Yesterday I went to the hospital to get my first series of the Rabies Vaccine. I had been told many horror stories about what it would be like, and how painful it would be. Luckily, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I had to have 5 shots – 1 in my right arm to boost my immune system, and 4 in my injured arm with the vaccine. I had taken some painkillers before I went, so it really wasn’t bad at all. I was quite relieved.

I have to admit, I’ve never met anyone before that had to have the Rabies Vaccine. Leave it to me to have to go through something totally random like this! I was told by many people I have a really small chance of contracting rabies, but I feel that it’s just not worth the risk, even though, there have been so few cases of humans contracting rabies in the past few years. With my luck, I would be the one in a million to get it. (Think Dumb and Dumber…”One in a million? So you’re saying I have a chance!”) I was told by the Utah Department of Health, however, to get started on the vaccine immediately, since the dog could not be located, and it was pretty mangy, smelly, and dirty.

The injections are somewhat painful, but to me, it’s worth it. I just didn’t want to take a chance of getting sick, especially since if I did contract rabies, it has a 99% mortality rate.

My hand is starting to heal, although it’s still very painful. My arm still hurts, also, due to all the injections I’ve had. Luckily, for the 4 remaining times I need the injections, it’s only one shot instead of 5. Not bad at all. I just don’t want to ever go through this again! I’ll be keeping away from stray dogs from now on.