| (2003-10-03) Rabies Smabies So, remember those "beautiful" cats that I mentioned in my last diary entry? Well, I bent over last night to give them tomato peels, and one of them bit me. Broke the skin on my pinky finger of my left hand. Didn't really hurt; very small cut. Still a chance that the cat could be rabid and I could be in trouble. So, I squeezed out blood, washed the cut for five minutes, soaked it in iodine, and called VSO doctors. They said I should be fine if the cat looks healthy and if I took all the precautions. This morning I went to the British High Commision Nurse and she called another doctor and both of them said that I should be fine. If the cat dies within the next ten days though (and not from me poisoning it), I should become worried and go for another shot. Rabies kills people if you haven't had any shots. My main beef about this, is the VSO Canada and NetCorp don't really allow their volunteers to get immunized against rabies. It's probably a money issue, but I went on the sly and got immunized against it anyway. I know I'm only here for six months, but there is no way that I'm taking any chances with my life while I'm here. I'm going to talk to some people at VSO Canada and tell them that their rabies vaccination policy is crazy. If I didn't get vaccinated, I'd be in a state of panic right now. |