The High Price of a Bat Bite

It's been a week now since I've had my run in with the batty bat that decided to put his teeth into my hand last week on the St. Joe River. After the incident, and my many trips to the doctor/hospital thus far for treatment, I've had many different emotional stages.

First, I was extremely concerned about my well being. I'm not a complete idiot while outdoors, and I scouted ahead to place my hand on the stump that the bat was resting behind, but I didn't deserve rabies for my apparent misplacement of my hand. I'm 27 years old and dying this young from an awful disease would be a terrible way to go.

Barely perceptible, except for the bill...

After getting my first round of treatment, I was then freaking out over the cost of treatment. Anger over my faux-pas of not killing the bat to get it tested (which would possibly save me a ton of money should it not be rabid), and the medical system which only offered shots at hospitals (and in ERs to boot) was heartbreaking.

Now, after two rounds of vaccines, a trip to my primary care provider, and three more vaccine appointments scheduled at the hospital (starting tomorrow!), I feel certain (100%) that I will not get rabies. I also am afraid that my insurance will not cover any of the treatment and that it will all count towards my deductible (regrettably $7,500). That being said, I'm seeing the positive side of things, and the day that this is all paid for (sometime in 2018?), it will become a huge laughing point... wait, it already is one.

Thinking of the price that I'm paying for all of this (estimated of course... with help from the CDC and my insurance company), I've found that the bat bite fishing excursion was the most expensive fishing trip of my life. Here's what I could've done with the likely $7,500 that I will be paying the hospital to make sure I live a rabies free life:

- Paid off debt... duh. Not exciting in a materialistic sense, but it'd be great to knock out a chunk of the old student loans or car loan.

- Buy a fly fishing raft... a nice one. A Streamtech Boat.

I would prefer this to a bat bite.

- Buy ten premium fly rods (Scott, Sage, Winston...) and have a disgustingly complete quiver.

- Get another Hernia operation and have some scratch ($2,000+) to spare... at least I got something more tangible out of that hospital experience. 

- Buy a house in Detroit... maybe not, but it was possible a few years ago.

- Buy a fleet of Watermaster rafts... seriously, a friggin fleet!

- Do nothing... I didn't have the money so in theory, this would be the correct answer. 

Overall, I'm laughing about the whole thing and here at the Skinny Waders household, we're thankful that it'll all be over soon. The health of a person should never be measured against money, and that's the simple truth to the situation. 

It's time to get out on the water again soon... I'll just have to take extra care to avoid bats.