Spent some quality time at the Harrison County Health Department this morning. I needed a tetanus shot and decided to see if it would be easier to run in there rather than drive all the way into Lexington to my regular doctor's office. We have a brand new facility, which is actually quite nice, and all went well except they did not accept my insurance and I had to pay full price...until they found out it was a farm injury and then I got a break.
Today's shot was due to me gashing myself on the hand while trimming, of all sheep, Elizabeth's feet over the weekend. While I was waiting for the big stick, I got to thinking about the last time I'd had to get a tetanus shot. That day was a Sunday about 8 or so years ago and I'd just been "bitten" by Punkin.
He was pretty old at that point and I was giving him some medicine to help his arthritis. I would mix the powder into honey and he would take it off my finger. That day I didn't keep my finger to the side of his mouth though and he accidentally bit down and broke the skin. Since it was technically an animal bite and it had been a long while since I'd had a booster, I decided not to wait until Monday and went into an urgent treatment center in Lexington.
Here's where it gets funny. Now I'm pretty sure you could walk into an urgent treatment center (if we had one) in rural Harrison County and say you'd been bitten by a sheep and no one would even look up. If you go into the "big city" and say that, it becomes a police matter. Apparently any animal bite must be reported, and after being interviewed by several people, filling out and signing many forms and documents, and in general providing the best entertainment some of those doctors and nurses had probably seen in awhile, I was able to keep Punkin out of jail (quarantine), but was not able to erase his police record. And so it goes.
Punkin would have been 15 tomorrow. This picture was taken by my friend Mary Beth during the winter of 2003. He was, indeed, the best sheep ever.
Today's shot was due to me gashing myself on the hand while trimming, of all sheep, Elizabeth's feet over the weekend. While I was waiting for the big stick, I got to thinking about the last time I'd had to get a tetanus shot. That day was a Sunday about 8 or so years ago and I'd just been "bitten" by Punkin.
He was pretty old at that point and I was giving him some medicine to help his arthritis. I would mix the powder into honey and he would take it off my finger. That day I didn't keep my finger to the side of his mouth though and he accidentally bit down and broke the skin. Since it was technically an animal bite and it had been a long while since I'd had a booster, I decided not to wait until Monday and went into an urgent treatment center in Lexington.
Here's where it gets funny. Now I'm pretty sure you could walk into an urgent treatment center (if we had one) in rural Harrison County and say you'd been bitten by a sheep and no one would even look up. If you go into the "big city" and say that, it becomes a police matter. Apparently any animal bite must be reported, and after being interviewed by several people, filling out and signing many forms and documents, and in general providing the best entertainment some of those doctors and nurses had probably seen in awhile, I was able to keep Punkin out of jail (quarantine), but was not able to erase his police record. And so it goes.
Punkin would have been 15 tomorrow. This picture was taken by my friend Mary Beth during the winter of 2003. He was, indeed, the best sheep ever.
3 comments:
My dog's 11th b-day is tomorrow too. Sorry about the shot, necessary but not exactly fun...
Oh no. Sorry you had to get a shot. I can't believe that they had to have the police involved. It is a farm for heaven's sake. It must have been a slow day for all of them that time. ;)
I hope that you are having a better day and that you are thinking very nice thoughts of punkin today. Ilove his picture he is GRAND.
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