Batwoman

Sometimes I live an exciting life. Last Monday was just one of those days. Monday morning I arrived at work and was notified that we couldn't have any kids in the clinic until 10 am because there was a bat trapped in the clinic (it was discovered when it flew in to my boss's head when she arrived at work at 5:30 am that day). One of the doctors was super excited at the idea of catching a bat so when it came out he chased it around the clinic with a huge bed sheet. He did not catch it. So animal control was in the clinic for about 3 hours and then said that they had taken care of it so we would not have any more problems with the bat. Phew! Skip ahead 3 hours...

I am chatting with this little 6 year-old boy while he is getting blood. All of a sudden there is a scream and the other nurse I am working with runs away screaming "BAT!!!! I'M CALLING ANIMAL CONTROL! FIND A NET!!!". So this bat swoops in to the room and is flying around the room. This little boy is tethered to an IV pole and the bat is circling his head. I grab a paper "pillow case" off of a pillow and try to encourage the bat to fly away from him. The bat flies in to the huge glass window just feet away from my patient and falls down stunned. I don't know what got in to me, but I was fearless. Just as the bat reared its head and hissed (or whatever bats do) at me, I grabbed him with my hands. Yep. Trapped a bat with my hands!! This from the girl who squeals at the sight of spiders. I threw him in the paper pillowcase and then in the garbage can. I calmly walked away from my little patient and then when out of his sight I threw the bat upside down in an empty room. I notified my boss to call the animal control people and to not let anyone turn over the garbage can or go in the room. Then I washed my hands and went back to my patient. He looked up at me and said, "Hey remember that time when you caught that bat?" I thought, yes. Yes I do. I won't soon forget that. We did some crafts that afternoon and when he left he said, "I really liked when you caught that bat Melissa. That was cool." He gave me a hug and a high 5 and was off.

Animal patrol arrived and needed to talk with "the woman that apprehended the bat." These people were wearing huge boots, had leather gloves and long tongs to grab the bat with. They wrote my story down, asking for EXACT times in a little notebook that I am pretty sure was from the Dollar Store. Very official. Nice job catching the bat on the first try folks.

In case you were wondering, I was gentle enough that the bat was still alive and well when animal control arrived. Too bad he will probably be killed to be tested for rabies. I am now known as "bat-woman" or "bat-girl" at work. And... the doctor who wanted to catch the bat was quite upset that, as another nurse put it, I had stolen his thunder.

For your enjoyment I have posted pictures of what the bats that live in Austin look like...

This was the face that looked up at me and hissed. Eeehhhh.....

This is what was flying around the clinic

Happy Halloween!

-Batwoman