So here's the question on every racers mind: How many shots and vaccinations do I get for this trip?
Well, I am not here to answer that for you because every route is different and every racer has a choice to make. I am here to tell you about my time with the travel doctor and what I learned from it.
So it started out as a rainy spring Tuesday. Not too uncommon for this time of the year. What was uncommon was the fact that instead of doing my normal Tuesday routine, I was driving into Boulder to shoot up some vaccinations.
HERE IS SOMETHING TO NOTE: Most travel clinics DO NOT take any kinds of insurance, and if they do you better check and make sure your insurance plan covers travel vaccinations because mine did NOT! And let me tell you it wasn't cheap and its not over.
So anyways, I get there rather early and am immediately taken back to see the doctor… I know right NO WAIT TIME! So I have a conversation with the nurse and she was just lovely. Super nice and friendly…. Nurses really make a difference in your doctor experience (Shout out to my amazing nursing family! You know who you are) Anyways then the Dr come in and tells me all the 100's of options I have and I sit there staring at him like he is speaking a different language. Then he politely breaks it down for me. So all I can think while I am there is what if I get something because I don't get the shot for it. And this is the wrong thought. The right thoughts are can I not be treated for this if I get it? Am I at serious risk of getting this illness? These are my real concerns.
So lucky for me I ended up with only needing to have 3 shots, 1 Rx for Typhoid, 1 large Rx for 4-6 months of Malaria meds, and a piece of paper that tells me to think about getting 2 more EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE SHOTS! That's right they want me to think about paying them AGAIN to stick me with needles only this time it will be 2-5 times at an enormous cost to me. No big deal right?
Anyways it was an adventure and now 24 hours later my left arm is killing me and I feel like such a baby when ever anyone comes with in inches of my arm.
