Vaccinations

I went on Thursday to get my travel vaccinations. I went to Passport Health, a travel clinic, after calling my normal doctor who said they couldn't help. So, off I go to the travel clinic. I wasn't really sure what to expect as I had never been to one before. I sit down with a nurse who hands me this big notebook of spiral pages that has my name on the front and Mexico and Malaysia on the front. I realize that this was prepared for me, and I am impressed.

We start going through it. Yes, I have had MMR and Hep B. I am not sure about Hep A. I had a Tetanus about 9 years ago. I have not had a flu vaccine. She says I need Hep A, DTaP, influenza, Polio, and Typhoid. The Typhoid was actually listed as optional, but she recommended it. There were several others (Japanese Encephalitis, Pneumococcal, Rabies, Yellow Fever, etc - all fun sounding things for sure!), but I opted just to get the CDC recommended items for Malaysia.

She then shows me a video on nasty, nasty stuff, and it makes me never want to leave my house. She tells me not to have ice in my drink, to make sure that water bottles are still sealed before drinking, to avoid street vendors, etc. She also talks about DEET in bug spray and says to spray my clothes and my skin. I got malaria pills to take (new one for me), and she gave me a traveler's diarrhea pack with Imodium, Cipro, and hydration packs. She talks about jet lag, and how to handle it. She discusses blood clots with the long flight and says to stretch, get up and walk, and to avoid crossing legs. They also have this nifty cool thing that you stick in your water and it purifies it in 60 seconds. Now, that is HOT! However, it was $105 and seemed a little excessive for a trip to a city in Malaysia for a HIMSS conference.

So, she gathers the shots, and she sticks me 4 times. Then, she gives the nasal FluMist for the influenza vaccine. It is now Saturday, and my arm is STILL sore. I have also been running a fever since yesterday morning. Just to add to the fun, I have been having left-sided pain in addition to the fever. Mike and Morgan have been cracking up as I have been SO cold and keep wanting the heat turned up. Hopefully, tomorrow will bring a big improvement and no fever.

Without getting into the entire story, I went with Emily's family to get her passport. Since it is close to the departure date, we had to send it to a passport expediter who will hand walk the application through the process. So, because it is a rush, they require the travel itinerary. Her parents couldn't print it because their printer was broken. I am in a panic, so I rush over to the library to get the itinerary from my email. I ask how I can print something from the internet, and the lady says I need to swipe my library card. Of couse, I don't have a library card (I know, I know, I should especially being a librarian's daughter), so I have to go get one. I fill out the application and get the card. Then, the nice lady tells me that there are no reservations available and that they are about to close so it is too late to make a reservation. AHHHHH...I am thinking of Emily and her family waiting with the passport lady. So, I ask a kid if I can use his computer for 2 minutes if I give him $5. Thankfully, he didn't care. So, I open email and click Print. Nothing comes out of the printer. I am perplexed. Where did it go? I ask the nice lady (I don't think she liked it that I asked the kid to use his computer), and she says you have to go to this other computer to "release" the print job and to pay. So, I go there. It wants my library card number. Since I have only had it for minutes, I don't know the number. I dig it back out. Double-click the print job and then I realize you have to put three dimes into the machine to pay the $0.30. NO WAY. Of course, I don't have 30 cents. Seriously - no change (used it all on parking meters and bubble gum for Morgan). So, I have given away my last $5, so I have a $20. I get change for a dollar (in DIMES), and $19. Of course by now, the machine has moved from that screen, so I have to put in my freaking library card number. I finally release it. I was going to print 2, but I decided that it was good enough. Thankfully, the passport lady was SUPER helpful, nice, and patient!!!!!! We got the application FedEx'd out so I wil let you know.