Got my travel immunizations taken care of. I made sure to get immunized for Cambodia and Laos, as well as Thailand, since I’m still not sure where I’ll be going and I don’t want to limit my options. I am now resistant to Polio, Yellow Fever, Cholera, Diphtheria, Typhoid, Hepatitis A, and Hepatitis B. Malaria will follow. For a healthy person like myself, nothing quite brings home the power of modern medicine like laying down a hundred bucks and getting vaccinated against an array of the last century’s most virulent killers.
For some reason, it makes me think of a video game powerup. Finally, with my Typhoid shield, I can get past the Cambodia level!
The doctor also told me I didn’t need to get treated for rabies, but helpfully suggested that I avoid getting scratched or bitten by any rabid animals in southeast Asia. I was relieved to find out I didn’t need that one — death by rabies is very high up on my list of desirable deaths. It may sound morbid to rate causes of death, but I feel if you don’t make an effort to plan these things, you’ll just end up dying anyway, but from some lame disease like cancer. And let’s face it, “Eric… isn’t he the one that died of rabies?” is actually a pretty great way to be remembered. Plus, Edgar Allen Poe died that way.
So I’ve started watching the “re-imagined” (and made-in-Vancouver)