The Ultimate Pain in the Butt

Hey, remember that crazy bat thing yesterday? What an annoyance, right? Well, yesterday Sara tweeted me a link to something scary, which I of course ignored. La la la, I can't hear you! She grew a wee bit persistent, and then a few other people started tweeting and emailing me, using phrases like "rabies is 100% fatal!" and "a bat can bite you while you sleep and you'd never know it!" so I started to pay attention.

Here's what I learned: If you find a bat in your house and you don't know when it got in, it's possible it's been there since at least the day before. In that case, it might have been flying around while you and your happy family slept. And it could have bitten one of you in your sleep and you would never know. And it could be rabid. And if so, you die. Not "you might die": YOU DIE. So, on the one hand, you have the expense and pain in the butt (both figuratively and literally) of a long series of shots that you might not have needed; on the other hand you die of a completely preventable disease.

I also learned that what you're supposed to do is trap the bat somehow and call Animal Control. They come take away the live bat and test it for rabies. Andy actually had the bat trapped on the sunporch, but we didn't know about this, so he gladly let it fly out the back door. Now you know.

So I called the pediatrician's office to schedule a visit for Steph tomorrow (she's feeling much better, so I'm no longer worried about swine flu; I'm hoping she has a respiratory infection and can get some antibiotics to knock it out of her before camp). I think I've mentioned before that the triage nurse at our pediatrician's office is the ultimate firewall. Nothing alarms her. You have to say you can see your child's exposed spinal column for her to raise an eyebrow. So when I mentioned the bat thing, I was surprised when she paused. She asked, "Did you see the bat come in the house?" I said we didn't, and she said simply, "That's too bad." And then she recommended that the whole family get the full series of rabies shots. That was the last bit of convincing I needed.

She recommended that instead of going to the ER, we go to Waltham Urgent Care Center, and I'm so glad she did. I didn't even know about this place, which is affiliated with Newton-Wellesley Hospital. We hardly had to wait to be seen (although we did have to wait a long time for them to do their calculations of how much immuno-something-or-other we each needed, depending on weight), but more importantly, everyone there was great. The office staff, the nurses, and the doctor were all pleasant and smart and really just as helpful as you could hope for.

We all got one shot in our upper arms, and we'll need four more over the course of the next month. In addition, we each had to get a one-time-only series of shots in our butts. Andy got four (plus one in his thigh); Steph and I got four each; and Pete and Julie got two each. OUCH! It hurt! Everyone was much braver than I was.

None of this would be half as distressing if Steph weren't leaving for camp on Thursday! She'll have her second arm shot on Thursday morning before we leave, but then we have to arrange for her to have the other three up there somehow. I plan to coordinate with our pediatrician's nurse and the camp nurse tomorrow. The poor kid. (For the record, the doctor we saw for the shots said that she sure doesn't look like she has the flu, and he did a rapid strep test, which came back negative. Phew.)

To sum up: If you have a bat in your house, trap it and call Animal Control. If you instead let it out or kill it, you will need to get lots of shots (at $15 a pop, which quickly adds up for a family of five needing a round of five shots each).

Oh, another thing: We are now all free and clear to pursue careers as dog-catchers, veterinarians, and so on. Even if we get exposed to rabies in the future, we never need the ouchy butt-shots again, just boosters in the arm.

Comments

[Sara]

I like how you say, "wee bit persistent" instead of "pain in the ass nag". Also, since I totally saved your life and the life of your family will you mention my new giveaway? $50 AMEX giftcard. You know you want it!

[califmom]

Wow. Learn something new every day.

We had a cat get bitten by a bat when I was growing up. That was a nasty experience and an expensive vet bill. Now I'll know what to do if I ever encounter a bat in close quarters.

[Becky]

I'll file away this information. We have bats in the barn. We don't have Animal Control here, but we have a mighty fine farm-animal vet.

So glad you are all OK.

[Margaret]

Why can't they tell from a dead bat? And rabies was why I paid $600 for special travel insurance for my daughter in Africa; there is a shortage of rabies vaccine, so they only treat possible cases. It's something that the company will fly you out for in their own jet. (a bit expensive!) Won't your insurance company pay? Mine did for all the preventative shots we got for Africa and they would have cost about $500 for each one of us. Take care!

[Tonya]

I strongly feel that Karma (?) should look upon you after all of this and allow you to win that iPhone! Jeeze, who knew? What an ordeal!

[James]

Quite an ordeal. Glad you've all got the rabies thing covered now!

[margalit]

Well, I have to say that bats aren't anywhere NEAR as dangerous as people think they are. My family has an island in Maine and there are bats living in the cabins, They live there a lot more of the year then we do, and I've spent time there every summer since forever. Never has a bat bitten any of us. Not once. Bats are not g oing to bite people just because. They're way more afraid of you than you are of them. Plus, every bat isn't rabid, especially in our city.

Most bats tend to get in through the attic or chimney. If you don't have a tight chimney cap, you should have one installed. Then go up into your attic with a couple of cans of foam insulation and go all around the soffet to seal off any leaks.

Remember that bats eat mosquitos. TONS of mosquitos. They really are our friends, but until you get to know about them, they are scary.

[Karen]

Yes, Margalit, I know all of this. Here's how it was explained to us: The chance that the bat had been in the house for more than a day was tiny. The chance that the bat was rabid was tiny. The chance that it bit one of us was tiny. HOWEVER, since we can't verify any of it, we had to take the safe route since the alternative is certain death.

The doctor also said that some people think that a bat in the house may be more likely to be rabid than not since they are usually very good about knowing where they go, and if this one got disoriented enough to end up in a downstairs living room, it could have been sick. They're also the ones more likely to bite.

[Alissa]

Wow - time to have my family of bats removed from my attic, I guess!!

[Wendy]

Oh golly. Sorry to hear about the worry and the hassle, but it's good you're now on top of it.

[Janeen]

I second Alissa with the wow. I hope you guys all got plenty of lollipops and stickers (chocolate and vodka for the grownups) afterwards.

[Elena]

I have long believed that there are bats living in our attic, especially since we had one in our family room a few years ago. Now I wonder if we shouldn't get rabies shots too. Who's to say that a bat wouldn't come into a bedroom at night, bite someone, and leave?! And no one would even have reason to suspect anything.

[Liz Price]

I take it that you told the kids it was a bat, not a bird?

[Rachel]

Wow- what an ordeal! Glad to hear the nice folks at the Waltham Urgent Care Center took good care of you and your family! Thanks for the kind words.

[Steve]

Geesh! That's crazy! I'm glad y'all are alright. At least your kid is set in case of racoon attacks or the like while at camp!

[kate]

OMG Enough said.

[Maureen Potter]

Wow! I didn't know that, about getting the shots. We had a bat in the house several years ago...guess it wasn't rabid. On the other hand, the kids do say that I foam at the mouth a lot.....

Glad it's all working out for you. i leave you for a couple of days and look at the trouble you get into!

Mo

[Maureen Potter]

To Elena,

If you really think you have bats in the attic, wait for fall ( assuming you live where there is cold weather) The bats will go South and then you get a contractor to plug ALL the holes so they can't get back in. Much easier than killing them and dealing with the bodies. And the holes have to be plugged or they will come back.

By the way, if there are bats up there, there will be lots of evidence, i.e. excrement. No, i did not have bats, but my parents did.

Mo

[Will]

Karen,

You're blog was really helpful today. I read it this morning, and as I was starting dinner our 3 year old tripped, fell, and split her skin open over her eye. I took her to Waltham Urgent Care right before they closed and they were great. They taped and glued her, and it should be fine.

Anyway, thanks for the recommendation.

[Laura]

Wow!!!! Just read this after reading today's post. I have never encountered a bat, that I know of. My biggest question is why won't you know if you were bitten? Isn't there a mark or any pain, some indication? How strange... No wonder they came up with all those vampire stories. How horrible and scary. Not to mention I'm such a germophobe (I have terrible OCD)that just having something that heinous flying through my home would make me want to move out!

[Karen]

Apparently they have such tiny razor-sharp teeth (EEK!) that you wouldn't feel it. Kids in particular sleep VERY soundly. I guess it would leave a mark if you knew to look for one. But I'm also told that a bat can transmit rabies just by DROOLING on you too (DOUBLE EEK!).