This Just Got Real

Well, we finally did it. We are headed to West Africa. We probably won't get there until December. That seems like a long time, but, we leave Seattle in July. That's only about three months from now. Things are moving very fast. The past five years have gone fast.
One of the things that we had to do this week was to get immunized against a plethora of diseases. Tuesday morning we met with a PA to organize a vaccination schedule. The docket included vaccines for Yellow Fever, Rabies, Typhoid Fever, Meningococcal disease, Polio, Tetanus, Hepatitis A and B.  I'm not gonna lie, listening to the PA rattle off all of these diseases and more made me think a little bit harder about what we are about to go and do. Tab is a world traveler and had many of these vaccines already.
After we figured out the schedule the nurse prepared the vaccines and we prepared to become pin cushions.
As we were about to begin getting shot up, the PA mentioned that Clinical Research Center was doing a Research study on the affects of the Yellow Fever Vaccine. The study needed to test the blood of people before and after they had received a Yellow Fever Vaccine in the hopes of finding vaccines for other virus' like west nile and dengue fever. She mentioned that the study would pay us $50 for the first blood draw and $25 for proceeding  five blood draws. So, Tab and I decided to do it. We had to give 280 mL of blood before we got the yellow fever vaccine, then about 15 mL at 1, 7, 14, 30, and 60 days and two more times in the next two years, after the vaccine was administered. Tab went first, her blood draw went fine. But when it  was my turn, the first needle stick didn't produce any blood flow. So, the nurse tried the other arm. It also provided no blood flow. The nurse had to go back to her office to get more needles. The Yellow Fever vaccine is only viable for about an hour after it has been prepared. The pressure was on for her to get the blood before the vaccine expired, in six minutes. The third time was the charm. As she was finished collecting the last vial of blood, the PA was injecting me with the vaccine in the other arm. I had been poked eight different times, for Yellow Fever, Rabies, Meningoccal, Polio, Tetanus, and three times to get a blood sample.
About an hour later I started to feel pains in my abdomen. After that, I got a headache and chills. Throughout the night I had body aches, dizziness, nausea, and a headache. I couldn't sleep. But, I still had to get up to draw some more blood for the yellow fever study and a titer test for hepatitis. That makes ten pokes in two days. I was feeling horrible. The PA told me that I could spread out the vaccines over a couple of days. But, I am stubborn and declined. Tab was feeling pretty bad too from all the vaccines, one pathetic lot we are. We went out for diner for surviving the worst of it.