The Travel Clinic...

As I sit here and look at the lovely orange bracelet on my wrist (more on that later) I am taken back...to yesterday. I had my appointment with Marsha at the Travel Clinic. Now, I naively thought I'd go in, be told to wear sunscreen, and then ushered out to make room for the next lucky traveler.

Although Marsha was a wonderful woman, she left no room for side chatter. "OK, let's start talking about traveler's diarrhea," was one of the first things she said to me. Wonderful, I thought, one of my favorite things. She went on to tell me it is normal to have it when first moving somewhere new while your body adjusts, but if it continues for an extended period of time, I should take the prescription she gave me. "So, how long is normal?" I stupidly asked. "Oh, no more than a couple weeks," she nonchalantly replied. TWO WEEKS!!! I nearly crapped my pants right there. How on earth can two weeks of runny pooh be normal?! As if it to make it all better, she doubled my prescription saying I just might need it. Glorious...can't wait.

Now to the bracelet. I also need to take some Typhoid pills. As I type, live active typhoid something-or-others are in my fridge waiting to be digested by yours truly. These pills are taken every other day and they even gave me two stickers, one for the fridge, the other for my bathroom mirror, to remind me. As if this weren't enough, I also got a Lance Armstrong type bracelet, in blazing orange, which reads: Remember Oral Typhoid Vaccine. She assured me that if I wear the bracelet I will not forget the pills. I assured her, I do not wear orange.

Now, this afternoon I face another extremely important decision. I need to decide whether I should attempt to upkeep the red hair while away, or if I should raise the white flag now and succumb to the blonde...until next time