A NPE Story - Rabies and the Hospital

[echo5charlie]

This is a short one: got bit by a stray animal Saturday evening. Unsure of the animal or if I would see it again. Decided Sunday morning that an ER visit for the rabies vaccine would be a good idea given the possibility of a 99.9% morality rate. The whole rabies vaccine thing is enough for it's own post...holy shit.

Anyway, I know most hospitals are a NPE. No way was I going unarmed so I google-fu'd for what to expect for the shots. What I found was that you get the initial shots near the injury, which was my finger. Good to go. My vitals are good so I knew that the likelihood of wearing a hospital gown was virtually zero. I decided my G43 AIWB was a decent choice. Thank God that I decided at the last minute to switch to my LCP in my pocket because a little voice yelled in my brain "What if you have to get NAKED?!". Here's what happened (this is super condensed for those who have never had an ER visit):

Check into the ER. It's Sunday morning so the stupidity from Saturday night is cleared out and the new-day stupidity hasn't kicked in; there are only three people in the waiting room. After a bit I get called into the triage room and give the basics. They check out the "wound" and take my vitals. Cool. I then get to wait in another waiting area. After a long wait I get seen by two nurses. I need an x-ray of my hand (whatever), a tetanus shot, and the rabies vaccine. Good to go. I go wait some more.

Shot time: after waiting some more (surprise!) I finally get called in. I find out I am getting five shots: one tetanus and four rabies, due to my size (6'4"/225). Three in the upper arms and two in the legs. Well, that wasn't expected!

Two in the legs. AIWB/IWB/OWB would have failed me here. I had two nurses in the room...a small room. There was no way I could have even remotely been able to pull off a discreet "drop trou" - it would have been a shit show. But I pocket carried. I dropped trou, got my arms and legs shot up, and that was that. Five minutes later I felt something I hadn't felt since the shot gauntlet of March of '97 at Parris Island...


So, in the end, a little voice in the back of my head at the last moment "saved the day". Google did not adequately prepare me for what to expect - had I relied on it, ultimately, I would have had a very awkward day. NPEs are interesting and hard to plan for with certainty if you have no experience with them. The empty ER waiting room still gave me a 5 fucking hour visit, I can't wait for the bill.

[SAWBONES]

Good job.

As a doc, who's also been a patient not a few times, I'd counsel anyone expecting to enter a medical NPE to employ pocket carry as their temporary CCW, whether as inpatient or outpatient.

[echo5charlie]

Good job.

As a doc, who's also been a patient not a few times, I'd counsel anyone expecting to enter a medical NPE to employ pocket carry as their temporary CCW, whether as inpatient or outpatient.

Thanks. I learned something new that, even given my brief experience, is invaluable. My counsel will be the same.


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[blues]

Glad you're okay and that you had the presence of mind to do what needed doing.

[Hambo]

Most hospitals here have metal detectors. Security is usually nice enough to tell people to go put it in their car.

[RAM Engineer]

Yeah, it's been a decade or more since I've been in an ER that didn't have metal detectors.

[JonInWA]

A couple of years ago I got badly bitten by a pit bull who bit me severely, but only once, and he then retreated (and it was in a closely populated metropolitan neighborhood), so he didn't get shot with my on hand EDC that day, my Glock G21. The ambulance crew and I had an amicable discussion on exactly what to do with the Glock on arrival at the hospital. Turns out that the hospital had a good protocol in place; immediately on arrival, we were met by Hospital Security (who were very professional), who unloaded and secured the gun, tagged it and placed it in their secured storage. Upon my release after surgery, the G21 and its magazine were returned to me, bagged.

Animal control seized the dog, who apparently had also previously bitten a child. Either some breeds inherently just aren't good pets, or some owners aren't aware of or fail to take responsibility for training some aggressively-instincted breeds. The dog involved, despite some interesting equivocation by the owners turned out to be a pit bull mix. Amazing.

After surgery, I proceeded in kind to get a pit bull of a lawyer, which worked out, but I would have much preferred to have avoided having the injury and surgery in the first place.

Best, Jon

[OlongJohnson]

When going to ER, I pack a "go bag" that covers what I may need if I end up being there for a couple days. Don't forget the cell phone charger. Nobody has ever looked in the bag or asked about it.

They do love it when I break out my stack of unread Dirt Bike magazine issues.

[Drang]

A couple of years ago I got badly bitten by a pit bull who bit me severely, but only once, and he then retreated (and it was in a closely populated metropolitan neighborhood), so he didn't get shot with my on hand EDC that day, my Glock G21. The ambulance crew and I had an amicable discussion on exactly what to do with the Glock on arrival at the hospital. Turns out that the hospital had a good protocol in place; immediately on arrival, we were met by Hospital Security (who were very professional), who unloaded and secured the gun, tagged it and placed it in their secured storage. Upon my release after surgery, the G21 and its magazine were returned to me, bagged.

As a local, I have to ask which hospital?

[Maple Syrup Actual]

As a guy who once kicked off a rabies public health scare, I have to ask...what about those shots, anyway?