Comments on: Nearly Always Fatal http://dannynovo.com/2007/12/13/nearly-always-fatal/ is older than he used to be. Sat, 05 May 2012 04:49:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Danny http://dannynovo.com/2007/12/13/nearly-always-fatal/#comment-230 Danny Thu, 20 Dec 2007 21:35:38 +0000 http://dannynovo.com/2007/12/13/nearly-always-fatal/#comment-230 <p>I feel like I should point out, in all fairness, that the bat's lab tests have returned, and he was rabies-free. Poor thing.</p> I feel like I should point out, in all fairness, that the bat’s lab tests have returned, and he was rabies-free. Poor thing.

]]> By: Danny http://dannynovo.com/2007/12/13/nearly-always-fatal/#comment-229 Danny Fri, 14 Dec 2007 21:01:16 +0000 http://dannynovo.com/2007/12/13/nearly-always-fatal/#comment-229 <p>That sounds awful. Am I a bad person if I would sooner take a tennis racket to a cat, than a bat? I would probably do neither one, but still.</p> That sounds awful. Am I a bad person if I would sooner take a tennis racket to a cat, than a bat? I would probably do neither one, but still.

]]> By: Denny http://dannynovo.com/2007/12/13/nearly-always-fatal/#comment-228 Denny Fri, 14 Dec 2007 20:55:02 +0000 http://dannynovo.com/2007/12/13/nearly-always-fatal/#comment-228 <p>Bleeding heart, foaming mouth. Did I ever tell you about the time my friend Natalie rescued a poor little kitten? Despite several weeks of TLC Natalie and her boyfriend Mark woke up one morning with a cat that was foaming at the mouth and shaking terribly. Of course this was after the cat had been handled by many people from both of their families including five or six small children.</p> <p>So to make a long story short, they had to euthanize the cat and send it to Iowa State for testing. Another friend, Carrie, volunteered to transport it to Ames in a cooler. Of course it was over a holiday weekend, so Carrie had to shove the frozen, lifeless body into an overflowing intake freezer. Luckily, after a couple of days of worrying that both families would need rabies injections, the results came back negative. It was just distemper.</p> <p>But I agree. Bats in the house are freaky. I wonder where my tennis racket is?</p> Bleeding heart, foaming mouth. Did I ever tell you about the time my friend Natalie rescued a poor little kitten? Despite several weeks of TLC Natalie and her boyfriend Mark woke up one morning with a cat that was foaming at the mouth and shaking terribly. Of course this was after the cat had been handled by many people from both of their families including five or six small children.

So to make a long story short, they had to euthanize the cat and send it to Iowa State for testing. Another friend, Carrie, volunteered to transport it to Ames in a cooler. Of course it was over a holiday weekend, so Carrie had to shove the frozen, lifeless body into an overflowing intake freezer. Luckily, after a couple of days of worrying that both families would need rabies injections, the results came back negative. It was just distemper.

But I agree. Bats in the house are freaky. I wonder where my tennis racket is?

]]> By: mark http://dannynovo.com/2007/12/13/nearly-always-fatal/#comment-227 mark Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:53:29 +0000 http://dannynovo.com/2007/12/13/nearly-always-fatal/#comment-227 <p>Oh, great, now I have an image of Klaus Kinski in my head....</p> Oh, great, now I have an image of Klaus Kinski in my head….

]]> By: Danny http://dannynovo.com/2007/12/13/nearly-always-fatal/#comment-226 Danny Thu, 13 Dec 2007 22:51:22 +0000 http://dannynovo.com/2007/12/13/nearly-always-fatal/#comment-226 <p>The likelihood of a bat biting a non-threatening (i.e., sleeping) person is just about nil, I agree. A bat affected by rabies, however, won't act like a normal bat, right? That said, our pediatrician thought it would be very unlikely that a sleeping person (his specialty being kids) would not notice a bat biting them.</p> The likelihood of a bat biting a non-threatening (i.e., sleeping) person is just about nil, I agree. A bat affected by rabies, however, won’t act like a normal bat, right? That said, our pediatrician thought it would be very unlikely that a sleeping person (his specialty being kids) would not notice a bat biting them.

]]> By: mark http://dannynovo.com/2007/12/13/nearly-always-fatal/#comment-225 mark Thu, 13 Dec 2007 22:43:10 +0000 http://dannynovo.com/2007/12/13/nearly-always-fatal/#comment-225 <p>I guess my only point is that I lived with bats for a long time and never had one sneak into my bed and bite me (Leah's fear). Of course that doesn't mean it can't or won't happen. You're right, bats aren't endangered here in Iowa (unless one of those darn Indiana bats comes around), but they <i>are</i> protected by state law.</p> I guess my only point is that I lived with bats for a long time and never had one sneak into my bed and bite me (Leah’s fear). Of course that doesn’t mean it can’t or won’t happen. You’re right, bats aren’t endangered here in Iowa (unless one of those darn Indiana bats comes around), but they are protected by state law.

]]> By: Danny http://dannynovo.com/2007/12/13/nearly-always-fatal/#comment-224 Danny Thu, 13 Dec 2007 22:20:19 +0000 http://dannynovo.com/2007/12/13/nearly-always-fatal/#comment-224 <p>I seem to have struck a nerve, mark. Have you had many discussions about this with Leah? You share our pediatrician's opinion of wildlife in your castle, but <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_brown_bat#Endangered_Status" rel="nofollow">I'm not sure the brown bat is endangered</a>. Yet.</p> <p>Y'all seem to be telling me it isn't a big deal. And yet, I watch my lovely boys sleeping, and I can't help but do all I can to keep them safe. Including zealous research on Google.</p> I seem to have struck a nerve, mark. Have you had many discussions about this with Leah? You share our pediatrician’s opinion of wildlife in your castle, but I’m not sure the brown bat is endangered. Yet.

Y’all seem to be telling me it isn’t a big deal. And yet, I watch my lovely boys sleeping, and I can’t help but do all I can to keep them safe. Including zealous research on Google.

]]> By: mark http://dannynovo.com/2007/12/13/nearly-always-fatal/#comment-223 mark Thu, 13 Dec 2007 20:44:16 +0000 http://dannynovo.com/2007/12/13/nearly-always-fatal/#comment-223 <p>Oh, this is rich. Leah is absolutely terrified of bats. The house I lived in on N. Linn down by Pagliai's for 11 years had bats in it every fall when it started getting cool. My roommates and I used to see who could knock them back the farthest with my racquetball racket. We didn't have any compunction about killing them; endangered status be damned!</p> <p>Leah insists that if we ever find a bat in our house, we all need to undertake treatment immediately, regardless of whether there's any evidence of a bite or even contact. I think this is ridiculous, but there's no arguing with someone who "read about it on the Internet."</p> <p>I'm sure everyone there will be fine. And I encourage you to take up racquetball, or at least equip yourself as though you are.</p> Oh, this is rich. Leah is absolutely terrified of bats. The house I lived in on N. Linn down by Pagliai’s for 11 years had bats in it every fall when it started getting cool. My roommates and I used to see who could knock them back the farthest with my racquetball racket. We didn’t have any compunction about killing them; endangered status be damned!

Leah insists that if we ever find a bat in our house, we all need to undertake treatment immediately, regardless of whether there’s any evidence of a bite or even contact. I think this is ridiculous, but there’s no arguing with someone who “read about it on the Internet.”

I’m sure everyone there will be fine. And I encourage you to take up racquetball, or at least equip yourself as though you are.

]]> By: Danny http://dannynovo.com/2007/12/13/nearly-always-fatal/#comment-222 Danny Thu, 13 Dec 2007 20:01:26 +0000 http://dannynovo.com/2007/12/13/nearly-always-fatal/#comment-222 <p>But it sounds so much better when it is nearly always fatal. I know that treatment is nearly always effective (not the same ring, see?), and that there are only a handful of human rabies deaths a year in the U.S. I worry mostly for my boys, especially the older one, who cried bravely when he got his flu shot last month, but might not be able to withstand three more shots over three weeks.</p> <p>Thank you for your encouragement. Maybe the poor little bat doesn't (didn't) have rabies.</p> But it sounds so much better when it is nearly always fatal. I know that treatment is nearly always effective (not the same ring, see?), and that there are only a handful of human rabies deaths a year in the U.S. I worry mostly for my boys, especially the older one, who cried bravely when he got his flu shot last month, but might not be able to withstand three more shots over three weeks.

Thank you for your encouragement. Maybe the poor little bat doesn’t (didn’t) have rabies.

]]> By: Aprille http://dannynovo.com/2007/12/13/nearly-always-fatal/#comment-221 Aprille Thu, 13 Dec 2007 19:09:47 +0000 http://dannynovo.com/2007/12/13/nearly-always-fatal/#comment-221 <p>I think you can cross "nearly always fatal" off your list of things to be worried about; maybe it's nearly always fatal when untreated, but treatment options have really improved in recent years.</p> <p>An anecdote: my friend Rick lives in a nicely-restored historic home in Iowa City. One day after a shower (you should see his bathroom; it's freaking amazing) he was upstairs wearing his bathrobe when he felt a strange fluttering.</p> <p>He threw the robe off, and a bat flew out.</p> <p>X days later (I forgot how many), he started coming down with flu-like symptoms. His partner, who is an MD, suggested that they research that. In fact, it had been approximately the incubation time for rabies. Rick went and got shots and is sassy and healthy.</p> <p>Apparently the shot treatment is way better than it used to be. Previously, it was something like 8 shots to the navel, and now it's just 3 to the arm or something.</p> <p>Have heart! I believe you will survive!</p> I think you can cross “nearly always fatal” off your list of things to be worried about; maybe it’s nearly always fatal when untreated, but treatment options have really improved in recent years.

An anecdote: my friend Rick lives in a nicely-restored historic home in Iowa City. One day after a shower (you should see his bathroom; it’s freaking amazing) he was upstairs wearing his bathrobe when he felt a strange fluttering.

He threw the robe off, and a bat flew out.

X days later (I forgot how many), he started coming down with flu-like symptoms. His partner, who is an MD, suggested that they research that. In fact, it had been approximately the incubation time for rabies. Rick went and got shots and is sassy and healthy.

Apparently the shot treatment is way better than it used to be. Previously, it was something like 8 shots to the navel, and now it’s just 3 to the arm or something.

Have heart! I believe you will survive!

]]>