Travel Vaccinations: A little Pain for hopefully a lot of gain

So I finally got all my shots done for Tanzania. I decided to go to the Vancouver Travel Clinic rather than my GP as the clinic is totally current and set up for this. They can give the Yellow Fever shots which apparently GPs can't. Since I already had my Hep A & B shots done (recommended) over 10 years ago and they last for life, I "only" needed 4 vaccinations - 2 in each arm. And boy oh boy, were they ever soar by mid next day. I couldn't take my shirt off without help! I'm now set with Typhoid, Meningitis, boosters for Tetanus & Measles and Yellow Fever. They also set me up with an oral vaccine for Travellers' Diarrhea which I can take at home a couple weeks before I leave - figured I don't want to take any chances - imagine on the climb?!?! Better not. In addition, I got prescriptions for Diamox (altitude medication), Malaria and Antibiotics. The Dr. there said that most people get affected with some level of altitude sickness and she personally recommends taking it for the entire climb. While some books recommend to try out the drug before the climb, she says not to worry - I shouldn't have any problems other than maybe tingling in my fingers. I have many friends who've climbed Kili within the past couple of years and the ones that took Diamox seemed to be able to handle the altitude the best. All of them summited but several that didn't take Diamox got quite ill at the summit.

Now while I'm sure it will vary from person to person, I want to recommend that you get your vaccinations done close towards the end of the week or before a slower day. In addition to being sore, I felt extremely exhausted the next day - the type of feeling that you get when you think you're coming down with a cold. The clinic warned me about that but said I'd probably feel it in about a week. We'll see if the Yellow Fever vaccine will kick in then or if this was it...

Next week I'm heading down to see my GP for an overall check up. I've also booked a dentist appointment for cleaning and check-up as I definitely don't want to run into any difficulties while on the mountain...

-CS