Thursday, January 22, 2009

Vaccines and Used Cars

We have to have the Yellow Fever vaccine before we can send off our Visa application for Ghana. I called around to several doctors and got the same answer. They don't have Yellow Fever vaccines...you'll have to go to a travel clinic. So I called around some more and found a travel clinic at the University Hospital that could get us in the next day.

Steve and I went together. Beforehand in the car, I told Steve we should only get the Yellow Fever and maybe Typhoid vaccines here, then we could go through our insurance to get any others we need.

The nurse called us in and went over a ton of information about Ghana. She went through each disease it was possible to contract there and how to avoid it. She also said things like, if you get (name of disease) there is a 80% death rate.

Needless to say, we were no longer surprised that there are so many orphans in Ghana. We also thought we better update all of our vaccines.

Steve got 7 injections. I got 6. The bill was just over $1200 for the two of us!!! We still need to fill our prescriptions for the anti-malaria medication. I am allergic to minocycline and so I can't take the cheap medication, Doxycycline....I have to take Malarone which costs $5 per pill and she said I'll need 22 pills.

After we left, I told Steve it was a bit like buying a used car. You go into the dealership expecting to pay the agreed upon price, but by the time you leave, for some reason, you pay a whole lot more!!!

On a more positive note, we have some new pictures of Saviour. The Westerbys are a family who just adopted from Ghana. They spent some time at Luckyhill and sent some pictures to us. Isn't she just so pretty....and yes, her ears are pierced. I have a feeling Savannah will want hers done too.



5 comments:

Larsen Family said...

I can't believe how much is cost for you to get your vaccines. Better to be safe than sorry I guess. I am not looking forward to getting shots...I really don't like needles.

Lois said...

lol! We did the same thing, vaccinated for everything but anthrax! You'll be glad you did :)

BJ said...

All I have to say is, OUCH!!! Money wise and physical.

Calmil2 said...

I'm going to have to find out all the vaccines I need for June..yikes...I'm scared already :) I think that's a great idea to use one of those vacuum bag to take the blankets. I think they would really shrink down! Let me know if I should send them. Harmony

Melissa said...

holy crap! why doesnt your insurance cover it? im just curious. if you were traveling there on vacation would it be covered then? very strange.