Vaccination day....and more doctors....!

Well, x - mas is over and I´m kinda glad…I´m not too big on this family-get-together-all-smiley-happy-faces…
Plus, I´m so busy I don´t really have time for any kind of holiday…it´s amazing how many more little things pop up only a few weeks before take-off that have to be done or organised or dealt with…and evidently my time-management needs improving…;)
I just got in touch with Cystic Fibrosis Worldwide to see who´s in charge of the National CF Association in South Africa. I need to know whether I can bring all my meds into the country without problems (sometimes they are a bit funny about antibiotics…) but from my experience everything up to a 3-months supply is fine with a doctor´s letter. I prefer to just carry a months-supply in my suitcase and post the rest by mail. That way I can carry more clothes.. and yeah, I guess I´m a bit of a girl about that.. I don´t care though….hehe.
So I have to ask, maybe even call the South African Embassy, if it´s possible to post my meds. I have always done that on my previous travels but I´m not sure about how things are in Africa.
Usually no one really knows what the deal about all that is exactly so I just pack and post my meds and at the customs act like it´s all been checked before. A few very important-looking documents really help…! And of course, giving the guys at the customs an earful when they wanna start bitching does as well….;)
Then I´ll have to check for CF clinics near Worcester which means the closest is probably in Cape Town. I already have an address but I think I´ll give them a ring and see if I can come by, have a chat with the doctor and maybe even get a lung function sometime around feb or march. I have found it quite useful to have these kind of contacts, that way in case I do need help I already know someone there. Of course, that kinda stuff is gonna be a bit tricky since my insurance doesn´t cover “pre-existing conditions” so obviously CF things (like any tests or doctor´s visits or medication) aren´t gonna be paid for. But from my experience if you get in touch with the right people and ask, there´s always a way around things.
And of course…vaccinations…!
Probably no biggie for most people but I`m just scared as hell of needles..(that´s one reason I keep the IV´s to a limit…waay to much pain)! It´s funny cos I have travelled through half of Australia with a knee that needed surgery, I did Jiu-Jitsu for two years and after practise I would come home all bruised up, I don´t mind getting piercings or tattoos done…so it´s not that I can´t take pain…but when I see a syringe with a needle.. that just makes me wanna run…! I was actually quite lucky that I got half of the requested vaccination stuff done before I went to Australia…so lucky me.. I only have to get six shots…argh!
Some of the vacc. I´m getting is because I´ll be working with street kids, for example typhoid fever and rabies. There´s nothing you can do really for malaria exept for take some pills when you go in a certain area…but some stuff doesn´t go well with my antibiotics so I guess there´s some useful information…;)
So the other day I got three of the six shots….and for two days I was basically out of it. To be honest, I had a bit of a cold and you´re not supposed to get shots when you feel ill already…but I didn´t have much of a choice. Between the rabies shots there has to be a certain period of time and since I´m leaving in less than four weeks….yeah, I know….next time..;)
I felt shit for a coupla days, then xmas and today…dadaaaaa…I went to another doctor to get my polyps (I think Jaan described it as “pea-sized growth that grows in your sinuses...quite common for CFers"….so i´ll just copy that, haha) checked out. I mean, I know I have them cos I have lost my sense to smell things a while ago….not that it bothered me enough to go to a doctor then, though. And now it has been more than ten years since they last removed them…yeah, time just flies by…! To be honest, the only reason I went now is because when I met Jaan in London he made me feel so slack (he claimed he got his removed every coupla years..!) that I had to get it done…cheers, Jaan, hehe.. !Tomorrow I have to go and get a CT so they can see what they`ll have to do. It´s not that urgent though so no drama if surgery has to wait until after Africa…

Anything else? Nah.. only that the weather sucks…a lot of rain, a bit of some snowy-mushy stuff ..nowhere near enough to have a snowall fight…so I can´t wait to get out of here…!