Haiti Update

So finally Samaritan's Purse got back to me a week ago Friday, and they are only willing to let me go for 2 weeks. They said that the 2 week trips have been very difficult on the nurses due to the living conditions and the heat. They told me that if I wanted to go back in the future for longer then they would reevaluate at that time.

So far everything is going well with the planning. I found a super cheap plane ticket on a website called CheapOAir.com. The catch was a 15 hour overlay. I chose where I wanted my overlay to be, Miami or Puerto Rico? Tough decision, I chose Puerto Rico, and will spend the night in a hotel there a mile from the airport and sight see in my extra time.

My car prayer was answered. I will be keeping my car in the garage of one of my coworkers with all of my belongings. My final detail to work out is how I will be getting to the airport. I could take the shuttle, but it'll be something like $80 roundtrip. I don't think that is cost effective or good steward of my money if there is a better way. I have yet to check the train system from my friend's house, but from my apartment it would take 2 1/2 hours.

Finally if you are a traveler overseas and want to save money, you can take the antibiotic Doxycycline for malaria. It's cheaper, you'll have to take it everyday of the trip and a month afterwards, but a 60 count can be purchased for around $10 with insurance versus the $50 for Larium. I used to take Doxy for acne and it made me nauseous on an empty stomach so take it on a full stomach regardless of what the indications say on the bottle. I puked up my food when I took it before my meal. My doctor wanted to give me a different drug than Larium, because he said that no one uses Larium anymore, but the other drug is even more expensive. I also had to get the Typhoid vaccine again. That vaccine is good for up to 5 years, which it's been 6 years since I last had it. Things to keep in mind if you need overseas vaccinations. With it being rainy hurricane season, the Typhoid vacc was a must!

Thanks for all of the prayers, and I hope to be able to update this regularly on my trip. I bought a small little compact video cam for the trip yesterday, so I hope to get lots of footage.