DOG BITE !

This post's title is a tribute to this masterpiece crafted by Zoe during our family service/learning trip to Palestine/Israel.

Yes, my friends, I was bitten by a dog. Fortunately, I was wearing jeans and it didn't get a super good hold on me; my only wound was a small scratch on my ankle left by one of the teeth that pushed down my sock, but yikes! did it give me quite a scare.

Biking home from the office last Thursday the 17th, I was about four blocks from home. I noticed I was coming up behind a kid walking two puppies on leashes and that there was another medium dog, not on a leash, next to the puppies. I made the decision to go around and bike on the left side of the street since it was in a residential area without much traffic. Swinging around and giving a wide berth, all of a sudden I saw a tan blur in my peripheral vision and felt something clamp down on my ankle! I screamed and biked home as fast as I could.

At home, my host family and I checked out the damage and found that luckily, my jeans had protected me. I cleaned the scratch, which just had the tiniest dot of blood, with rubbing alcohol and then called the reps. They WhatsApped the doctor who recommended cleaning it with hydrogen peroxide, so I did that, too. Gustavo drove me back over in the truck to look for the dog to see if we could find the owner, but it was already dark and we couldn't find it (official sunset time was 5:30 that day, but the mountains in the west make it a bit earlier than that). Since the scratch was small and I was mostly just shaken up, I had some dinner and then proceeded with my plans to go see Maléfica: Dueña del Mal with Valeria.

When we'd purchased tickets the night before, I'd thought it'd be a great idea to see the dub instead of the sub (that was a new experience: having to pick the language of a movie I'd be seeing in the theater!) to practice my Spanish, but the adrenaline made it difficult to concentrate. I still enjoyed the movie; it has some beautiful animation and an engaging (da dn tss) but pleasantly easy-to-follow Disney storyline. Although I caught most of the dialogue, I probably could have caught more if I hadn't been so shook.

Friday morning, Jenny took me to a private clinic and the doc said it was nothing to worry about, but I still couldn't focus on my work very well; of course after the movie I'd gone down the Internet rabbit hole and learned that it's possible to get rabies even from a scratch. That evening I was more nervous about my mortality than my public speaking gig.

The events of last weekend (Valeria's talent show and Sunday's youth conference) deserve their own post, and I tried to be fully present for them. I knew the chances that I'd come in contact with rabies were super slim, and talking to Dad on Saturday, he was able to remind me that a lot of my nervousness was probably due to being in a completely new context that puts me on alert, even if somewhat subconsciously. I even learned between Friday and Sunday that getting bitten by a dog is almost a rite of passage; all of the service workers who've been here over a year (Sarah, Eliette, Lars, and Rudi) have all been bitten by Honduran dogs too. "But," the nervous little brain subprocess said, "they all knew the dog had an owner..."

The other dog bites the team has experienced fell into the blue category, but mine is in the purple category. Table from the CDC website

Monday I made this case and the reps and ADs helped me track down the closest public health center. On my way home that evening, I looked again for the dog, but again found no trace. Tuesday morning, Lars accompanied me to the health center and we figured out the steps for how to get me seen by the right people. There was an outdoor window to check in, a room several hallways away to get weighed, a wait to talk with a nurse who heard the story and took a look at the scratch. From there we were directed to talk with a public health official who⁠—upon hearing the dog was an unknown⁠—recommended I get the prophylaxis series and wrote down a list of appointment dates. Then I went to the vaccination room, received shot #1, and was told for the next four in the series I could just return directly to that room.

The whole process didn't actually take that long, and we were back in the office by 10a. Peace of mind is priceless (and hey, so was the vaccine! Thanks free public health service) and I was able to concentrate again. A couple days ago, I returned for my second dose and, despite waiting behind several babies receiving their routine shots, was only there for about 20 minutes. I have 3 more doses at increasing intervals over the next few weeks, and will get the last one right before we leave for our next retreat. And in the meantime, I can focus on the exciting communications work I've been up to. I'll write a post about that, too!