Friday, March 14, 2008

Rabies in Romania

Last weekend I got bit by a wild dog near the hotel - When Ceauçescu became the communist dictator here, he destroyed all of the townhomes and built apartments and he made the people turn their dogs out on the street. There are crazy dogs everywhere, some quite agressive. Anyway, the bite was small, and I cleaned it well but to make a long story short, the company doctor here in Romania insisted that I must have the rabies series, so I had to go to a hospital today where they gave me a shot and I have to go back for 4 more shots.

I asked if I could just be bit many times once I've had the shots but it doesn't work that way. The first time, 5 shots - after that, for the second bite, 3 shots.

The worst thing is that they told me no caffeine - coca cola, coffee or chocolate for the whole 28 days I have to have the shots - I find that hard to believe, so I will have to Google it. Over here, all there is to eat is pui, piept de pui, şi mai pui (chicken, chicken breast, and more chicken.) Therefore I eat a lot of bread and cheese and chocolate.

Other than that, everything is great! I am learning to speak a lot of Romanian and I bought some tight Romanian jeans and some bottles of Romanian wine. For me, it is more fun to see a grocery store in a foreign country than to see a museum!!!

Val

PS: Here are the things I have read that people have been told not to do while having the vaccine: no caffeine, no alcohol, no garlic or spicy food, no exercise, no sex for 4 months, no lying in the sun, no swimming. Actually, the first two appear to be true.

2 comments:

Ginny Axtell said...

Oh no...you have adventures everywhere you go, but this one you could do without. I've heard that the shots are quite painful and doing without caffeine, chocolate, and alcohol just adds insult to injury! Hope you will be OK.

Val said...

Actually the newer shots are in the arm, not the abdomen and so far don't hurt - but I got dizzy and fell in my room and broke my butt!