Getting the Vaccinations For Morocco

Uggghhhhhhhh-- shots! Probably one of my greatest fears in life- crazy, I know. For some reason the thought of  watching a person stick a needle into my arm doesn't a appeal to me; weird.

The shots I need for Morocco are...
1. Hepatitis A
2. Hepatitis B
3. Rabies
4. Typhoid (capsules; picking up at my local pharmacy)

I walked into the doctors office today at 11 a.m., filled out the necessary paperwork, and was escorted to my room. The nurse comes in to tell my mother and I that our insurance did not pay for my shots (when the insurance clearly told me they did). We complained, the nurse left, another woman came in, she then left, and another person came in. I thought, "what is this? Am I just to meet every worker in the doctors office today?".  I waited, and waited, and waited, and waited-- oh, did I mention I waited? Yup, about an hour had passed- even with my mother yelling at the staff about time- and still nobody showed up. Soon after (finally), a doctor came to see me.

I don't think I have ever met a doctor as fun and kind as he! We spoke about my upcoming travels, about Morocco and Georgetown, and the heat in Qatar (my friend Maya told me that when she visited, it reached 135 degrees Fahrenheit :( ); all-around, it was a pleasure to have this conversation after all the hostility between my agitated mother, the nurses and I.

After the doctor had finished the standard check-up, he told me that a nurse would be back to give me the Hepatitis A shot. I had already received the Hepatitis B shot in grade school, the Typhoid "shot" comes in capsule form, so of course I picked that, and the Rabies shot needed to be specially ordered; so I was left with Hep A.

So then guess what... I waited, and waited, and waited, and waited. By this time it was 1 p.m. (two hours after I had arrived, with only a check-up done), and was laying on the exam table for this shot that I now believed would never come. In the midst of my waiting, my mom had to leave because she was taking my little brother to soccer and was running out of time.

I kid you not, three minutes after my mom left, the nurses came in with the shot. As they came in they asked where my mom went. I told them to my little brother's soccer, and then they said............. "Oh, we need a parent here to sign the consent form and to oversee the giving of the shot". 

Okay, now I was pissed.

I called my mom, who then said call my dad, who then rushed out of the house to get to the doctor's office so I could be done.

My dad arrived 15 minutes later, signed what he needed to sign, and now the nurse was finally able to give me the shot. So, after hours of waiting, I got my shot which took all of 5 seconds; yay.

Even though I arrived at 11 a.m and left at 2:15 p.m., it was all worth it because this means I am one step closer to leaving for Morocco!

P.S: I overcame my fear of shots :). So at least two good things came out of this visit.