Bats and Bills: "Peace of mind is expensive"

            I am apparently a wealthier person now. I just got off the phone with billing from the local hospital. They have forgiven the very large Emergency Room bill from March.

            Don’t worry! Everyone is fine our house now. I realize that maybe I should share the back story.

            In the beginning of March, my husband and I were watching TV and talking about the day.  We heard a noise in BB room but we didn’t go to check because we thought that maybe he had gotten out of bed and then fell back asleep. These things happen. A few minutes later we head for bed ourselves.

            We go to kiss the sleeping boy one last time and a very large bat flies out of his room towards us.

            It’s moments like these when I am really glad that my husband didn’t grow up in the city. He was able to catch the bats and get the bat out of BB’s room. He was not able to keep the bat from escaping once outside. This, of course, caused us to panic. We called the pediatrician who told us to go to the Health Department in the morning.

            Just a quick FYI, if you find a bat in your bedroom. Go to the emergency room. Humans often can’t feel bat bites or scratches and bats account for 90% of the human rabies cases in the United States. I’m not anti- bat but those are scary statistics.

            I arrive at the Health Department and I am immediately told that I am too rich to receive their services. I found this to be hilarious as a seminarian who does not receive a salary.  Not to mention the fact that I live in Northern Virginia and am married to a public school teacher; we are not rolling in dough. I was actually shocked by the assumption that was made based on my appearance. This happens often because of my sex but I’ve never experience judgment because of my skin color. Life Lesson Number 1!

            Now for Life Lesson Number 2! When I spoke with the Infectious Disease expert, she informed me that the only place to receive the vaccine for rabies is the Emergency Room. It is a live vaccine. I really didn’t want to go to the Emergency Room if it wasn’t necessary. Don’t yell at me but I was weighing the goods (like the Ethics reference). She made the decision for me pretty quickly when she stated that the result of rabies is always, always, always death. That gets your attention pretty quickly.

            BB and I piled back into the car and headed over to the ER around the corner. I arrive in the ER with a happy and joyful little boy. Let’s say that they were a little skeptical at first but they quickly ushered us back when I told them that had been a bat in his bedroom.

            As we enter the room we walk past the police officers that have brought someone in. They came to BB’s room and brought him stickers and then the nurse brought him coloring pages and crayons. BB’s thinking that the ER is a great place to hang out by this time. Then the doctor arrives.

            BB told the doctor about the bat when the doctor arrived. “The bat on the ceiling.” The doctor’s eyebrows went up and BB continues with “My Papa caught the bat. He very brave.” This was the first time I had heard BB’s version of the story and I didn’t know that he had seen the bat. The doctor tells me that we are going to give him the rabies vaccine right away.

            The nurses in the ER are brilliant as far as I’m concerned. The number of rabies shots one receives is based on weight. BB had to get four.  The nurse organized for there to be three nurses in the room when BB got his shots. One nurse was there to hold his legs still and two nurses to give the shots, so he only had to receive the shots twice. BB looked right at the nurse that held his legs and said “He hurt me. I don’t like him.” Poor guy gets yelled at by a 2 year old for doing his job.  The shots were of course followed by several cool Band-Aids and that of course made everything better (almost). The ice cream after the trip to the ER did the rest of the “curing.”

            For those of you that don’t know, the rabies vaccine is a series of shot that must be given on certain days after exposure. If you miss a day the vaccines don’t work and the only place to get the vaccine is in the ER. This means 4 ER co-pays. Yikes that is scary! I asked the nurses and billing if I had to pay the co-pay each time I arrived for the follow up shot. The answer was no because it was considered one continuous treatment. This was good news because 1 co-pay is always better than 4.

            On each of the prescribed days we arrived at 7:30 in the morning and were greeted by the crew of hospital workers who had seen us on the previous visit(s). BB is very memorable. He spoke each of them and only once was he scared. On the second visit, he cried in the car and kicked while saying “I feel better and better. Everyday. Everyday I feel better and better. We no see doctor. He hurt me.”

            This broke my heart but once again the excellent nurse came to the rescue. She gave him the shot quickly and provided a cool Band-Aid once again. We repeated the process on each of the following visits and BB was braver each time. Each time when we left, we stopped by billing and they informed us that there was no co-pay.

            Imagine my surprise when we received a bill for each of the follow up visits. This is a bill that we really could not pay immediately and the due date was a week following our receipt. My husband called and they wanted more information. I called later and after being transferred a lot I was able to speak with the head of the billing department. She informed me that I did not have to pay the additional co-pays because it was a coding mistake. This was a huge relief. She was very polite and helpful. I have rarely been as pleased with a hospital experience as I have with this one in Alexandria. So today I’m feeling richer and blessed.

            Now as far as BB goes: He is fine and healthy. He walks around telling people that his Papa caught the bat and that his Papa is very brave. He proudly wears the Batman t-shirt my sister sent him. He looks very good in black.

            Finally I have learned that peace of mind is expensive (as a good friend told me) but not as expensive as I originally thought.

            By the way, bats are one of God’s creations and He created them for very good purposes so do not be afraid of them. I would recommend that you not invite them in to live with you.