ITS been a colourful sort of week. First, Mr F and I had the yellow fever injection for a trip we are taking this year. It involved much trembling from me and much amusement for him.
So why was I so chicken?
We had been warned by a nurse at our practice in Uxbridge that, when being jabbed with the YF vaccine for the first time when youre older, terrible things can happen.
She told us with a big smile that one couple to whom she had given this delightful news the previous week had since cancelled their holiday rather than risk possible side-effects of fever, headache, coma or death.
Then (sods law) I read about a journalist who was currently gravely ill and in intensive care after the dreaded vaccine. Can you wonder that I was a yellow belly?
Why arent these dangers well-publicised when youre young? Obviously I didnt need jabs to work as a chalet maid in Skegness, but students setting off for more exotic gap year destinations will have automatically had the yellow fever jab. For them, having boosters in middle/old age will never be a risk.
As it is, in later life with mortgages paid off and more leisure time to enjoy most people travel further afield, and an early warning would be appreciated. GPs, schools, please take note.
We decided to risk it, and bizarrely, as I sat in the waiting room trying not to dwell on the thought of my brain swelling like a balloon, I looked up to see an incarnation of my simile. Not a bloated brain a red balloon.
Do you remember that French art film of the same name? When I was a pupil, we were all marched to the local cinema to see this as a Christmas treat!
Can you imagine todays youngsters being shown a dialogue-free film in which nothing much happens, rather than the thrills of Paranormal 3?
Mon Dieu.
Mr F and I were duly jabbed and to date we havent turned yellow or exploded.
Ill keep you posted.
