Modern medicine…
Not much to report here – drove to Ithaca last night, managed class this morning (can’t say that I taught really, since peer review of my students’ research papers was on the agenda), and spent the afternoon just chatting with students and faculty around the department. Still no job news yet to report, and the dissertation is out of my hands for another week and a half yet.
The exciting bit, though, is that I currently have all sorts of weird things running through my bloodstream – today, I got vaccine shots for Hepatitis A, Yellow Fever and Tetanus/Diptheria, as well as the beginning of an 8-day oral course of Typhoid vaccine. All this so that I can safely spend a few weeks in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, where I also have to be careful about mosquitos (to avoid malaria and other nasties) as well as unpeeled fruit and drinking water (cholera, among others).
In general, I’m all for pushing one’s boundaries through travel, but there’s something deeply unsettling about the extent to which my body needs to be prepared for this trip. Thankfully, the only side effects of all these foreign substances coursing through my veins are a growing soreness in my arms and a sleepiness that seems to be setting in far earlier than my usual 3-4am bedtime…
April 21st, 2004 at 1:58 am
Don’t forget to take an emergency dose of Cipro or something equally strong with you in case you get some really nasty stuff and can’t get to a hospital for a bit.
April 25th, 2004 at 10:33 pm
Whoa there…did you skip a step? As a faithful reader of your blog (is there a word for blog groupies?) this is the first I’ve heard of a trip to the turtle islands. Or are they tortoises? I’ve never been able to figure out the difference. Anyway, when, whence, and whyfore? And why aren’t you taking malaria pills? I know they give you nightmares and all that, but certainly it seems a more reasonable approach than dodging mosquitos the whole time. I mean, I know you have a catlike agility and all that, but let’s be reasonable! Bon voyage,
- Nina
April 29th, 2004 at 6:12 pm
I’ve lived in SE Asia, so I know about all those chemicals. My advice—avoid the malaria pills: they can be worse than malaria, no shit. And just be glad you don’t need to get the shots for Japanese Encephalitis. Take a good insect repellant & sleep under a net.
May 1st, 2004 at 11:55 pm
Heh — I did that sequence of self-infestation. Having the live attenuated typhoid organisms living in my fridge next to the milk was the strangest thing — let alone ingesting them!
I’d talk with a doctor with some experience in travel medicine about the anti-malarials. When I needed them, the ones I took were suppressants only; it was only after I got back that I learned of a new drug that also eradicates the malarial organisms from your system.
I didn’t have any trouble with the pills, fwiw.
And I second the recommendation to bring a bit of Cipro with you.
May 29th, 2004 at 4:04 pm
I would never agree to take all those chemicals. I had an inoculation against measles in my childhood and they hardly managed to rescue me after that.
January 16th, 2006 at 8:47 pm
I’m also conducting a case study on same topic in research institute for medicines at Karachi. If you feel ok, I’ll also share my points on here. I’m asking this becaue I have no idea about blogging lately.