Archives for 2013

Catchy subject-line right?

Damn straight.

And it’s true.  I’m going to kill this dog:

You see, last Friday night in Austin, I spent a nice evening with a special someone.  We took her dog out for a walk around the Capitol building, and just 5 steps from home, a random dog runs out of the alley across the street and starts attacking.

In one second, the night transformed from a pleasant evening out, to breaking up a dog fight.  This random pit bull started tearing into the chocolate lab we were walking…..instinctively going for the jugular.

The pit bull had a dog harness on, but no leash attached.  Whilst he was in full attack mode, I grabbed him by the harness and pulled him off the other dog.

NORMALLY this would be enough to break up a dog fight, but BOTH dogs came with the pull.  This meant the pit bull had latched on so hard, the other dog got dragged by the neck.

I tried my best to break the pit bull off. I tried to choke it, hit it, gouge it’s eyes out…and eventually wrestled it to the ground in a choke-hold with it’s locked-down jaws just inches from my face (in hindsight, that wasn’t smart).

After roughly 45 seconds of watching this pit bull randomly started attacking our dog, we got it to briefly let go and got our dog out of his grip…..but the next thing I know MY hand is fully in his mouth!

I recall him chomping down for about 5 full seconds before somehow getting him off.

Lots of cursing was involved.  Apparently that didn’t help much.

The dogs owner appeared from the same alley, awakened by the quarrel, and got the dog on a leash.

By this time my right hand had a bunch of holes in it, including one where I could see bone through the top of my hand.

I grabbed the camera in my pocket with my left hand, and made damn-sure I got video evidence of what just happened.

Here’s that fucker and his dog:

So immediately an ambulance is called, and within 5 minutes I’m being taken to the hospital.

I could tell the paramedic on duty almost thought my little “doggy bite” was comical compared to what he’s probably seen already on a Friday night.  But my hand felt like it was on fire….and more importantly, I just got bit by a dog that sleeps in an alley and has a homeless owner.

This means potential RABIES (100% fatal once you get it).

At the hospital they cleaned my wounds by shooting saline directly into the wounds and letting it bleed out.  Someone told me, “There’s a realllyyyy small chance this dog has rabies, but there’s a 100% chance it has bacteria on it’s teeth.”

For this reason I couldn’t get stitches on any of the puncture wounds (only one of the punctures actually needed it).  Instead they have to sit open, because animal bites apparently have a HUGE chance of getting infected.

The pressurized saline cleaning hurt like hell, so they drugged me up, and gave me topical anesthetic which was injected directly into my hand around the wounds.

I also got another shot in my arm.  I have no idea what the hell that shot was.

Here’s the main bite hole that I could see my bone through:

The police came and filed a report, the hospital drugged me up with pain meds, anti-biotics and sent me home.  The girlfriend lovingly took care of me and her dog for the next few days since I couldn’t do basic things like tie my shoelaces or put on my watch (not to mention the pain meds made me a useless lazy ass).

Come Sunday I went for a checkup and to get a rabies injection.

LEMME TELL YOU WHY YOU’LL NEVER WANT A FUCKING RABIES INJECTION:

Apparently all you gotta do is “…get a few shots.”

It goes like this:

• 1^st Injection =  1 injection + 1 vial of anti-globulins directly into the wounds.
• 2^nd Injection = 1 injection in arm 3 days after bite.
• 3^rd Injection = 1 injection in arm 7 days after bite.
• 4^th Injection = 1 injection in arm 14 days after bite.

No problem with the followup shots (other than the fact I was gonna be in India for them).  They are regular shots and easy to take.

The main problem was on the 1^st injection day, when the nurse told me, “We just have to give you this…” and she held up a vial of medicine.
Whatever.  No biggie.

But then this lady comes back with FIVE FULL NEEDLES OF MEDICINE.  Apparently “one little vial” fills up five needles.

Then to top it off, this anti-globulin medicine has to be DIRECTLY INJECTED INTO THE WOUNDS.

This means if the bites go into your skin, the medicine has to be injected alllllll around the INSIDE of the wound.

This. Was. Fucking. PAINFUL AS SHIT.

Sorry for all the cursing, but it was nothing compared to what I was yelling as the doctor stuck my (already incredibly sensitive) hand about 10 times with a needle.

It felt like I was being tortured.

Compared to what injured war veterans go through, or people with true illnesses….this must have been nothing.  But until this point in my life, I can’t recall anything that hurt so god damn bad.

The pain meds wore off the second that needle hit my hand.

SO HERE’S SOMETHING INTERERESTING AND KINDA FU**CKED UP:

1^st hospital visit including ambulance ride = $661. 

Ok…cool….not bad.

2^nd hospital visit for 1^st rabies injection = $7,500 !!!

Now I’m fully health-insurance’d up.  But $7,500 to get some shots??

I asked the lady for a breakdown of costs, and apparently the vial of anti-globulin stuff (they injected directly into the wounds) cost $7,000!!!

Plus I still had to get 3 follow-up shots that cost $315 per shot.

Already this damn dog had cost me $9,000+ …..the dog he attacked had to be treated and put on rabies quarantine (another $1,000+).

And this includes NON of the cost of inconvenience…..including me not finishing a product I could’ve promoted through AppSumo to 700,000+ people before I left for India.

I HATE THAT DOG.

Then it took about 3 days of jumping through hoops, calling doctors, and calling the state health department to find similar medications I could take in India.

GET THIS:

Each followup rabies injection in the U.S.A. cost $315 to get.

In India….the same (but generic brand) vaccine cost me $7, and $3 to have a nurse inject me.

Granted the quality of medical facilities and procedures is different….it’s still shocking to know this 2-week rabies injection series could have been given in India for about $100 vs. $9,000+ over here.

If I didn’t have full coverage, it would’ve made more financial sense to buy a ticket to India, stay here for two weeks and get the injections!

Alright, enough complaining.

But if you’ve been wondering why I haven’t updated or responded to an email in a while, it’s because:

1.) Of this stupid dog + rabies injection stuff. (if you DO get rabies, it’s a 100% fatal disease….so I was taking this pretty seriously).

2.) I’m in India for the whole month.  WiFi is still hard to come by here.

Have a great day, and don’t getting bitten by a homeless guy’s un-tagged, un-vaccinated, aggressive pit bull.

-Neville

P.S. Stupid dog.

P.P.S.  I’m in India where the bathroom situation is a “bit different” than what I’m used to.  Let’s just say I’m right handed, but can only use my left.  I’ll leave it at that and let your imagination do the rest.  Gross.