DataPacRat's Warren

Original

[	Tags	|	bat rabies injection vaccine	]
[	Current Mood	|	tired	]

So… around 4:15am, my Mom woke me up, saying there’s a couple of birds flying through the living room. As I got up there was one now… except it wasn’t a bird, it was a /bat/ now fluttering around my bedroom. Still mostly asleep, I reached out and grabbed it. (Don’t ask me how I managed to snatch a fast, moving, swirling, echolocating mammal out of mid-air, it just happened.) Holding the mouse-like critter in one hand, I was carrying it to toss it out the front door, when it decided it didn’t like its wings being squished or something, and I felt its teeth graze my thumb. So, finally awake, I threw it into the air before it could penetrate my skin.

Then, I finally recalled that it might be a better idea to toss a towel over it, and got one. While Mom waited outside – it seems bats freak her out a bit – with the door open to let them out, I tried to get a better grip on one. I saw one fly out the door… and then back /in/ the door, the stupid thing. But I never ended up catching either; I /think/ one went out the door, and the other went into the basement, but wouldn’t make any bets. Looked around for how they got in, but there aren’t any holes in our window-screens or anything like that. Spent a few minutes online looking up ‘bats in house’ on Google, noticed one link that reminded me about rabies; called Telehealth Ontario (a dial-up advice line), was told to visit Emergency, so took a taxi there and signed in. The wheels of Canadian health care grind slow but sure – a bit slower before dawn on Sundays. I waited a bit, listened to the crazy lady in restraints in the next room, got called ‘bat boy’ and heard a few vampire jokes from the security guards who were guarding the crazy lady, found out that the local Public Health offices that keep the rabies vaccine didn’t even open until 8:30am on Sundays, read a few magazines, was given a muffin and some apple juice, got a tetanus shot, started reading a novel, talked to the Public Health guy on a phone, was told to come back in a few hours, got a bottle of peach juice at a nearby Tim Horton’s, got a call from the hospital suggesting I get the rabies vaccination at the city’s other hospital-like building which would be less of a madhouse, walked over there, crashed at my brother’s house (which is directly across the street from that was-once-a-hospital-but-now-isn’t-quite building) for an hour, talked to the Public Health guy again, signed in, read more of the novel which I realized I’d brought with me, got the shots (three in one hip, two in the other, none of which hurt anywhere near as much as a blood donation needle), waited a bit to make sure I wouldn’t react… and walked home.

Besides today’s shots, I have to go back in 3 days, one week, two weeks, and four weeks.

I called Canadian Blood Services, and they don’t want me donating again until a year after the last vaccination shot.

Oh, and I’ve got 20 pages left of ‘Star Trek TOS Novel #8: Black Fire’, and will have to remember to drop it off at the pseudo-hospital (‘Prompt Care Centre’, http://www.niagarahealth.on.ca/erprompt/index.html ) when I go back.

And now – since I woke up a few hours earlier than I planned to, it’s time to take a siesta and avoid some of the afternoon heat…