this isnt anything to be happy about. it isnt a happy post but i want to blog this. because the dog bite......it led to emotional, physical and financial stress in varying degrees. its when i started feeling i should leave here, that i am doing shit with my life. i dotn know what i feel currently but that day as i remember it.....
Saturday, 6th jan the year was still new..
The whole team had decided to go to the mylapore fest, we had gone last year too and it was good fun. As we were walking past the rangolis, i saw a dog sleeping on the pavement. he seemed calm and then someone probably stepped on his tail or hit it and the next minute, i got bitten on my palm by him. Now even though i felt sure, he was not rabid, one cannot take a risk. the wound pained. these others had gotten ahead and i caught up and told them that dog had bitten me.. i knew i should get to the hospital but they wanted to spend time at the mela which is fair. I should have probably put my foot down and just left but i could not do that.. They said that i should forget about this for an hour and we would figure it out.
Unfortunately i am not someone who can do this. the next 15 minutes were very draining for me as i tried to give them company so i dont ruin their time but i was miserable inside. here i called supriya chechi and asked her what to do for a dog bite... She asked me to rush to the kottur apollo as they had the anti rabies vaccine so i told these guys that id leave as doctor was available till 8. they all decided to leave then..this is not what iw anted. so i insisted that i would go on my own and they dispersed too.. This is why i probably prefer going by myself everywhere.
Anyway, i took an auto and left. this is when supriya chechi called me and told me to go to main as i needed immunoglobulins. my wound kept bleeding profusely. this was a category 3 and it was on the palm, which is high risk so i asked the auto to take me to greams road. here, they informed me that the immuno vaccine cost 6000 per vial and i would need around 6 or 7. so the total bill would be above 40000 including everything. i had Rs 32000 in my account and in that moment i was absolutely blank. i didnt want to call my colleagues. i was a little upset with them. if i was them, i wouldnt let anyone forget about the wound for an hour. i didnt want supriya chechi to pay. i called another friend. luckily he didnt answer my phone. by now, i had started crying. i relaised i cant afford medical care. i relaise my office gives me no insurance. i realised i am not a grown up yet.
The doc thought i was crying for pain. i told her i cant afford this and id go to a govt hospital. this is when apollo told me there was an equine vaccine which was cheaper. i could afford 3000 but the damage was done emotionally. They injected the vaccine in my wound and it hurt like hell. i dont remember the last time i cried so loudly. this is when i was super grateful that my colleagues werent with me , that my friend had not answered. it was finally over.
Thy gave another anti rabies vaccine and a tetanus in my hip. i was done. As i was paying the bill, supriya chechi, theja and chetan walked in to fill my form. i am super grateful i have family in chennai in them. i love them so much.
