Nymeria works on consistency

[Nymeria]

2 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Sorry you had to go through that, I think you are wise to have the whole family treated.

 

1 hour ago, Elastigirl said:

Ugh, I'm sorry. In Washington state, I think they recommend the shots most of them time. For just the reasons you've said. Super scary stuff.

 

41 minutes ago, Marauder said:

I'm sorry!  My daughter was bitten by a status- unknown dog when she was about a year old. We were faced with the same choice and it was recommended we not do the shots (citing statistics, etc.). We were debating and deciding the same thing when the dog owner came forward and let us know the dog was not rabid.  It's not a good situation to be in.  

 

Hugs!

 

25 minutes ago, obax said:

Post-exposure rabies shots are not as bad as they used to be, not much different from any other vaccine. I've had my pre-exposure shots, and other than some muscle soreness around the injection site (more so than other vaccines I've had, but still not bad), it was all good. And it's better to be safe than sorry, especially when you're talking about something like rabies, even if the chance is small. Any time I've heard of bad side effects, it's never been for more than a day or so, but hopefully your family falls into the 'minor side effect' category.

 

Unfortunately, the local health department guy strongly recommended against getting the shots.  He said that he gets 2-3 calls per day about bats found in houses, no one gets the shots, and there haven't been any rabies deaths in the county for at least 20 years.  And he thought that at this point, the likelihood of adverse reactions from the shots is greater than the likelihood of rabies.  But I still hate this.  Every internet site makes a big deal that you can't necessarily detect the bites, and if the bat did have rabies, YOU WILL DIE.  The rational side of me knows that the likelihood is very very small.  But I still feel like we're being sentenced to death.  I'm not even sure if we would be allowed to get the shots.  I wish I had a solid answer.  If they told us to get the shots, I'd happily go in.  Instead, we're being told that it's a 99.99-whatever percent chance that we didn't contract rabies, and we should just wait and see.  If we don't die, then it was the right decision not to do the shots.  

[Elastigirl]

1 hour ago, Nymeria said:

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the local health department guy strongly recommended against getting the shots.  He said that he gets 2-3 calls per day about bats found in houses, no one gets the shots, and there haven't been any rabies deaths in the county for at least 20 years.  And he thought that at this point, the likelihood of adverse reactions from the shots is greater than the likelihood of rabies.  But I still hate this.  Every internet site makes a big deal that you can't necessarily detect the bites, and if the bat did have rabies, YOU WILL DIE.  The rational side of me knows that the likelihood is very very small.  But I still feel like we're being sentenced to death.  I'm not even sure if we would be allowed to get the shots.  I wish I had a solid answer.  If they told us to get the shots, I'd happily go in.  Instead, we're being told that it's a 99.99-whatever percent chance that we didn't contract rabies, and we should just wait and see.  If we don't die, then it was the right decision not to do the shots.  

Do you have a doctor? Maybe call him or her and see what they say or the kid's pediatrician. 

[Moros]

Oh geez, I'm sorry to hear about this.  It sounds like it's not an easy decision.  I hope it works out ok.

[obax]

I was going to suggest what Elastigirl said. Consult with your doctor, give them all the information and ask what they think would be best. If your doctor can get you the vaccine, that gives you the option if you want to take it. I will say, the concern over adverse reactions isn't misplaced, I've heard some stories about people having some pretty nasty reactions, but like I said, never for more than a day or two (except that one person). I also think there's technically a chance to get rabies from the vaccine, though it's minuscule, so maybe a good discussion with your doctor can help allay your fears and/or solidify your decision. I also think attitudes about it are different here in Ontario, since we're in the middle of an actual rabies outbreak in the province, so Public Health here tends to be a little more jumpy. However it turns out, good luck with it all!

[Nymeria]

It's back again tonight.   Animal control has been called, so hopefully they can catch and test it.  If so, the whole thing becomes moot.  

[WhiteGhost]

We had bats living in our attic when we were kids but I don't think we ever found any inside the house proper.  

 

Just a bit of random but useless knowledge about bats that I discovered as a kid:  If you throw a rock at a bat, it will dodge easily, but if you throw a dirt clod, it will sometimes pursue it.  If you tie a handkerchief to a dirt clod and throw it at a bat, the bat will sometimes try to grab the handkerchief and may get caught in it and dragged to the ground where it can be put in a jar by dumb kids who don't know better than to play with bats.

 

In case you were wondering

[Charlie_Quinn]

I'm so sorry you are having to go through this, it sounds awful. Did animal control manage to catch it?

[Myrik]

Oh my hope the shots didn't go to badly with the littles.  Prayers and Good vibes your way.

[Nymeria]

2 hours ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

I'm so sorry you are having to go through this, it sounds awful. Did animal control manage to catch it?

Nope.  It hid.  We will hopefully have more people check out the house in the next 2 days.  If we haven't caught anything by Friday, my husband and I will get the shots.   It was only in our bedroom both nights, so I feel more confident that it hasn't been in the kids' rooms.   Also, it's behaving like a perfectly healthy brown bat, so it probably doesn't have rabies ( flying just fine.  Only active at night. Hiding when spooked). 

[Elastigirl]

4 hours ago, Nymeria said:

Nope.  It hid.  We will hopefully have more people check out the house in the next 2 days.  If we haven't caught anything by Friday, my husband and I will get the shots.   It was only in our bedroom both nights, so I feel more confident that it hasn't been in the kids' rooms.   Also, it's behaving like a perfectly healthy brown bat, so it probably doesn't have rabies ( flying just fine.  Only active at night. Hiding when spooked). 

Too bad they didn't catch it, Hopefully soon. Glad you at least were able to observe it and get some information from that.

[Nymeria]

We have a bat expert checking the house now.  He couldn't find the bat (but said that they're great hiders and didn't expect to find them).  He did find signs of multiple bats roosting in our roof/attic.  So, hopefully he can snag one of those and test it if nothing else.  We've had a lot of the bat experts in the area say that they wouldn't even bother with the vaccines.  But the whole thing still makes me very anxious.  I'm going to be completely useless this week.  

[Nymeria]

No bat was found.   We all slept in the basement, but even upon checking our room at 1:00 am, the bat wasn't there.  The bat expert thought that if the bat were trapped in our room, it either has already died or would die in another day.  

 

My to-do list for today is to put on some gloves and comb through the room, including all of the clothes in the closet and the drawers to see if there's a bat sleeping in anything.  And then I'm going to clean the room a bit.  If no bat is found, the plan is to just get the rabies vaccine later this afternoon.  Yeah, it's silly and paranoid.  To put things in perspective, the health department guy said that he will have about 150 "bat in bedroom while sleeping" calls per year that would suggest getting vaccinated.  This means that there are probably over 1000 cases, with many of them just not being reported.  Only about 70 of those go on to get the vaccine.  And no one has died of rabies in the county for at least 20 years.  So, getting the vaccine at all is kind of ludicrous.  All signs were that the bat was perfectly healthy.  But at the end of the day, they can't rule out the possibility that the bat was in the early stages of rabies.  And they can't rule out that the bat bit or scratched one of us in our sleep.  Since we have the money/reasonable health insurance, and both my husband and I have anxiety disorders, we're going to be ludicrously paranoid people and get the vaccine anyway.  

 

At least after it's done (assuming the vaccine doesn't make me feel really ill), I should be able to resume life as normal.  It's been a stressful week, though.  Our big summer trip with hotels and flights already booked is to London, so I'm a bit freaked already about that.  And then we get a bat in our bedroom.  Ugh.  

[Nymeria]

And another update:  4 shots received - 3 in legs/butt, and one in the arm.  Honestly, it wasn't that bad.  I have to go back 3 more times, each one for a small shot in the arm.   But a huge weight has been lifted off my chest.  I did manage to take advantage of the situation and do a massive room cleaning/purging while hunting for the bat.  And on the topic of my mindspace, I also got notice today that my appeal worked and my daughter was accepted into that school program I was complaining about earlier in the thread.  

 

So, tomorrow, my challenge will proceed as planned.  I already have the ingredients to cook the thai peanut spaghetti squash.  And I have plenty of other things on the to-do list.  And at the very least, I'll put on some yoga clothes and do a relaxation session, now that my shower and clothes are accessible again.  

[Elastigirl]

Great news that your daughter got into the school! I think I would have gotten the vaccines. If I didn't, every time I sneezed, I forgot something, or any thing at all, I'd be freaking out that I have rabies.

[Charlie_Quinn]

If the shots helped you feel less anxious, then they were worth doing. I'm glad things are looking up.

 

20 hours ago, Nymeria said:

Our big summer trip with hotels and flights already booked is to London, so I'm a bit freaked already about that.

 

Cor blimey guv'nor. Start practicing your cockney accent!

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

That's great about the High School thing!

Glad you went ahead and got the shots so you don't have to worry.

[Nymeria]

Friday: Spaghetti squash recipe - DONE!  At first, the sauce seemed like it might not quite work, but when mixed lightly into the squash, it was great!

Saturday: Swimming!

Sunday: Round 2 of shots (just one in the arm.  No big deal), and parkour later.

 

Tomorrow, I'll make a point of checking in on everyone else's threads.  Deep cleaning the house has consumed so much time.  

[obax]

Yay for your daughter getting into the program! It sounds like it'll be something really good for her so I'm glad they reversed the decision. And I agree with Charlie_Quinn, if the shots make you feel less anxious then they were the right choice. And now you know you're protected if anything happens in the future too.

[Moros]

Agree with everybody else.  Yay for your daughter, sorry to hear about shots, but totally understand (I would do it to, better safe than sorry).

 

 

[karinajean]

wowzers, Nym! you have had a really tumultuous 2 weeks. I'm glad things are looking up!!!

[Terra]

Oh my, so much crazy stress and yuck!  Happy to hear that things are working out with all the issues...  

 

Funny to hear about the math/science thing.  I'm in a district where most kids have highly scientific parents and there are lots of math/science GATE kids.  Both my kiddos are GATE but one of mine is the creative/language/history kiddo and she struggles with the program, including peer pressures with the other kids.  Personally I believe that society can push our kids in all the wrong ways.  Its got to be even harder when the district is crazy tough.  A friend is moving to our town from Houston and she was asking about summer reading lists from the school.  We don't have anything official, just recommendations...  Its all good!  

[Nymeria]

On 6/8/2017 at 8:16 PM, Elastigirl said:

If I didn't, every time I sneezed, I forgot something, or any thing at all, I'd be freaking out that I have rabies.

 

And that's the main reason I got them.  My health would suffer much more, and I'd lose much more time dealing with the anxiety than I am with just dealing with the hassle of getting the shots.

 

On 6/9/2017 at 4:47 AM, Charlie_Quinn said:

Cor blimey guv'nor. Start practicing your cockney accent!

 

Have things cooled down a bit over there?  Which tourist traps are the "must sees" and which ones should I avoid?

 

On 6/11/2017 at 11:14 PM, obax said:

 if the shots make you feel less anxious then they were the right choice. And now you know you're protected if anything happens in the future too.

 

You'd probably appreciate this, but I'm kind of pissed that the bat probably died, yet I'm still getting shots.  If I were going to have to deal with the shots anyway, I wish the bat had just found its way outside that first night and could continue living its happy little bat life.  

 

16 hours ago, Terra said:

 Personally I believe that society can push our kids in all the wrong ways.  Its got to be even harder when the district is crazy tough. 

 

I have a lovely anecdote that shows how crazy my area is....  So, do you remember when I was talking about helping my daughter prep for elementary science olympiad?  The competition happened in early May, and there were actually a few kids caught cheating.  They smuggled in notes for a knowledge test, and they were probably desperate to win a medal so they could put it on their applications to the highly selective magnet high school.  Yes, I live in an area where kids cheat in competitions for 9-12 year olds.  

 

On 6/9/2017 at 4:21 PM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

That's great about the High School thing!

Glad you went ahead and got the shots so you don't have to worry.

 

It's actually elementary school.  My area is so intense that even lower elementary school is stressful.  

 

19 hours ago, Moros said:

Agree with everybody else.  Yay for your daughter, sorry to hear about shots, but totally understand (I would do it to, better safe than sorry).

 

At this point, the shots are more of a hassle than anything.  I have 2 left, with one on each of the next 2 Thursdays.

 

17 hours ago, karinajean said:

wowzers, Nym! you have had a really tumultuous 2 weeks. I'm glad things are looking up!!!

 

Yep.  It's great to have things return to normal for the next 2 weeks.  And then the kids will be out of school, so there will be no more normal anyway.  

[Nymeria]

Challenge updates:

Sunday: I wasn't entirely sure about parkour, since I was still feeling a bit woozy and off (I'm sure in part from shots, in part from accumulated lack of sleep, and in part from allergies).  I did an hour of open gym, spent a lot of time stretching, but then worked on wall runs, kongs, and some other stuff.  After that was regular class.  We mostly worked on rail flow sequences, rail walking, and rail QM.  I really need to get over my rail walking mental block.  But I'll admit that doing so when I've been feeling a bit off isn't exactly wise.  

 

Monday: I mostly had a rest and recovery day.  I took a couple long walks, did some yoga, and then did quite a bit of my hang board time for the mini.  So, my mini status is: Pull Ups: 10/50   Hangboard: 2:30/5:00

 

On a different note, as far as piano teaching research goes, I feel pretty solid about handling the summer.  My daughter expressed that she mostly wants to play "real songs" and not just piano book songs.  So, I'm tracking down sheet music for the things she wants to play, and I'm not going to worry about the theory or progressions so much.  The textbook approach just doesn't work for every kid, and the only way my daughter will have the discipline to sit down and practice is for songs she actually likes.  

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

1 hour ago, Nymeria said:

The textbook approach just doesn't work for every kid, and the only way my daughter will have the discipline to sit down and practice is for songs she actually likes.  

Kinda like workouts, the best ones are the ones you like and will therefore stick with.

[WhiteGhost]

On 6/4/2017 at 8:57 PM, Nymeria said:

 

If the wall is lower (like 7'), I do it in one smooth motion.  If it's 9', I usually wall run into the cat hang, and then press from there.  You really don't want to be in a dead hang, as it puts a ton of strain on the grip.  What I do is go into a cat hang, keep one foot high, and drop the other one down.  Then, I will drive the leg that was hanging down upward, while simultaneously pulling with my arms and pushing with the other leg on the wall.  I'm not particularly strong, so this just gives me enough height to throw a forearm onto the wall and press up from there.   The guys at my gym who can do muscle ups with no problem just kind of push on the wall and pop their feet right up on top.  

 

I found a nice 10ft ledge near my hotel tonight and practiced running up into a cat hang (instead of a deadhang), and then from there practiced pulling myself up like you showed in your video.  I was surprised that I was able to do it without as much trouble as I had before.  Unfortunately there was a railing at the top of the wall so I couldn't practice pulling all of the way into a dip position, but I could get up high enough to grab the railing.