Typhoid Fever? No Thanks, I'll Take the Dengue!

Today, the whole family took the afternoon off to get our Typhoid immunization at a travel clinic in Rosslyn. The kids of course, have been getting shots their whole lives and hating it, but it's the only shot Rebecca and I need, unless we plan on exposing ourselves to Yellow Fever - which we don't. I've read that a shot to prevent Dengue Fever is also recommended for a visit to Ecuador, but we didn't get one. We really don't have any plans to travel to the jungle, as cool as that would be. Our loosely formulated plans are to hit the places that are doable in a weekend trip from Quito, maybe a week or so at the beach, and a trip to the Galapagos. As much as I'd like to swim with the piranha, it's not likely. So, no yellow fever and no dengue fever shots for any of us. I think only yellow fever is fatal anyway, so we'll just keep our fingers crossed that we get bit by a dengue mosquito and not the other. I can handle a bit of vomiting, achiness and bruising.

Rebecca told the kids a few weeks ago after their last visit to the pediatrician that they were done with shots until we got back. This made them happy. When Maya and Jonah were born, we did not follow the recommended vaccination program for various reasons that I'm not going to get into but which essentially boil down to we dislike the pharmaceutical companies and we didn't think a 2-day old needed to be immunized from Hep B - which is transmitted through blood or sex or something. Ask Rebecca. However, we do love our children, so we've been having them get the immunizations, but according to our own schedule. So, Rebecca has been taking them every month or so to get jabbed with this or that immunization. Then she takes them out for ice cream. As I said, the last time they went, Rebecca told them that was it for awhile.

Well, a few days ago she and I decided we needed to get a Typhoid shot because the immunizations are only good for two years. I had the shot in 2001 before we went somewhere. I can't even recall right now where. Rebecca had it in 1997 before she went to Guatemala. Typhoid can be picked up by ingesting dirty water. It is fairly likely we will come across dirty water. And I wouldn't be surprised if I found Jonah drinking it with a straw. The kid has no concept of cleanliness - he'll eat chewed gum that he finds in the cracks between the seats on the Metro. I just had to go answer the doorbell. It was the police looking for my neighbor. Anyway, so we went to get the shots today but didn't tell Maya and Jonah until we got to the waiting room. I asked Maya if she knew why we were there. She didn't. I told her and she started crying. She's like, Mommy said no more shots. She actually settled down pretty quickly because there was a LeapFrog globe in the waiting room that we started playing with and no matter where we put the pointer, it said "Guam." That was pretty funny.

When we got in the exam room, both her and Jonah started crying, even though Rebecca and I were getting the shots too. So much for misery loves company. But Maya was so brave that she volunteered to go first. She cried, but she did it. I went next. My last jab was probably my last Typhoid jab, so I didn't really remember what that was like. It hurt, but not for long. We had to really fight Jonah to get his pants down so the nurse could jab him. But I work out pretty regularly, so he didn't really have a chance. And Rebecca getting the shot was cool because she wore this shirt that she couldn't roll the sleeves up so she had to take her shirt off. That was a nice afternoon treat for me.

Then Rebecca and I decided to get our third Hep B shot which we had never gotten after we went to India in 1999 - I think there's a 6-month wait between the second and third shots and I can barely remember what you just said never mind what I am supposed to do in 6-months. So, she and I got that one. Maya and Jonah were fine with watching that one from the sidelines.

So, $500 later, we were off to get ice cream and then to the playground. It had been cold earlier in the day but the sun was out while we were at the playground and there were lots of kids there with their latin american nannies so it was good spring weather and the kids had a good time. I even got to practice my spanish with one of the nannies. I learned how to say "hug" - brazos.