Bone crushing disease, typhoid and other pleasures of the Caribbean

On the way to any great journey there are hazards. How the traveller meets those hazards is telling of whether or not the outcome will be successful, I believe.

So it is that we met with Nurse Anne and Dr. Stephenson at the Ancaster Travel Clinic and were given at least one forest worth of paper describing what ailments might await us on our trip and how best to try (not one is 100 per cent) to avoid them.

For example, Dengue Fever (it's other intimidating name is bone crushing disease) has no prevention (unless I missed that in the file). It's a matter of good luck lad and have at it.

However, we dutifully lined up and got poked by Nurse Anne to prevent typhoid. It was after the poking (executed with way too much cheerfulness) that she mentioned a couple of stiff tabs of Pepto Bismal does wonders. As does boiling everything.

Oh well, at least the poster offering a number of colourful synonyms of travellers' diarrhea happily distracted the younger two members of the family from the perils that await. Puerto Plata Splata is my personal favourite.

So, we have amassed a terrific amount of information. Plus we jammed in a whirlwind tour of the Hamilton OHIP office and the passport office which were both shockingly efficient before our trip to the travel clinic.

This weekend Scott, Aidan and I are taking a St. John's Ambulance course to learn Emergency First Aid and CPR. Reg is one step up, certifying as a lifeguard next weekend and already attaining Standard First Aid. Trouble is, he's not around for a few months so we're on our own for a bit.

Now that we're equipped with sore arms from a series of vaccinations, a mitful of prescriptions and quite a few more things to worry about, I feel more properly prepared.