Well we went birding on Friday and yesterday – both days for birds were good and even had a Mountain Bluebird at Hibernia Park in Chester County, PA. There range is usually Rocky Mountains west.
After Mr. Bluebird we walked another path in the park that we have done a 100 times. Well yesterday was eventful to say the least. 100 feet down the path we heard an unusual noise coming towards us and it was a raccoon that decided my leg was breakfast. He totally bypassed Frank and latched on to me and I could not get him off. Frank tried kicking him and with the drop foot immediately hit the ground. After about a minute of leg munching Frank got him by the neck and off of me who was screaming through the whole thing trying to attract a ranger we had saw earlier. The ranger was hunting for the coon to shoot him and actually probably flushed him towards our walking path. After Frank got him off of me he grabbed Frank’s sweatshirt and hung on but he was finally let loose and ran away rather disoriented and I think pretty sick. We quickly got to the Ranger’s station and washed the bites off and then to the hospital for emergency care. Pain needle, tetanus needle, antibiotic needle and antibiotic oral and then the rabies shots – 18 in the leg. 3 more times back for rabies by 11/14/2010. The ranger we had seen earlier was toting a shotgun and after I spoke with him it was with him to call the raccoon that had been called in. He also was kind enough to call later to see how I was feeling and how the ER went. SO – How was your weekend?
Rather Frightening Birding Trip
Moderators: Rosie, Stanz, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
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MaggieRedwings
- King Penguin
- Posts: 3865
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 3:16 am
- Location: SE Pennsylvania
Rather Frightening Birding Trip
Maggie Scarpone
___________________
Resident Birder - I live to bird and enjoy life!
___________________
Resident Birder - I live to bird and enjoy life!
Holy Cow!! Thankfully, my weekend was boring as heck!!!
Maggie, I'm so sorry you had to go through that and I hope the ranger did get that 'coon. So glad you could get immediate medical attention. Is the wound painful now?
I have seen the Mountain Bluebird only in my bird book and I mentally put it on my list of "sure would like to see". They are so beautiful. Glad you got to see it, expecially so far out of it's normal range.
Please take care of yourself, Maggie.
Love, Shirley
Maggie, I'm so sorry you had to go through that and I hope the ranger did get that 'coon. So glad you could get immediate medical attention. Is the wound painful now?
I have seen the Mountain Bluebird only in my bird book and I mentally put it on my list of "sure would like to see". They are so beautiful. Glad you got to see it, expecially so far out of it's normal range.
Please take care of yourself, Maggie.
Love, Shirley
When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber"
-- Winston Churchill
-- Winston Churchill
Maggie,
Wow! What a bummer! I'm sorry you had to go through all that, but I'm glad you had the full medical treatment, afterward, so that nothing more serious will come of it. In nature, one never knows what lies around the next bend - sometimes it's good, and sometimes it's bad. Fortunately, it's almost always something good.
I hope you're able to recover quickly, with a minimum of discomfort.
Love,
Tex
Wow! What a bummer! I'm sorry you had to go through all that, but I'm glad you had the full medical treatment, afterward, so that nothing more serious will come of it. In nature, one never knows what lies around the next bend - sometimes it's good, and sometimes it's bad. Fortunately, it's almost always something good.
I hope you're able to recover quickly, with a minimum of discomfort.
Love,
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Wow - that is NOT good! Glad you got immediate care............
Rest and take care of yourself!
Love and hugs,
Mars
Rest and take care of yourself!
Love and hugs,
Mars
"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful." -- Buddha
Maggie,
I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but your story made me laugh out loud - I had a similar experience with a giant goose once, and I sure wasn't laughing then ...... It was the way you told the story that made it sound so funny - loved your punch line of "SO - how was your weekend?".
Anyhow, hope all the drugs they gave you will do their job!!! Have a feeling you and your DH will tell this story over and over again .......
Kari
P.S. Since I live in Colorado, I have been fortunate to see many Mountain Bluebirds - they are such a treat.
I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but your story made me laugh out loud - I had a similar experience with a giant goose once, and I sure wasn't laughing then ...... It was the way you told the story that made it sound so funny - loved your punch line of "SO - how was your weekend?".
Anyhow, hope all the drugs they gave you will do their job!!! Have a feeling you and your DH will tell this story over and over again .......
Kari
P.S. Since I live in Colorado, I have been fortunate to see many Mountain Bluebirds - they are such a treat.
"My mouth waters whenever I pass a bakery shop and sniff the aroma of fresh bread, but I am also grateful simply to be alive and sniffing." Dr. Bernstein
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MBombardier
- Rockhopper Penguin
- Posts: 1523
- Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2010 10:44 am
- Location: Vancouver, WA
Maggie, like the others, I am so sorry you had to go through this, and thankful that you got swift medical treatment.
My mother was a veteran birder, and I know more of the birds in the midwest and east than I do out here in the west. Stellar jays are stunning, but I miss blue jays. And cardinals. Birding is quite popular here with the Columbia River and the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge so close. I don't do it nowadays, but it is fun to see the ospreys nesting in the cell towers and to hear the bald eagles screaming, even here in town. We have hummingbirds that winter over (we try to be diligent about keeping our feeders filled), and the red-tailed hawks are frequent sights along the interstates.
BTW--my given name is Margaret, and I went by Maggie for several years when I was in school. I still have a few friends who call me Maggie.
I hope you recover swiftly from the trauma and the injury!
My mother was a veteran birder, and I know more of the birds in the midwest and east than I do out here in the west. Stellar jays are stunning, but I miss blue jays. And cardinals. Birding is quite popular here with the Columbia River and the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge so close. I don't do it nowadays, but it is fun to see the ospreys nesting in the cell towers and to hear the bald eagles screaming, even here in town. We have hummingbirds that winter over (we try to be diligent about keeping our feeders filled), and the red-tailed hawks are frequent sights along the interstates.
BTW--my given name is Margaret, and I went by Maggie for several years when I was in school. I still have a few friends who call me Maggie.
I hope you recover swiftly from the trauma and the injury!
Marliss Bombardier
Dum spiro, spero -- While I breathe, I hope
Psoriasis - the dark ages
Hashimoto's Thyroiditis - Dec 2001
Collagenous Colitis - Sept 2010
Granuloma Annulare - June 2011
Dum spiro, spero -- While I breathe, I hope
Psoriasis - the dark ages
Hashimoto's Thyroiditis - Dec 2001
Collagenous Colitis - Sept 2010
Granuloma Annulare - June 2011
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Tanya Lynn
- Adélie Penguin
- Posts: 65
- Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2010 1:19 pm
- Location: Texas
What a frightening experience! Eighteen shots in your leg!! The followup rabies shots aren't a picnic, either. I remember my father talking about rabies shots he got in his stomach - it make us kids live in fear of getting bit by an animal.
I hope you recover quickly. I hope you can take a couple of days off work.
Gloria
I hope you recover quickly. I hope you can take a couple of days off work.
Gloria
You never know what you can do until you have to do it.
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MaggieRedwings
- King Penguin
- Posts: 3865
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 3:16 am
- Location: SE Pennsylvania
Morning All and thank you so much for your concern and well wishes.
I do feel a bit less sore today and am not looking forward to the first additional shot tomorrow. They no longer do the rabies shot in the abdomen like they used to. It is now centered in the area of the bite and for me they just did a circle of 18 shots around the bite wounds. The antibiotics were not something I wanted to take after doing a round for the pneumonia in early October but this is something I really feel I have to do to prevent any bad effects.
Nightmare the first night but since then OK and it will not stop us from birding again this weekend. Since I need another shot this Sunday and next will go early to the ER and then out to bird. The local county health department called me yesterday afternoon to make sure I was going to follow the entire treatment and to let me know that I was the only person attacked by a raccoon this year. Comforting I must say. Also they said they had not received the animal yet but they would make a 99% guess that it would be dead on its own within 3 days due to it being rabid. They feel being out in the daytime and the visuals I gave of the animal - teeth bared, lips pulled back, very wet mouth, hunch backed run after he left - would be a concurrence from them that he was in pretty bad shape. Left me with a really comforting feeling.
Love, Maggie
I do feel a bit less sore today and am not looking forward to the first additional shot tomorrow. They no longer do the rabies shot in the abdomen like they used to. It is now centered in the area of the bite and for me they just did a circle of 18 shots around the bite wounds. The antibiotics were not something I wanted to take after doing a round for the pneumonia in early October but this is something I really feel I have to do to prevent any bad effects.
Nightmare the first night but since then OK and it will not stop us from birding again this weekend. Since I need another shot this Sunday and next will go early to the ER and then out to bird. The local county health department called me yesterday afternoon to make sure I was going to follow the entire treatment and to let me know that I was the only person attacked by a raccoon this year. Comforting I must say. Also they said they had not received the animal yet but they would make a 99% guess that it would be dead on its own within 3 days due to it being rabid. They feel being out in the daytime and the visuals I gave of the animal - teeth bared, lips pulled back, very wet mouth, hunch backed run after he left - would be a concurrence from them that he was in pretty bad shape. Left me with a really comforting feeling.
Love, Maggie
Maggie Scarpone
___________________
Resident Birder - I live to bird and enjoy life!
___________________
Resident Birder - I live to bird and enjoy life!
That was the scariest birding story I ever heard. That is no way for nature to treat a nature lover! We go birding all the time and have never been attacked by anything more aggressive than poison ivy. Knock on wood! Glad you are recovering. Hope the remaining shots aren't too painful and you don't get a bad reaction to the antibiotic.
kathy