Monday, March 30, 2009

Travel Clinic Visit

Today I headed to the travel clinic to get my immunizations for my trip to Kenya.

The vaccines suggested were:
Yellow Fever is mandatory for travels to most part of Africa, including Kenya. If you arrive without the immunization, they might make you get it there and my doctor told me to avoid getting any needles while travelling, if I can avoid it. This site gives information on which immunizations are required in which parts of the world.

The rest were not mandatory, but strongly recommended. Polio and MMR are 100% covered under Ontario Health Insurance, and the rest are covered 80-100% by my student insurance. So I figured, why not get them all? If they're recommended, I don't want to take the risk of contracting an illness while travelling just because I was afraid of some needles today.

I was feeling totally fine until I heard the nurse and doctor talking outside my room.

"She's getting all 5!"

"No way! That's brave!"

... wait, what? 5 in one day is uncommon to the point of being brave? Oh no, what have I gotten my self into? Crap.

The doctor then comes in and says she'll put 3 needles (MMR, Polio, Vivaxim) in my right arm, 1 in my left (YF-Vax) and one in my buttocks (Menactra)

BUTTOCKS?

After the first two in my right arm, the doctor paused to ask if I was feeling okay. Yes, yes, I answer. After the third she suggested I take a lie down break. I was sweaty and dizzy. It was really embarrassing. It's not the pinch of the needle that bothers me, but that pressure you can feel with the fluid goes in, you know? The doctor told me it happened to lots of people, but maybe she was just being nice.

Then I put my brave face back on, sat up, but she suggested we just stay lying down. And good thing because yellow fever hurt A LOT. It took a long time too! Like 20 seconds. This one was definitely the most painful needle.

Time for the bum. Oh man. I was feeling kind of uncomfortable but it turns out "in the buttocks" just means you pull your pants down a little bit. It's more of a lower back than an upper butt cheek, really. Like no underwear removal or anything.

And that was that!

I also got 2 prescriptions. Ciprofloxican is for traveller's diarrhea caused by eating contaminated food or water. My doctor told me that Immodium treats the sympton, but Cipro treats the problem. My prescription is for 3 doses to be used if/when necessary, and if I have diarrhea for more than 3 days that I should still seek medical attention.

My other prescription is for Malarone, for malaria prevention. I take one pill per day, starting 2 days before I leave, and ending 7 days after I return. My prescription for 96 pills is going to cost about $600, but luckily, again, for me this is covered.

I also left the clinic with my Dukoral. I take one dose by mouth 2 weeks before I leave, and then the second dose a week before I leave. The protection lasts 3 months.

New additions to my packing list also now include
- Pepto Bismal
- Immodium
- Polysporin or similar
- Bandaids
- Monistat or similar (in case I get a yeast infection)
- Advil or similar
- rehydrating crystals (I forget the brand name, but I'm told they're available over the counter)

I now can't raise my arm from all the needles. I think I'm going to go wimper and a nap.