The Mosquito that Cost me $800!
Posted on 31 August 2008 by Justin
after looking at the coverage map, it appeared that in order to leave with our brains intact, a JE vaccine would be a good idea. Hence our decision to allow the nice travel doctor lady to stick us with her fun needles on 2 more occasions during the next month. In a slightly amusing turn of events, all directions for the administration of the JE vaccination indicate that the patient must wait for 30 minutes under professional medical care in order to confirm that an adverse reaction does not occur. In this case, an adverse reaction is a swelling of the throat and lips a well as the sudden appearance of hives. Pleasant eh?
For my own piece of mind, I asked our travel doctor what would occur if this type of reaction was to mysteriously appear. Believing that I was nervous about being injected with a weak version of a brain recking virus, our travel doctor attempted to comfort me by telling me that none of her previous patients had ever had a reaction. Now I am not a hypochondriac, but mentally I was wondering why this fact would be comforting. A summery of my internal thought process is as follows.
“Wait. You are directed by the makers of this vaccine to keep me under observation for 30 minutes. You have never seen a bad reaction so you are not really sure what to look for. Also, if some type of reaction does take place you will not know what to do because you have never done this before. Whelp. I am comforted. Give me the killer disease”.
All of the drama aside, we have safely obtained round 1 of the JE vaccine and we are still alive to tell the story. If you are curious about JE, The JE Prevention Network can answer all of your questions.
If you know what the doctors should do if my throat begins to close as the result of a killer virus digging tunnels in my brain, you should post a comment and let me know.
Tags | Planning
Thanks for the link on Japanese Encephalitis – we have an appt with the travel clinic next month to determine what shots we’ll need. Sounds like fun so far!! But like you say…how could you not?
Gillian,
Enjoy the travel clinic. Personally, I found it to be a place full of amusing conversations and a bizarre twist on reality. Congratulations on taking the plunge and putting your house up on the market. I am sure that you will enjoy the unfolding as your plans turn into reality.
We are very excited for you Gillian and Jason!
On another note, I found it interesting that after several decades of the same JE vac being around, they decided to update it.
RECENT HEADLINE FROM BORING MEDICAL ARTICLE:
“Data from pivotal Phase III trial for new Japanese Encephalitis virus vaccine (IC51) show good immunogenicity, safety and tolerability profile”
Mary Lu our travel clinic nurse told us that it should be out by “the fall”, which really means it may be out sometime into early 2009. It will cost less and be administered in 2 shots instead of 3.
Good news for the medical world, bad news for the mosquitos.
Basically, if your throat swells up, they should intubate you, which basically means they’d stick a giant straw down your throat so you can breath. Hey, it beats cutting an air-hole in your throat.
Rico,
I agree. In the case of throat swelling, giant straw beats whole in my throat every time. Thanks for the tip. If I experience the swelling and the doctor reaches for the scalpel at least I will know I have other options