The CIA Nurses and I Went to War
To prepare for moving to SEA (Southeast Asia), the Country of Laos specifically, the family got vaccinations at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Headquarters, Langley, Virginia.
Because the Country of Laos was relatively primitive with no country wide health standard and has lots of jungles, a laundry list of vaccinations are needed, twice before you depart.
Then once a year you had to get boosters while living there.
Many diseases that do not exist in the United States DO exist in Laos.
Off the top of my head, here is a partial list of vaccinations we had to get:
* Typhoid
* Typhus
* Hepatitis A
* Plague #1 (fleas on rats)
* Plague #2
* Japanese Encephalitis
Add all of that to the standard vaccinations you must get.
One of the vaccinations was especially awful. It was the Gamma Globulin (GG) that had to be kept in the fridge until just before the nurse injects it into your hip.
The needle is a very large gauge and having it sunk into your hip was super painful. The serum is extra thick and the nurse has to really push it into your side. It seems like it takes minutes for her to finish, just my perception of this hellish procedure.
As a kid, with no warning from the nurse as to what to expect, she just jammed the needle into my hip and pushed the plunger like she had somewhere else to go.
That GG shot traumatized me and I got a real fear of needles for the rest of my life.
Let me back up on this story by telling you this.
The first time I walked into the main lobby of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) HQ, across the CIA Seal with the eagle in tile on the floor, I asked my father what did the letters spell, and he just shuffled me along and did not say anything.
The nurses at CIA were experienced nurses that spent years working with the military, giving vaccinations to soldiers, and they were very crusty, if you know what I mean.
The CIA nurses had ZERO bedside manners or patience for kids.
So a visit to their medical office was like, sit in that room and wait, they walk in, get the vaccinations ready, slam them into your arms and hip, and then they leave.
It would leave me crying my eyes out, gushing and panicked. I was thinking, I did not sign up for this! But I was helpless and confused.
My parents did not even give me a talk or warning of what was to come.
No hello or goodbye or idle chitchat from the nurses either. Radio silence.
Suddenly, for our second visit, we switched to the State Department medical offices for vaccinations.
This building just screams “Fun times for Kids” with all the boring gray walls.
I think the CIA finally realized that they were not helping Agents maintain their cover by having the family inside the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) HQ.
SPY 101 - Do not blow your cover story
The State Department experience was not much better.
They could not speak Kid or know what to do with us.
Part of my nightmare was over, but little did I know what was coming to our family while in the Country of Laos.