Worry Worry
It's another beautiful day out. People mowing their lawns, kids riding bikes and playing games, jars of tea steeping in the sun. A great day to be doing anything except worrying, but that's what I'm doing right now.
A week ago my 11 year old got bitten by a cat that he was playing with. It was a stray cat and had been on our porch a few times eating with the other cats that hang around. Ryan petted it then picked it up. When he did that it bit him in the arm. We washed the bite right away, and took him to the doctor the next day, and also the Health Department, being concerned about rabies. The guy there said it was very rare to get rabies from a cat, but the doctor called and asked if we wanted to start treatment for rabies, since we hadn't seen that cat since. At the time it sounded like such a remote chance of him contracting it that we didn't want to put him through the torture of the series of shots required. However, a lady from the Health Dept. called today and was concerned that we hadn't seen the cat. Now I'm starting to wonder if we should give him the shots just to be safe. I hate to do it, especially since he gets so hyper about any little thing, but even if the odds are one in a million of him getting rabies I'm not sure if I want to risk not giving them to him since the disease is 100% fatal. My wife is at work right now, so I'll have to talk to her when she gets home. It's times like these that make parenting a difficult undertaking.
A week ago my 11 year old got bitten by a cat that he was playing with. It was a stray cat and had been on our porch a few times eating with the other cats that hang around. Ryan petted it then picked it up. When he did that it bit him in the arm. We washed the bite right away, and took him to the doctor the next day, and also the Health Department, being concerned about rabies. The guy there said it was very rare to get rabies from a cat, but the doctor called and asked if we wanted to start treatment for rabies, since we hadn't seen that cat since. At the time it sounded like such a remote chance of him contracting it that we didn't want to put him through the torture of the series of shots required. However, a lady from the Health Dept. called today and was concerned that we hadn't seen the cat. Now I'm starting to wonder if we should give him the shots just to be safe. I hate to do it, especially since he gets so hyper about any little thing, but even if the odds are one in a million of him getting rabies I'm not sure if I want to risk not giving them to him since the disease is 100% fatal. My wife is at work right now, so I'll have to talk to her when she gets home. It's times like these that make parenting a difficult undertaking.
posted by Tim at Tuesday, May 08, 2007
1 Comments:
Tim,
That sounds so awful! It's very understandable that you're worried. My God, what a decision -- to put a beloved child through a painful treatment or worry about not doing it. I'll definitely be sending all thoughts and prayers your way.
Post a Comment
<< Home