My dog is fine, though, which is the most important thing to me. The raccoons scratched my arm kinda bad and my legs are covered in scratches. My doctor can’t be sure if the raccoons had saliva on their claws, and wants me to get rabies shots just in case. She sent me to an ER because she can’t get the shots in our area.
I’ve been at the hospital for 3 hours and haven’t been seen.
It’s after my bedtime and I have to wake up at 5am for work…
I’m not having a good time.
I don’t know that I’d consider this “mildly” infuriating. Good on you for having any semblance of composure!
Thanks. I was panicked for a while, but the whole thing is absolutely absurd. Like, how many people get jumped by 3 young raccoons immediately after stepping outside.
Been there. Happened to me in grad school but I woke up to a bat on my leg. Thing with bats ks you can’t tell if they bit you because their teeth leave little baby pinpricks that look like damn near everything else that bites, including mosquitoes.
I got a bill for $13,000. Basically 1000 for every shot to the ass they gave me. I had to pay it from my student loans. Yay America.
I would have graduated, got a job overseas, and just left the debt in America.
Heck, you can take all these $$$, fly to a decent country visa-free, get a rabies shot and a lavish vacation. Why TF Americans don’t ddo that is beyond me.
🎶America! Fuck yeah!
Making you poor for
Basic medical attention!
🎶America! Fuck yeah!
Making you poor for
Basic medical attention!
Syllabic perfection, I’m impressed! Well done!
I sung it a bunch of times to make sure it felt right.
What a bunch of assholes.
If you capture the bat, they can test the bat for rabies instead of treating you.
And leave that poor bat with $13,000 of medical debt!?
The rabies test requires decapitation, so don’t worry, the debt went to the bat’s widow.
$1500 or get rabies. Home of the free indeed lmao
On the positive side, you are now one of an elite group of those who have a raccoon attack story.
Not only that, but a raccoon gang. That’s like an initiation into the raccoon underworld, full of human trash smugglers.
And lived to tell about it
I’m most relieved that your pal (dog) is ok. Sucks a bunch. Hope you’re both doing well.
My dog being okay is the most important thing. I almost took my puppy outside first, which would have been so bad. She’s too young for her rabies shot still, so it would have been bad if she had been out there. She isn’t much bigger than the raccoons were. My adult dog is twice the size of the raccoons, and has had his shots.
wtf, it is time that the US will have a universal insurance for these things, but on the other hand, it depends what the people vote for. over here you would get the shot, no charges…
The majority (57%) is in favour of government ensured health care in the US, the government is just corrupt and the healthcare lobby will never let it happen. That said, most still prefer private companies be responsible for their health.
Source: https://news.gallup.com/poll/468401/majority-say-gov-ensure-healthcare.aspx
Medicare for all. Not only would your visit be free, but you’ll be paying less in taxes than handing blank checks to billionaires through for-profit insurance companies. That regularly deny your claims.
this is soo funny and sad at the same time, i live in europe in a second world country, the economy is dogshit and i got bitten by a rabid dog, pretty nasty stuff and I was just minding my own business, when i turned a corner he jumped at me and got my leg, went to the hospital and paid for the anti tetanus shot and got my 7 or something anti rabic shots free
My tired brain read this as you had to pay the raccoons $1500 or they would give you rabies. Can’t even go into the woods without being extorted.
The problem is that if you pay them, all the other shit heads expect to be paid. The ticks will make you pay $2000 to not be infected with alpha gal and Lyme’s disease.
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Guess they took pointers from this dude
I don’t know what state you are in but you can use your sick time for doctors appointments.
I’m out of sick time. I used all of it when I had horrible ovarian cysts.
Out of sick time?! What kind of sadistic devilry is that?
horrible ovarian cysts
is there another kind
The kind you don’t feel. I’ve never had those…
I’ve had them incidentally found with no symptoms. 🤷♂️ They’re pretty common and not always horrible.
Oh dang, sorry you had to deal with that.
Yeah, that’s not a fun situation to be in. Are you fortunate enough to have sick time that you can use for this unplanned event?
I used all of my sick time when my ovaries were covered with cysts and I couldn’t move because of the pain. My work is very accommodating though, so I’ll be able to take time off unpaid.
Oh dear! That pain was probably unimaginable and I am so sorry you had to go through it. If I were your manager, I’d find a way to pay you.
I didn’t feel the scratches and stuff until hours later. I was so full of adrenaline. The rabies shots were ungodly painful.
No offense, but you’ll probably be waiting a long time. ERs typically have to deal with many simultaneous crises and you aren’t an emergent situation.
Some urgent care centers might have a rabies vaccine on hand.
Yup, rabies vaccine is something that can wait to make an appointment next day. It’s incubation period is usually a couple of months, or a week in the extreme cases, so a day or two won’t make a significant difference. Not something an ER will triage first.
Go to sleep, call your work first thing in the morning, and make an appointment where they have the vaccine available. I doubt your boss won’t let you take a day to get a rabies vaccine, but if he does, tell him you will bite him if you start showing symptoms at work, ha ha.
The vaccine, from what I’ve read, is commonly only available at ERs. And you can’t make appointments at ERs.
Ah, shit. Best of luck to OP then.
Extremes? Its been documented to incubate for over 20+ years
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3424805/
But your right its normally much faster than 20+ years. 31-90 days is the average.
I already had fears of this happening to me. Yep. I don’t know if I should have read this. I just had 5 or 6 of those adorable little assholes come running at me, snarling and snorting and growling at me last week.
I’m sorry this happened to you. Hope you feel better, and so happy you and your dog are mostly ok.
I totally would have punted the raccoons across the yard if I had seen them coming.
Well the good thing is you got the shot. Still though, my mind wanders to that legendary comment on Reddit…
Stay safe, friend!
That’s exactly where my mind went when everything went down. Gotta get 3 more shots in the series in order to be fully good to go. Better than dying horribly
Only in the US is it they expensive.
Otherwise infuriating and time-consuming… Perhaps everywhere. But really, rabies is not! something to mess around with. Even with the smallest chance.
