ouch

Apparently, as part of preparing for a trip to India, one should make sure that certain health precautions are taken. And while it is no longer legally necessary to receive inoculations in order to travel to certain parts of the world, some inoculations are strongly suggested. Today I got a tetanus shot, a whooping cough inoculation, and a pneumonia inoculation. I chose not to get the malaria tablets because 1) they're supposed to upset the tummy, 2) malaria is only found during the rainy season in the North of India (it's not the rainy season and I'll only be in the South), and 3) they're rather costly. The Japanese encephalitis inoculation costs a thousand dollars, so I opted out of that one too. There are antibodies of both hepatitis A and B in my blood (read immunity), so I didn't need those inoculations, but tomorrow I will be picking up typhoid tablets at the pharmacy as well as antibiotics to take with me in case I get sick.

Now, I usually don't mind needles, but the pneumonia shot actually hurt. It felt like a small inflatable ping pong ball was being forced underneath my skin, and right now my arm is aching. Oooowww.