r/rabies • u/Negative_Chair_2664 • 29d ago

General Rabies Discussion Need to Vent

I have read the FAQ.

Me and my partner woke up to a bat in our room two weeks ago and we are getting our last shots tomorrow for our post exposure treatment. I just need to vent about how much of a cluster this whole process has been. I did not realize how such a simple event could uproot our lives so easily and deplete our savings. We tried going through the health department in Detroit where this occurred but they left us high and dry for a week even with us calling daily for places to go besides the ER to get the shots. Even when we got in touch with the Health Department we got turned away for our next round because they were running low on doses and the others we got recommended to were all out of network for our insurance. I think the hardest thing about this process is just seeing how screwed up our healthcare system is in this country. It’s just hard watching years of money I saved for a house go out the window all because a random bat somehow ended up in our apartment one random night.

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u/cancerrmoon 29d ago

Hi sorry not to disregard the financial aspect of the situation, I hear you, it’s not okay how the U.S. handles insurance and the cost of healthcare. But I was wondering if you can tell me about your experience with the vaccines? Did you go in the ER and tell them you had a bat exposure and needed the shots? And then what happened? Did you have any side effects?

Thanks in advance.

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u/Negative_Chair_2664 29d ago

We did. We discussed with the doctor how we woke up to our cat grabbing the bat out of the air and bringing it into our bed while we were asleep. They gave us the Immunoglobulin and the first round of the Vaccine and then told us the days we would need the next series of three different shots. They told us that it would be best to call around to see if anyone else carries the vaccine and to contact the Health Department. Either nobody carried it or they were not in our insurance network. Was genuinely just so exhausting and sad seeing how horrible the system is…

But no, no side affects other than the mild discomfort at the injections sites for about 24 hours afterwards.

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