This is in no way car related, so if that annoys you, don’t read this very long story of me being frustrated and sick.
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Sunday Upate:
First, thank you sincerely for the outpouring of get well wishes. I really appreciate them and they were joyful to read. Second, today was our 2nd round of shots. The 4 year old knew what was up, he immediately protested with screams of “NO SHOTS NO SHOTS” but eventually bucked up and told the 2 year old (who did not care one bit about having to get another shot) that they needed to be brave so they didn’t get sick.
Round two of shots went fine, I was finally feeling a little better by the time the 2nd shot got shoved into me and now I’m down and out again. Yuck. The kids thankfully are totally fine along with the wife.
Thanks Oppo, appreciate the love.
ORIGINAL POST:
Thursday night my 4 year old came to me and said “DAD you gotta come see this!” normally it’s something he’s built, a toy etc. I say “Sure man lets go look” and into the living room we trot.
“LOOK” he squeals and points at the floor between some toys.
I look for what he’s trying to show me (sometimes it’s mundane ordinary things he thinks are spectacular and I try to figure them out and agree with him when I can...) and it takes me a moment to notice the nearly dead bat laying on the floor.
Well shit.
I’ve dealt with bats when I was younger so I didn’t think anything of telling the kids to leave the room, grabbing something and scooping it up and tossing it out into the wild. It was obviously weak or very asleep as it chattered at me as I used my makeshift rescue equipment to scoop it outside. I didn’t think much of it. I was proud of my kids for not touching it and coming to get me.
Then the fun started.
A casual text to my sister who is in the health care field turned into “you should call ask a nurse, you guys probably need the rabies vaccine..” I thought she was crazy, no one screamed/squealed about getting bit, surely a 2 and a 4 year old (both very verbal) would say something. I surely didn’t get bit. My wife refused to come within a few feet of it. Then the unkown arrived: where did the bat come from? How long had it been in the house? Long enough to starve itself? Did the cat or dog bite it? (Our cat is a hunter)
We called ask a nurse.
Their response: Call your Primary Care physician right away in the morning, you probably need to come in since the bat was unattended with the children. Ugh. Dread washes over you as a parent, you’re sure this is the moment the world recognizes your failure as a dad.
The call to the doctor in the morning was not comforting.
After the customary 2 hour wait to get anything back we were told to go to the ER, right away as they were the only place that would have the rabies vaccine and enough of it for 4 people and we would all need it. Fantastic, nothing better than going to the ER during this COVID situation with 2 kids.
After the mandatory 2 hour ER waiting room sit was over
we were ushered back to the exam room where we retold the situation 20 times, the provider was trying to find a way to suggest we didn’t need to be vaccinated but her final statement was “I can call the state but I would get vaccinated”. I knew she was right, survival rate of rabies is basically 0 and I didn’t keep the bat to get IT tested so we couldn’t know for sure.
By the time you have rabies symptoms, it’s too late, it’s almost certain you’re ona countdown to death.
We were then informed that the rabies vaccine had to be ordered from a couple pharmacies across the city (Remind me again why I had to come to the ER?) and that it’d be a bit before we could get our shots and be on our way. The 2 and 4 year old were not worried, simply stating that they’d really like to get shots so they can go home and play.
The shots arrived, with the physician noting that the first part was based on weight, so if I could please give them both arms and both legs they’d give me my 4 shots.
I let the kids watch so they knew it didn’t hurt. It hurt like hell when they injected 7 ml of anti-globiulan shit into 3 sites. Our 4 year old volunteered to go first, the typical crying after but it wasn’t any worse than any other shots. The two year old didn’t seemed bothered by the 4 year old’s displeasure and lined right up for hers. She took it hard. Once she was calmed down my wife asked us to leave so she could get hers, she doesn’t do well with shots.
After everyone had shots we signed out and headed for home. My nausea was almost instantly impacting me.
Everyone else seemed fine. Great I thought, this will pass quickly. and I’ll be on my way. But it didn’t. All night, all day yesterday nasua continued along with general uncomfortableness and a low grade fever. Last night after working on some house projects I got a sore throat. I called my wife and told her to stay with her mom in case it was Covid.
Sadly the COVID symptoms and rabies vaccine side effects have some crossover.
So with tingling in my fingers starting this morning I put in an e-Visit stating all my symptoms. I got back for my $33 visit a form letter informing me that I didn’t have symptoms that meant I should get tested for COVID but I should stay home. Frustrating.