Vaccinations

Determining which vaccinations we needed and getting them quickly was a priority.  Reaching this topic was fairly easy as the CDC has a website that outlines vaccines needed for each country around the world. Also, Genelle's & Ray's website  was very helpful, but as discussed previously, we elected not to get the rabies vaccines.  List in hand and with numerous questions, we went to see our doctor, Dr.Maliha Qadir.  After a lengthy discussion and the always fun yearly exam, we settled on the following:

Hepatitis A (1 injection)
Hepatitis B (3 injections)
Tetanus (1 injection)
Adult booster of polio (1 injection)
Adult booster of measles, mumps, rubella (1 injection)
Typhoid (a series of 4 pills taken every other day)

Elvira (I kid you not, this was her name) was sent in to administer the injections. Hopefully we would not have an adverse reaction, there were so many to chose from, or begin to glow in the dark. Once we start taking the anti Malaria pills, we should be immune from virtually everything.

What cute little round band aids!  I must admit that Elvira was a wizard with the needles and ironically, the pricks were painless.

Additionally, we got quite a number of prescriptions to take with us:

Amoxicillin for Gina and Azithromycin for Phyl since penicillian can kill her in 30 minutes.  These will cover basic infections.  An Epipen for Phyl, just in case. Cipro for both of us in case (of for when) we get the Asian version of Montezuma's revenge.  Transderm-Scop Patches for Gina since it seems I am developing more and more motion sickness as I age and would prefer not to barf on a bus, train or tuk-tuk. And starter doses of Mefloquine, the malaria prophylaxis, that we will take weekly, beginning the week before we leave.  This is the one drug that has us worried due to the horrible side effects so many people experience.  Dr. Qadir says the weekly pill has less side effects than the daily one, so we'll keep our fingers crossed. Once we get to Asia we'll get more malaria pills as they are plentiful and much cheaper than in the US.

Neither of these lists includes the over the counter stash of pills we'll have for allergies, diarrhea, upset stomach, headaches, body aches, etc.  I'll just toss all of those into one large container since I know the pills by size and color and because Phyl derives so much pleasure from yelling at me when I do this.