OK, so I apologize for the lack of posts lately, its been a traumatic couple of weeks. After I published my last blog post I got online to see what I should do to get rid of the bats. I eventually ended up calling the Peoria County Health Department to ask what I should do.They put me on with a nurse who asked me a series of questions about the encounter. At this point I should include some details I left out of the last blog post. The morning after I saw the bat in my room there was an inch long scratch on my arm with two red dots at the end of it, as well as a drop of blood on the side of my foot and some little drops of blood on a pair of khaki pants that were lying on the ground. At the time I didn't think much of it and figured I had scratched myself when I was trying to exit the room.
The nurse told me that bats can bite people without waking them up, and sometimes won't even leave a noticeable bite mark. That made me a little concerned considering I really didn't remember bumping into anything and getting scratched. After hearing my story she kept strongly insisting that I promptly go to an Emergency Room to get vaccinated for rabies.
Now I thought that rabies was only a problem in the 1800's, à la Old Yeller. But, apparently the deal with rabies is that once you get bitten, there is normally a 3-6 week incubation period before symptoms show up, and once you start experiencing symptoms it is too late and the disease is fatal.
So an hour after my last blog post I headed down to the ER where I waited 5 hours and got 5 shots (2 in each leg and one in the arm). I have since had to get 3 more, and in a couple weeks will get my final shot in the series. It sucks, but it beats dying a slow, painful death any day of the week.
Keep it real,
Ben
PS - The repairman came today to look for and seal up any holes the bats may enter through and we actually found a bat sleeping while clinging to a piece of screen wedged between one bedroom's upper and lower window. We got the thing out by agitating it through the screen with a coat hanger. It was neat to see one up close (they have really sharp little teeth that they bare at you when they're angry).
3 comments:
i knew it!
if you have the desire to start wearing a tight-fitting rubber suit with tights and a pointy-eared mask, i'd say your suspicions were correct.
sorry about the shots though, i hear they are not fun.
when Jamin and I lived in those apartments, we knew there were bats too because we could hear them. I read about how they have rabies and can transmit it through the air, and I wrote a letter to the landlord to ask if he could have them removed...he never got back to me!
not only are bats transmitters of rabies, they're also greedy. one time ryan left a whole plate of cookies out and they ate them all and didn't even leave one!
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