As the preparations carry on in full (well, medium) swing, I
thought it might be a good idea to give an update on the practical side of
things, even if only as a record / for reference.
Although we usually take the “it’ll be fine...” approach to
illness and injury, we both agree that a decent first aid and medical kit is a
must for a trip like this. Minor injuries can easily lead to problems if left
untreated, and the stakes are a little higher if you are days away from decent
medical care. With this in mind, off we pottered off to Boots yesterday to
stock up. It was a fairly amusing
undertaking; as neither of us usually take anything stronger than paracetamol
(even then rarely), we were fairly lost amongst the aisles and discovered there
really are products for pretty much everything (pre-conceiving vitamin pills
for him and her... seriously?).
Anyway, the final list for the first aid kit is as below.
Hopefully we have struck a balance between having all the basics and not
carrying around a full on hospital.
Plasters
Adhesive wound dressings (pack of 5)
Cotton crepe bandage
Roll of gauze
Small stretch bandage
Stretch fabric strapping
Zinc oxide tape
Vinyl gloves
First aid scissors
Thermometer
Anti viral / bacterial hand foam
Antiseptic cream
TCP
Paracetamol and ibuprofen tablets
Cold and flu relief sachets
Diarrhoea relief tablets (for emergencies only!)
Laxative (as above)
Rehydration sachets (dioralyte type stuff)
Anti-histamine
Canesten cream (would just like to point out have never
suffered from Thrush... but there is a first time for many things, and just
imagine if it happened on the road... yeeesh)
Cystitis relief sachets
Antibiotics in case of UTI
Athlete’s foot spray
Optrex Eye wash
Multivitamin with iron (just in case we don’t eat that well
for a few days at a time)
Sterile syringes
Malaria pills (Doxycycline) & bug spray containing 50%
DEET
Hopefully we will not have to use most of this, but it
should cover most common minor illnesses associated with travel as well as some
emergencies. It looks like a lot when
all written down, but once unboxed it really doesn’t take up a lot of room. We need
to purchase a new bottle of TCP though, as Oli managed to drop the bag on the
way home and smash it. Everything we have bought now smells very strongly of
the stuff but hey ho, at least it’s sterile!
As well as the above, we have both made sure we are up to
date with our vaccinations. This was pretty expensive (about £650 between us),
but we felt it was well worth it. The jabs we have had are as below, and varied
due to what we have both had before for previous trips, and some require
several boosters:
Tick Bourne Encephalitis (Oli and Charli, paid for)
Japanese B Encephalitis (Oli and Charli, paid for)
Typhoid and Hep A (Oli, free on NHS)
Typhoid pills (Charli, NHS Prescription of 3 tablets)
Tetanus booster (Oli and Charli, free on NHS)
Hepatitis B booster (Oli, paid for)
Hopefully this list will be useful to anyone who ever plans
to do something similar, or at the very least will help to reassure my Mother!
Next post will
hopefully be a motorbike one from Oli.
Charli x
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