit, but other than that it hurt less than a Tetanus shot and only the Hepatitis burned for a second.

All in all, it put a pretty hefty dent in the wallet: Almost $400 per person. Oof. Insurance should help pay back for a couple of the shots which helps. Are the odds high that we would have contracted these illnesses had we not taken the time and cost to get immunized? Who knows. Probably not very high and we’ll be taking other precautions to stay healthy. But one of the big reasons that we’re taking this tip is because we didn’t want to look back regretting something we didn’t do. And, let’s face it—contracting a horrible, debilitating case of Japanese Encephalitis somewhere in Vietnam because we didn’t get a vaccine falls into the same category.

Now, I have to end this post in order to go to the fridge to take my semi-daily Typhoid vaccine. Hunh.  That’s something I never thought I would type.

-Phil