And I panicked.
Las Wednesday Allison woke up from her nap complaining of an "ouch" on her foot. We were outside earlier in the day and Allison and I have this game where she says she has an ouch or an itch and we put calamine on it. I blow on it to dry it, then she bounces away. On Wednesday I did this and when I was putting on the lotion, I noticed that the spot seemed a little swollen and that she flinched when I touched the spot. I didn't really think more of it, I thought it was maybe a chigger bite that she had scratched too hard.
On Friday, I noticed that she had two teeny scabs, one right beside the other - but again, she was fine. And then last night, I thought, what if she got bit by the bat. Last week, when I heard rustling, I heard it in the kitchen, so the bat was probably moving throughout the house and could have been in Allison's room.
I didn't sleep much and the first thing I did when I woke up was to call the Health Department. The woman was very nice but gave me a standard answer to all my questions which was basically, better safe than sorry. She told me to go to my nearest emergency room and wait. I was shocked! Emergency room? That seems like a terrible use of resources. I called Nathan in a panic and he went to work on it.
Nathan called some people he knows in the Infectious Disease sector and they said to come in and get the shots - especially if Allison got bit. Nathan was able to get us appointments that morning with our former family doctor who moved out of family practice into hospital medicine. I'd never been to the hospital and it's a very different demographic than the country club hospital Nathan has been working for the last few months but it was a wonderful hospital.
Nathan was waiting for us when we arrived and he took Allison to get her shot in the kid clinic while I got mine. The dosage is 2 shots, 4 visits, 2 weeks. The dosage is by weight and while Nathan was stunned at the HUGE needle the nurse pulled out "it's enough to take down a horse" Nathan said, I'm the only who had to deal with the pain. The needles were so big that they had finger grippers (the rings on each side of the syringe). The nurse, who was training and visible nervous to give me the shots, did a great job but it was awful. I had one shot in each upper/side thigh and each vaccine was so thick, it took about 30 seconds to administer (which is a long time to see a huge needle poking out of you).
Here I am before the pain began.
I was glad I didn't have to be in the room while Allison got hers. Nathan said that she was a real trooper and after a few seconds of screaming, she bounced back.
After we finished with the shots, Nathan showed us around for a few minutes. I could tell that Nathan loved to show Allison off and introduce her to his colleagues. Everyone said how beautiful she was and how much she looked like Nathan. More than one nurse/doctor stopped me to tell me how great Nathan was/ how he was a keeper/ one of the good ones/ and that I should be so proud.
I am so thankful that Nathan was able to facilitate our care today. I would have been so lost without his connections and assurance that we were doing the right thing by getting the shots.
Allison only made it through half her cookie on the way home before she passed out.
It was another chaotic day, and we'll have to do it again on Thursday, then Monday, then the next Monday but I feel good knowing we're taking the best care of Allison we can. I am so grateful for vaccines and modern medicine.
Here we are - all in our grey, ready for bed after this long day.
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