Today, I had my first round of travel vaccines. I tried to get as many done as possible at my doctors office, because I know that at the travel clinic you have to pay. Well it turns out that regardless of where you get them done, you still have to pay. Most insurance companies see travel as a “matter of choice” and feel that the financial responsibility should fall on the patient. I guess that’s a pretty valid point. However, these suckers aren’t cheap! These two little guys cost me $110.
I will be visiting the travel clinic next week for my typhoid, yellow fever and rabies vaccinations. The jury is still out on the rabies vaccination, since it costs a pretty penny and I think I would be able to get it after the fact (if I were to actually contract rabies.) On the other hand I am a little hesitant to skip it, with my luck I will be the first one to get bit by something.
At any rate, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. My last vaccine was a quite painful, but that was done by an angry man serving a long line of new teachers in the Bronx. He really did use the needle to stab me, I bruised up and couldn’t lift my arm for a week. Thankfully, the nurse in my doctor’s office was a little more gentle. I’ve also realized that my “fear” of needles is more of a mental process than a physical one. If I don’t let my mind get carried away with it’s thoughts, the actual physical feeling of getting a needle in my arm is completely tolerable. It’s just one of those things that I’ve built up to be much more scary than it is. I guess that’s a good thing for me to realize, since I am facing several more shots before I can get on the plane.