Saturday, feeling better..

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Fluish?  Yes. Better? Yes. If I can make it until Monday without the flu-like symptoms worsening, I may be out of the woods from my recent Yellow Fever Vaccine.  

Most side effects of the Yellow Fever Vaccine statistically occur by the 5th day, Monday in my case. The vaccine definitely is doing its job of forcing the body to produce antibodies to Yellow Fever. Experiencing some side effects appears to be good indicator that the vaccine will be effective based on the literature I’ve read over the past month.  

Those with a compromised immune system may not be protected after receiving the vaccine and also run a higher risk of a more serious reaction.

Now, if it doesn’t worsen, I will dispense with any further discussion of my physical state and get back to the discussion of the planning of our upcoming world wide travels. Thanks for “listening.” Happy Saturday night!

Oh no! Yellow Fever side effects hit…

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Yesterday, I felt great, optimistic that the potential side effects of the Yellow Fever Vaccine had bypassed me.  One in six, especially in patients over 60, experience some side effects: general malaise, lethargy, aching joints, low grade fever and flu-like symptoms.

When I awakened this morning at 5:45, my legs felt heavy when my feet hit the floor, so  heavy that I wavered momentarily before standing. I dismissed this uncommon feeling, attributing it to a poor night’s sleep or from arising too quickly.
Making the bed seemed an insurmountable task; the normally light and fluffy covers feeling like lead in my hands.  Preparing my usual mug of coffee, the normally inviting smell sickened me. I turned off the coffee machine instead guzzling a huge glass of ice water.

Of course, running through my mind was every possible Yellow Fever Vaccine side effect I’d discovered perusing through the CDC’s website. Yes, I was experiencing side effects, my worst fear.

There’s no doubt that I am a worrier when it comes to medical procedures. After a several unpleasant reactions over the years, I am  skeptical about any invasive treatments.  One could easily surmise that I am overly cautious.
The biggest problem is my continual desire to be educated about health and wellness in an effort to maintain the highest possible level of fitness. Each week, I read a multitude of scientific studies from reliable resources which include Harvard Medical School, Mayo Clinic and major universities.  
In the past several weeks, I have be reading and re-reading The Smarter Science of Slim by Jonathan Bailor, based on 1000’s of scientific studies surrounding a healthful diet and the HIIT exercise protocol which I have since incorporated into my routine. 

Many may find these topics tedious and boring.  For me, as my friends and family will attest, its more fodder for my guarded manner of approaching traditional medical by occasional musings on Facebook.
Information is power. Medical information is vital to maintaining one’s long term health objectives.  
But…its a double edged sword that wields a sense of apprehension and mistrust by the continuing contradictions handed us via the media, over and over again.
Are vaccinations safe? Did we really need a Yellow Fever Vaccine to go on a week long safari in Kenya (no Yellow Fever is documented in South Africa) while living in a guarded ocean side resort community? Probably not, but “they said” and “we” believed them, myself included.

Today, I took Ibuprofen every four hours, which greatly reduced the achy fluish symptoms. The onset of the worst of the side effects may occur on the 5th day after vaccination. Tomorrow is day #4. Hopefully my feet firmly hit the floor tomorrow and Sunday morning!  I’ll keep you posted!

Yellow Fever Vaccine? Done!

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Nurse Marcia wasn’t available today.  They gave me a nurse I didn’t know.

Worrying about the effects of the live Yellow Fever vaccine preoccupied me to the point of not noticing her name on the blue name tag affixed to her pajama-like scrubs with little elephants all over it.  Elephants, Africa, Yellow Fever, I thought. What a coincidence!

She explained that a doctor would see me prior to her injecting me with the batch of three immunizations: Hepatitis B (second in series of three), Polio (second and final) and…Yellow Fever. She would explain the risks and side effects.

Moments later, she entered the room, her eyes filled with compassion.  I wanted to scream, “Stop looking so concerned!”  She proceeded to explain the risks; one in 55,000 have an allergic reaction within minutes of receiving the injection; one in 125,000 have a neurological reaction days later that could result in permanent disability; one in 250,000 develop a serious illness resulting in organ failure from which 50% die. Reactions could occur up to 28 days after receiving the injection. Oh…I wanted to run out of the room.  I stayed.

The doctor left the room as the new nurse entered. The three giant syringes were lying on the exam table, as they had been the case last time around. She plunged, twisted and released but, unlike the last round a month ago with Nurse Marcia, they weren’t painful.  

“If you have an allergic reaction,” she stated, “it will be evident within a minute or two.”  Nothing happened.  Yippee! She then instructed me to wait in the reception area for 20 minutes. My eyes on the clock, I played with my phone, sent a few texts to friends, checked out Facebook and confidently dashed out the door after the 20 minutes passed.  Whew!

Thanks for all the encouragement and prayers!  Now, I can go back to worrying about the zip line in Belize. 

They refused to give me the dreaded shots!

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A weird thing happened to me yesterday. I usually write in this blog every other day but yesterday was a weird day, a very weird day and I didn’t post at all.

Upon awakening in a foggy blur, I felt unfamiliar in my own surroundings. The light filtering through the various window coverings in our home appeared eerie and muted.

As I mindlessly wandered off to the kitchen to perform a series of ritualistic tasks, a wave of uncertainty washed over me. As many of us old-timers, both Tom and I toss back a small handful of prescription meds each morning and a big handful of a variety of vitamins throughout the day. 

My routine was broken, when I didn’t put in my contact lenses before going into the kitchen, a habit I seldom break, now thrown off by the peculiar feel of the day.  Pouring a quarter cup of purified water into my usual plastic tumbler I emptied the dose of the Tuesday morning prescriptions, tossing my head back with one big gulp.

Something was wrong!  My brain had taken a quick snapshot of the handful of pills and in an instant, I realized that the chunky pills drifting down my throat didn’t feel like the usual sensation.  Eyes blurry with no contacts, I looked at the one week pill case and realized I had just taken Tom’s pill, not mine!

My heart began to race as I ran into the bathroom to insert my contacts, made difficult by my shaking hands.  I needed to look again to confirm I had taken the wrong pills.  I had.  Oh, dear.

Since I am the official pill case packer in our household, familiar with all of Tom’s meds, my mind raced through the possible consequences of having taken his medications and the possible side effects.

OK, nothing horrible will happen to me I deduced upon deciding against taking another single pill the remainder of the day, letting these medications work their way out of my system.

By the time I arrived at the Immunization Clinic, I was experiencing full-blown side effects:  dry mouth and gurgling stomach.  In jokingly explaining to the nurse what I had done, I was sent away.  No live vaccines on the day I was having side effects of Tom’s drugs.  Ha!  That confirms how dangerous this yellow fever vaccine really is.  I have not worried needlessly! 

I was disappointed and relieved at the same time.  This temporary relief was short-lived when they made another appointment for today at 10:45.  

As I sit here two hours before my appointment in my usual chair, writing this blog, surprisingly I am less terrified than I was yesterday.   

Most likely neither Tom nor I will become ill from our immunizations.  Most likely, we won’t get bit by malaria or yellow fever carrying mosquito.  Most likely, we won’t get mugged in Mombasa, Kenya, or anywhere else in the world.

Most likely, a warthog won’t attack us in our kitchen in Marloth Park in South Africa.  Most likely, we won’t have to pay $1400 for each of two extra bags when we fly on Emirates Airlines.  Most likely, all of the properties we’ve rented all over the world will actually exist when we arrive.

Most likely, I will still be writing this blog, 28 days from today, when the risk of reaction to the yellow fever vaccine has passed. Whew! 

Here it comes!…Round 2…plunge, twist and release!…

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Oh, goodness!  Tomorrow is my second round of immunizations, this time including the scary “live” yellow fever vaccine. I must admit, I’m terrified.

Getting stabbed in my puny “years of hard-workout” muscles doesn’t scare me. Anyone that works out regularly, as I do can stand a little pain especially for the ten seconds it will take for Nurse Marcia to plunge, twist and release the four vaccines into my eagerly awaiting triceps.  Ouch! Definitely ouch, but then again, over quickly.
Nor does it frighten me that my arm may be sore, red, or swollen for days. Nope, not that.  But…becoming ill from the vaccine scares me!!  

In reading about the risks of the yellow fever vaccine at the CDC’s web site, the only added risk I may present is my age, over 60.  Darned that age thing!  Then again, if we weren’t so old we wouldn’t be retiring and wouldn’t be spending seven months in Africa.  

I can’t recall any time in my 45-year career that I could have gone to Africa, planning vaccinations well in advance and taking off the required time for receiving the vaccinations, preparations, and actual travel time.


Tom begins his vaccinations at the end of May with nary a worry or concern.  Its a guy thing…toughing it out.
I’ll report back tomorrow afternoon after the big event is over. Hopefully, I won’t have a reaction but if I do, I will post photos of my red, hot, swollen, puny muscles on my pale Minnesota arms. Say a prayer for me!

Ouch!…Plunge, twist and release…

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After two hours of being terrified at the prospect of contracting one of many horrifying diseases throughout the world, I left the Park Nicollet Travel Immunization Clinic with my head swimming. WHAT ARE WE DOING????

If we don’t die from the side effects of the Yellow Fever or Typhoid shots, we might die from one of the many diseases for which there is no immunization or treatment! Why tell me, overly efficient, profoundly knowledgeable, delightfully warm Travel Nurse Marcia, who hugged me when I left, that we could die?  

On information overload and losing my competency to make reasonable decisions, I agreed to our taking $10 a day malaria pills (fewer side effects) that we’ll need to take for eight-plus months, $700 rabies shots, $80 for tuberculosis tests, and also, an array of 10 or more other vaccines that will total in the $1000’s. We sure hope the insurance company will pay for these. I hadn’t budgeted $300 a month for malaria pills!

I felt as if I were buying a car from a persuasive, albeit highly competent “salesperson” who was trying to sell me safety features that invoked so much guilt that I couldn’t resist buying. I signed up for everything. Oh, I did hesitate on one thing, flu shots. Why would we need flu shots that are derived from viruses only prevalent in the US? Go figure! What if we went out to dinner with an American couple we meet on a cruise ship who currently has the flu? We signed up for that too!  

The dreaded Yellow Fever shot will be on May 1. I am terrified. Four people died from the vaccine alone (OK, four deaths of out one million, not quite a high risk). I said to Travel Nurse Marcia, trying to reassure myself, “Those four people could have died that day anyway, right?” She reassuringly nodded her head. On May 1, please pray for me. Later, for Tom.

Tom has yet to go to his two-hour appointment. I suggested that Travel Nurse Marcia not tell Tom everything she told me for three reasons: 1. He gets bored listening to medical stuff. 2. He’ll pretend to be listening when he isn’t. 3. He’ll refuse the shots and tell her to take a hike.   

Oh good grief, I can picture my dear husband, sick with some dreadful disease, ensconced inside a mosquito net, with me at his side, frantically trying to nurse him back to health. Sounds like a scene in a movie! No, thank you. PLEASE my dear handsome, charming, funny, adorable, “best husband in-the-world,” agree to get your shots, take your $5 pills with food and SHUT UP about it!

So, lovely Travel Nurse Marcia left the room after handing me my stack of 100 CDC documents to read, moments later returning with a tray loaded up with four, that’s right four, giant syringes on a sterilized stainless steel tray. She gently set the tray down on the counter, leaving the room again. I stared at the tray, my heart pounding so hard, I could hear it in my head. Minutes later, she returned instructing me to get up on the exam table.  

The rest is a blur, rolling up my sleeves, taking a deep breath, feeling the brutal violation of my pale winter skin while each of four syringes plunges deep into the tender flesh of my upper arms. OUCH!!! It felt as if she “plunged, twisted, and released” those horse-sized syringes. Then,  it was over, for now at least. I waited for something to happen. Nothing happened.

After sleeping fitfully all night, unable to lay on either side. My arms hurt as anticipated from the warning by Travel Nurse Marcia. After two huge cups of coffee this morning I’m back to my “old” self, dressed in workout clothes, off to the gym and then to the bank to transfer the 25% deposit in 1481 francs (today’s going rate, which is about $300 US dollars) to the owner of the charming “Stone House” in Cajarc, France for one month beginning April 18, 2014 (yes, 2 years from now). Nothing like planning ahead!

BTW, the itinerary will follow later today.