Vaccinations
Friday, September 17th, 2010How has it gotten to be the middle of September? My birthday is Sept 1 and it was supposed to be the point at which we really started buckling down and planning this trip. But what with clearing our the country house so we can put it on the market, getting the kids back into school, looking over M’s college apps, not to mention dealing with the 1,000 and one things that just “come up” every day, I have not gotten as far as I’d like.
However, I have made strides on the medical front. We have all been to the dentist and our teeth are squeaky clean and cavity free. M has even gotten her braces off so that phase is over (imagine dealing with that while traveling around the world!).
Both Vincent and I have had our physicals and discussed all the vaccinations and various malaria options with our doctor (who happens to be a travel specialist as well as a super nice guy). I had to be scraped off the floor when I realized how much money this was going to cost – only Yellow fever is mandatory but when you consider the fall out of meningitis, Japanese encephalitis & rabies is death and you are talking about my children here, it quickly becomes moot. At least the kids and I are already covered in terms of Hep A & B and all those boosters like tetanus, diphtheria, polio & measles so there are less jabs for us. Poor Vincent is starting practically from scratch.
We were in a real quandary over whether or not to get the rabies vaccine – on the one hand, if one of us affected we have to get shots afterwards any way and how likely is it? On the other hand it is widely prevalent in India, can be transmitted by an adorable lick as well as a nasty bite and is, again, in the end, fatal. A big, huge stumbling block was that it would cost $4,000 to vaccinate all 6 of us. Then, we found out, it is 100% covered by health insurance! Typically, when I first asked if it was covered we were told no, because if it is given at a travel clinic, it is not. Only if administered by our primary physician can it be covered. Weird, but whatever, I’ll take it. Just goes to show, you have to ask exactly the right questions to get the right answers.
Maybe it is just an American thing with our ridiculous health care but while malaria pills are covered by our health insurance we, naturally, can’t get the whole bunch we need all at once just before we leave. So we literally have to go pick up one month’s supply once a month every month from this point on in order to get all we need. Now this is based on our doc’s recommendation that since we are going to be traveling non stop in malarial countries (South America and South East Asia) we just get zen about it and take a pill each and every day. I’m not 100% sold on this and we don’t have to make up our minds yet but if we want 365 pills times 6 people we have got to get it while we have insurance since each month’s supply will then be $25 not $400. Big difference. So here I have marked on my calendar in big letters “pick up Malarone” every 30 days.
I have to say, this real necessity to start planning and working with your various doctors over mediation/vaccinations at least a year ahead of time is not something I was warned about in any other blog or tip website!
The other reason to get checked out early is you might find something wrong – Vincent’s cholesterol is way high and my allergies are way bad. We may be popping daily pills for those as well all year, all issues that have to be dealt with. Sigh, this is why it is a vastly different experience traveling in your 50’s than your 20’s!! Instead of obsessing about backpacks we are obsessing about pills, aie, yie!
So next I have to bring the kids to their doctors and get them started on their jabs and scripts. M and DE both have asthma so that is a whole ‘nother bunch of meds we’ll have to take with us. Fortunately it has tapered off and become very manageable.
Speaking of sickness, that reminds me how important it is to travel slowly and not be pressured into having to make set dates. What happens if we are booked for something and one of the kids is just not feeling well (nothing drastic, just a tummy bug or sore throat)? We have to feel relaxed enough not to mind taking a day off and just hanging around the hotel or guest house without stressing.
OK, feeling the pressure, got to get my ducks in a row…
momofour