During my yearly physical at the doctor's office in February, I took the time to discuss my safari with my family doctor.  I wanted to know what vaccines and precautions that she suggested I take before traveling to South Africa.  Stepping out of the office for a few minutes, she promised to be back shortly with the information that I wanted.

When she returned, she handed me a stack of paper and we began to look through them.  A tetanus shot would be the place to start.  Not finding anything in my charts, she asked me when the last time I'd had a tetanus vaccination.  This was an easy question for me.  Laughing to myself, I thought back to the occasion in 1997 that caused me to have to get vaccinated. 

My best friend Ted and I were spending an afternoon fishing on a little private lake that I owned some property on.  My boat was pretty small, and when Ted leaned way back to cast a crankbait I ducked instinctively.  I was too late, and as he cast the lure with all his might the plastic fish stuck the back of my head and the treble hook imbedded itself in the crown of my skull.  I reached up to try to pull the lure free, but I couldn't budge it.

I asked Ted to try to get it, and he had no luck either.  One of the hooks had gone right through my baseball cap and was firmly buried in my skull.  We tried for a good while but could do nothing with it.  There was no choice left but to head to the emergency room, so we cut the line from the lure and after docking the boat we walked up the hill to Ted's truck.  He started up the dirt driveway of my property, but the back wheels of his Isuzu Rodeo broke free and started to spin.  In moments it became obvious that we were stuck.

We were both laughing in hysteria at the situation, but things were about to get funnier.  With no good way to get the truck unstuck, I got out and climbed up on the back bumper.  Ted gave it the gas and I started jumping up and down to try to give the back tires some traction.  I was laughing so hard that I was crying at that point.  There I was bouncing on the bumper of his truck and with every motion I could hear the lure rattling on top of my head.  Well, this actually worked, and he made it up the driveway.

We found an urgent care center that was open just down the road from my property.  The doctor on duty wanted to cut my baseball cap out from around the lure, but I insisted that he try not to damage the hat.  We were talking, after all, about my lucky hunting cap... Every deer I'd ever killed had been shot while I was wearing that old worn out cap.  He finally took some pliers and cut the hook just above where it went through the hat, thus saving me from the loss of my good luck piece.

Anyway, after giving me a couple of shots of Novocain in the head, he was able to cut the hook loose from my skull.  That's when I got the tetanus shot.   I don't wear the hat any more, but I still have it, and the hole where the hook went through is very evident.  So is the scar on the top of my head.

Coming back to the current situation, I told my doctor that it had been ten years since my last tetanus shot.  She told me we could take care of that one in her office, but to get the other shots I'd have to go to my county health department.  She said I'd need to get a polio booster, a hepatitis-A shot and one for typhoid fever.  I could skip the hepatitis-B shot since I would not be in a situation that would require me to get that one.

When I got home from the physical I called the local health department and told them about my trip to South Africa.  The nurse confirmed what the doctor had told me about the shots I'd need, so we went ahead and made an appointment for March 27th for me to come in and get the shots.

I was a bit nervous when the day arrived, not fearing any pain from the shots but rather from worrying about getting sick from any side effects that the vaccinations might give me.  I had a big meeting at work later that day that I couldn't afford to miss, but I needn't have worried.  The nurse at the health department gave me the polio shot first.  After that, she did the hepatitis-A vaccine, telling me that although this would protect me while I was in Africa I would still need to come back in 6 months and get a booster for it that would make it permanent.

When we got around to the typhoid fever vaccine, she gave me a choice.  I could get a shot that day which would protect me for two years, or she could give me a series of pills that would work for five years.  Although I really wanted to just take the shot and get it over with, I decided that I'd be better off having long term protection in case I travel again somewhere soon.  I went for the pills.

For the pills, I had to keep them refrigerated and take them every other day for four days.  I took the first one immediately.  This medication was the only one that gave me any ill effects.  Later that day I began to feel a bit loopy; kind of detached from myself.  This passed by the next morning, but when I took the second pill two days later it happened again.  On the third pill, I experienced no ill effects that day but felt strange again the next day.  Odd.  There were no effects at all from the fourth pill.  I did some research about these pills on the internet and found reference to a "queasy" feeling as a possible side effect.  Yep, that's how I'd say I felt.  Queasy.

The other thing my family doctor and I had talked about was a malaria prophylactic.  She wanted to know if I planned to take anything for that.  While talking with my parents a few weeks prior to this, they had mentioned that my sister-in-law had taken an anti-malaria pill and had experienced some really bad side effects, primarily nightmares.  Other side effects were mentioned as well, so I decided I wouldn't take the prophylactic.

However, after doing some research on the internet I found out about malarone, a newer anti-malaria medication that had much lower incidents of side effects.  The topic of these pills had come up on the Accurate Reloading forums a few times, and most people agreed that malarone worked very well with the only drawback being the expense.  I decided that I would persue this option.  From what I've read, you start taking this pill two days before you leave, take it every day while you're in Africa, then for another week after you get home.  I've made a note to call my doctor during the first week of June to get a prescription for this pill.

I also visited with my allergist to get his input on my safari.  About six years ago I woke up in the middle of the night itching all over.  I wasn't sure what was going on, but after I started to have trouble breathing Micki insisted that we go to the emergency room.  Turns out I was in anaphylaxis, and it took a shot of adrenaline and some steroids to get me back to normal.  Our guess was that I was having a reaction to something I ate.  We had eaten Japanese food the night before, so the most obvious candidate was the shrimp sauce.  The emergency room physicians instructed me to avoid shrimp from now on.

I went two years without eating shrimp, and then one night almost two years to the date from the first episode it happened again.  This time, however, I had eaten no shellfish of any kind.  I think I'd had a hamburger for supper.  We made an appointment with an allergist, and I was tested for various food and insect allergies.  We never found the trigger, but the allergist gave me an Epi-pen (a device that allows me to inject myself with epinephrine) and made me up a little emergency kit in case it happened again.  He also put me on antihistamines for life.

I have not had another episode, but when I told him about my safari just to be safe the allergist gave me several prescriptions to take with me.  He provided detailed instructions on what to do if I have an allergic reaction in Africa and wrote me a letter that allows me to carry my Epi-pen on the plane.  He even scheduled me for another round of allergy testing just to see where we are now. 

So, with the vaccinations out of the way, the paperwork done, and all other arrangements complete, there is not much left to do before Africa but wait for the time to pass.  The only thing I can really think of that needs to be done is to start gathering my gear and buying things like extra memory cards for my digital camera, film for the video camera, and the gifts for the staff. 

We're almost there y'all!