Anticipation

Em & I had our travel clinic appointments this morning. One more item on the pre-travel to-do list checked off.

Over the past seven years, I've had my arms stuck a few times. Yellow fever, typhoid, meningitis, hepatitis A, B, and previously C; tetanus, influenza. I'm caught up for another year or two. Just had the fall flu shot today. If H1N1 is available before we leave, I'll get that too.

Em had three pokes, since she needed a new typhoid and the last dose of hep A, plus the flu shot. Not as bad as the last time she went, when she had six shots the same day.

The travel clinic nurses are really good about going over all the precautions for safe and healthy travel. While we're in Tanzania, we'll only drink bottled water, remember to brush our teeth with bottled water, and we'll close our eyes in the shower when we're lucky enough to have one.

We'll skip the salads, eating only cooked food, or fruits that we can peel. No dairy unless it's a ceremonial gift that would be rude to refuse. And we'll bring our stock of routine medications....Pepto, Immodium, Cipro, Advil, antibiotic cream. We'll wear sunscreen and protect ourselves from mosquitoes. We'll take our malaria prophylactic every morning. Sometimes when we visit the rural clinics, I have the feeling that I carry more medications with me on a two week trip than their doctors might dispense for a whole day's worth of patients.

I'm getting excited about the trip, thinking about the work to be done, the relationships to renew, the people who feel like family. But I always get a little dread in my heart before a trip, because I've attended a funeral on nearly every one of my trips. Who will it be this time, the child or parent of a dear friend? We've already heard of a huge loss, with the dormitory fire that killed a dozen students last month. We'll visit their families, meet with students who were injured, find out ways we can support them. And as always, we'll see the world through different eyes, trying to make sense out of the abundance we take for granted and the scarce resources for which our friends are so very grateful.