We stopped vaccinating in 2007/2008. Yesterday, DS, age 8, stepped on a big rusty spike that was in the ground, originally used to tie a dog leash onto a few years back. It was a good, deep puncture right where his big toe joins the foot. Bled a fair amount, and I decided this was one worthy of professional care. I took him to the Urgent Care five minutes from the house and we were seen within the half hour. I told the nurse that we might need the tetanus immounoglobulin due to not being fully vaxd. He just nodded and made a note of it. As we were walking to the XRay (they needed to make sure there was no rust or metal in the wound, or that he didn't chip the bone) we saw the Dr. He asked when we stopped vaxing, I told him somewhere around 2008, but I couldn't remember if DS had his 4yr old shots. The Dr. was surprisingly casual, said if he had his 4 yr old shots, we were fine. (I was really not sure, and in retrospect, I don't think he did.) The XRay was good, the nurse cleaned out the wound with a bottle of saline, and then we soaked it for a little while in more saline. DS ended up with four stitches. Doc didn't mention the vax again, didn't ask us to verify anything, didn't try to talk us into anything, nothing. We got excellent care and were in and out in two hours.
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This was such a pleasant experience, as far as emergency visits go. I was really expecting a bit of a fight about tetanus (and really, by bringing it up I was being proactive. I'd honesty love if the kids could get just a tetanus, but DS is the only one old enough for that.) Dr. was just like, Okay, if you got the shots you're cool, I won't ask for proof, won't pressure. Anyway, since I read of so many bad experiences, I wanted to share a good one. (I'm in the Raleigh, NC area, in case anyone is wondering.)
