Rabies.

Ha ha ha... wait, seriously?

Today I went to my appointment at the Travel Clinic to see what shots and prescriptions I need to go to Haiti. I went in feeling all experienced since I've been going there almost every year since my trip to India in 2006. I knew where to park, I knew what entrance to go in, I was so far removed from that terrified traveller who darkened their door six years ago.

Yeah, they've moved. Just down the hall, but it was enough to throw me off and remind me that I know nothing.

Debbie pulled out my chart and reviewed my history. World Traveller here didn't need anything - I'm even done with Hepatitis A for life. No Tetanus. No Typhoid. Covered.

"But where you're going, and because you're sleeping in tents, a rabies prophylaxis is recommended."

Yup - bats. They're out there. We saw them. And I, in particular, wander around outside when I can't sleep to avoid waking my tent-mates, so I couldn't even promise just to avoid the bats: I'm their prime target between the hours of 2-5 a.m.

Normally I would have taken my chances with the rabies exposure, but I just read an article about a little girl who got The Plague (yes, that plague) from touching a dead squirrel when she was camping. So, like Yodel before me, I'm getting rabies shots. It takes 3 shots over 4 weeks, so I'm grateful that ECMC is right off the 33, that you park for free on the ER ramp for the travel clinic, and that they're pretty darned efficient in there.

What I'm not grateful for is the cost - today the shot, consult and prescriptions for malaria meds cost me $300. I couldn't help but think that, if I need all these shots to go to Haiti, what do the Haitians need?

I know that big pharma donates plenty, and Haitians are not paying $300 for a shot, but donated supplies are limited, and rural areas where disease is more likely are hard to get to. A cholera outbreak after the last hurricane killed 5,000 Haitians, but cholera hadn't been seen in Haiti in a hundred years: Haiti was blindsided when it was brought in by earthquake relief workers. Last year the Travel Clinic didn't recommend rabies - how many Haitians got rabies before that recommendation surfaced? And Hepatitis? And Typhoid?

While I'm feeling pretty broke, I'm also feeling awfully lucky that I can afford the protection I need and that it's available to me. And the free parking. Free parking at the hospital is huge.