Shots and vaccines and medicine, oh my!

Grab a guide book to any popular European tourist destination and I bet you find a page about what could happen to you, health-wise, in that country or city.  Mosquitoes, diarrhea, maybe Hepatitis A,  STD's, and lung cancer if you go to a place that still lets you smoke.

Grab a guide book to any popular Southeast Asian tourist destination and you will find pages and pages about what could not only make you sick but what could kill you.  From diarrhea to dengue fever, from tetanus to typhoid and everything in between:  Japanese B Encephalitis, meningitis, rabies (!), tuberculosis, dysentery, malaria, measles, Hepatitis A, B and C, insect bites. And more.  There are vaccinations you have to get, or at least ones they suggest.  Don't pet the dogs.  Make sure you know what the translation is for "dog meat" so you don't eat any. Use mosquito repellent at all times. Don't go barefoot.  (duh)  Don't drink the water. Don't eat unwashed vegetables.  Honestly, it's a bit scary.  I will spend twelve days eating nothing but pho because it is boiled meat and broth and thus anything deadly will be killed by the heat, unless I am done in by the mint and cilantro they scatter on the top. 

So I got my shots, Hep A and typhoid.  With the rest of the diseases I will take my chances.  But this is the first time I have had to think about these grenades thrown at my mortality.  Dengue fever, who ever thinks about that?   I also got some Cipro for bacterial diarrhea and asked my doctor a stupid question like "how do you know when to use Imodium instead of taking the Cipro?"  Best answer: "when you are curled up on your bed, moaning, and you think you are going to die, that's Cipro time!"  Oh, that sounds so great. Alone in a country where I know nothing and know no one, on my bed, moaning.  Joy.

But still, I know I won't get sick.  I will fight even a tiny bit upset stomach, but I am not going to get really sick. It's not on my checklist. I have too many plans already paid for.  So I will take Imodium and Pepto with me along with the Cipro, and the mosquito repellent and Neosporin and bandaids and Airborne and some chocolate to eat on the plane to keep me healthy.  Dengue fever be damned!

Onward.