Ouch

Shelled out the cash and went to a travel health clinic last night after work, to take some advice on what vaccinations and/or medications I might need in advance of my Vietnam trip.

In the end, I ended up having injections for hepatitis A & B, and a tetanus booster. *points to sore arm* The hep vaccination is actually a course of three shots, so I have to go back again next month for the second one - at which time I'll also get an immunization for typhoid.

Other than the tetanus, turns out I'm up to date on all the other standard shots - which is good, because these things don't come cheap. The consultation and all the injections (except for tetanus, which is paid for by the province) came to $200. Some of that might be covered by my health plan, though.

Still, I think it's worth the money. The likelihood of contracting anything serious on this trip is pretty small, but you never know. In fact, one of the people who went to Vietnam this past May for our project has been very sick ever since he got back. His doctors still don't know what's wrong with him, but it looks like he picked up something while he was overseas. One of his symptoms is loss of appetite, and he's dropped 47 pounds over the past 5 months. One of my bosses saw him recently, and didn't even recognise him. Scary stuff.

So needless to say, I'm taking my health precautions seriously. In reality, though, the problem I'm most likely to have is some sort of intestinal upset. The only other time I've travelled in a developing country (Egypt), I was laid low by an attack of "mummy tummy", which was...uh...highly unpleasant. I'll have to watch what I eat.