Have you ever had to have a Tetnis shot? I have, they really aren't very much fun. I had to get another one tonight. It all started with scouts. We are trying to get a count of how many scouts will be able to go to day camp, so when one of the mothers came to pick up her son, I ran to her car to talk to her about that. She had this huge parrot sitting on her chest. The conversation went something like this:
"You have a parrot?"
"Yep."
"Can I hold him? Can he come out of your car? Will he fly away?"
"Oh no, you can hold him!"
As I am then reaching my hand into her car to try to hold the parrot, she says, "Oh, he bites," just has his sharp little beak clamps down on my left index finger. Pain. That is what I was feeling, as I am trying not to say anything that shouldn't be said in front of my scout and his little finger, so I respond by saying, "Oh yes, he sure bites." While I am thinking that maybe she could have said, "Well, he bites, but if you want to risk it, than you may hold him," I was suddenly trying to not to let any foul (no pun intended) language out of my mouth.
It hurt. Really bad.
I was then left standing at her car, with a throbbing finger, trying to finish my conversation about day camp, trying to hurry so that I can give into my pain.
Finally, the conversation finishes and I am able to walk back up to my house, where I start shaking my finger (as you all know, this technique is very useful in just shaking the pain right out) and finally twisting my face into the grimace of pain that I had felt. Haruko (my co-den leader) and Mike immediately started to ask what was wrong. My finger had two nicks in the top which were showing as bright purple. After going in and washing the bird beak germs off my finger, I put some anti-biotic ointment on and a band-aid. Is it ironic that we talked about and demonstrated first aid in cubs, only to practice the first aid on myself shortly there after?
At this point, my finger was still throbbing, but the main pain had dissipated. I went over to my parents to see if Mike could borrow my dad's wood burner, and thinking that I could get a chuckle out of my mom, told her I had been bit by a bird! She immediately asked me when my last Tetnis shot was, (before my mission) and then informed that I may need another one. I then called the doctor's office and they confirmed that yes, I did need another Tetnis shot.
Lovely, I get bit by a bird and now I need to get a Tetnis shot. Could this be like the first Tetnis shot that I remember getting where it caused a concussion? (If you wish to know this story, please let me know and I will show how these two items can correlate.) Mike and I made the trip down to the doctor's office, where I had to listen to Mike's jokes, and got my shot. It was over and done with rather quickly. I must admit that I am glad I am not the man who got brought in with a dislocated pelvis from being thrown from his horse. I will take the bird bite any day over that. Besides, how many people can say they got bit by a bird and had to get a Tetnis shot because of it?
