Feb 3 - shots 'r us

That was quite the experience.  It's a beautiful facility, the one in Daytona Beach, not what you might expect from a County Health Center.  Perhaps because it's so far out of town, on the outskirts, you don't have a crowd of kids/people in there for shots for a variety of things.

At any rate, we paid our money, having chosen MMR, Hep A, TDP, Typhoid -- came to about $550 for the two of us -- and waited for the nurse.  Our appointments were at 8:30 and 8:45; clearly they bring people in before their time with the nurse, who probably starts at 9am.

The nurse was a hoot, very knowledgeable.  She talked us into Yellow Fever as well ... which was another roughly $250 (no, she doesn't get any commission) and we probably should have gotten Hep B, but didn't.

She arranged all the vials, went through twice as many needles as vials, and we both got three in one shoulder, two in the other.  It looked like she affixed one sharp to the end of the plunger, extracted the contents of a vial, in some cases mixed it with the contents of another vial, threw that sharp away, replaced the sharp and then did the injection.  The vials are tiny things; single use.

I've already had measles, as has Sandy.   I haven't had mumps or rubella.  Sandy thinks that she's had mumps.  We've now both had MMR shots, so were done for life on that score.  Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis ... she thinks that she's had whooping cough (pertussis), I haven't.  The first two are real killers, high percentage, and I believe that you continue to need boosters for these.

Hep A needs a booster in six months for extended protection; Typhoid and Yellow Fever have their own lifetimes (I read all this but forget).

Hep A can be contracted anywhere from common foods and destroys your liver undetected.  It's good to have this protection.

We ended up with the International Immunization Record cards.  I'd forgotten all about those; had one, I think, when I went to Europe in 1975 ... yikes ... 40 years ago ... a lifetime.

I guess that I'm ok visiting Doctor's offices now.  Here in the U.S., apparently, some doctors are refusing to allow un-vaccinated children into their offices.  Measles is the issue, which continues to be a significant killer in developing countries.

I went for a bike ride.  It wasn't until I got off the bike that I realized that both shoulders hurt as a result of those intro-muscular injections.  The Angry Birds bandaids came off before my shower :).

We stopped at the Doctor's office on the way home and I asked them to call in the Malaria prescription, apparently pills that you take before, during and after a trip to affected countries. 

Onward ...