If you are going to go on a trip of this magnitude, you should definitely check your health plan to see if preventative vaccines are covered.  Some are and some aren’t and the ones that aren’t can be incredibly pricey.  Regardless, we are SET and hope to be able to stave off many unwanted illnesses as a result!

Two great things came out of our 6 week odyssey of getting shots!  First, Tucker and Jones have become shot NINJAS!  They are not intimidated by needles anymore!  Tuck would volunteer first to get every shot and we joked as the needle went in whispering “I LIKE IT!  Give me more!”

Most importantly, we made some great new friends at the Travel Clinic at Rite-Aid in Eastgate Bellevue!  The team there is AWESOME!  Dr. Ashwini N.G and her team helped us learn about every country, the diseases we may be exposed to and what every vaccine was for!  I think she got a kick out of us too because she is pregnant with twins and saw a glimpse of daily life with two crazy-babies!

Thank you Dr. Ash and the whole team at Rite-Aid for making 58 shots FUN!

Dr. Ash and the whole Sharples gang after our last shots! Lollipops are not shown but were a key contributor to the success :)

We consulted the travel doctor, reviewed detailed maps of all the countries we are visiting and we figured out what we needed.  On Thursday last week, we visited the travel clinic at Rite-Aid in Bellevue.  What an awesome place!  Ash and her team there are terrific! …4 hours and 20 shots later, we were done with ROUND #1 of shots…only 3 more visits to be complete…YIKES!  ….mind you, this is all AFTER we have already visited our primary care physicians to ensure that we are up to date with everything else!

What are we getting?  We opted for:

Typhoid

Meningitis

Hepatitis A & B Series (3 shot series)

Polio Boosters for Cliff and me

Rabies (3 shot series)

Japanese Encephalitis

Yellow Fever

Some people choose not to do Rabies but we decided that with the number of wild dogs running around Indonesia and Africa it is a good idea.  We have been talking to the kids about how they just have to pretend they don’t like dogs on this trip.  Dogs in some countries are not like dogs in Cannon Beach, OR.  But it will be a challenge not to want to pet cute animals like monkeys and puppies so we decided to play it safe.

In addition to shots, we have a laundry list of other medical supplies/first aid stuff we are dragging along.  See my earlier post on Medical.

Tuck gets the award for Mr. Brave, who volunteered to be FIRST for everything to get it over with.  Weighing in at only 35 pounds, he was really sore after his 3 shots!