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January 16, 2009
Bad, bad week
Our dog, Shadow, bit Mandy at 7 pm Monday night. Mike & I were both in the room, but neither of us happened to be looking at her that particular moment, so we have no idea what caused it. We just know we heard a yelp from him, and then she started crying. The fact that he yelped rather than growled told us it was not an act of aggression, but rather an animal's instinct to protect himself. Not that it mattered to me.
The bite was to her face. One cut on her cheek at nose level and another below her chin. I wasn't that concerned at first. Mike cleaned the spots and got some hydrogen peroxide on them. But after a while, she wasn't calming down like I thought she should, and every time she touched it, it would start bleeding again. So we called the pediatrician who advised us to go to the urgent care place for pediatrics. There she received 4 stitches to the cheek and 3 to the chin.
I don't know if you've ever held your baby down while they sewed her up, but it was just horrible. They swaddled her in a full size sheet, and due to the position of the cuts, they let her head hang off the table. She was hysterical and I will never get those images out of my mind.
We talked briefly about the fact that Shadow probably couldn't live with Mandy any more, but obviously, we were busy dealing with her and didn't really hash out any details. I let Shadow sleep inside that night as it was really cold, but I knew he was either going back outside or in my bedroom before she woke up the next morning. When I heard her rousing, I started trying to wake him up. He doesn't hear as well as he used to, so I wasn't having much luck just talking to him. I bent down and tapped something, I think a foot, and he gave the same yelp and bit me on the forearm. I was previously feeling sorry for the dog since I knew his world was about to change drastically, but that disappeared in that instant. I grabbed the bed he was laying on & yanked it out from under him and ordered him outside. I was previously working under the assumption Mandy had provoked him in some way, but I know that I did not.
Mandy was very warm when I picked her up. Her temperature measured 101.5. So I called the pediatrician to see if I needed to take her to the emergency room. They assured me the two were probably unrelated as an infection normally takes between 3-5 days to set up & just had me make an appointment that morning. The temp responded well to Advil, so I wasn't panicked. When the doctor looked at her, she immediately decided to put her in the hospital. Of course, the site was swollen and red, but a site that has been bitten and stitched is going to be. I had no idea how much was normal and how much was a cause for concern. So we went straight to the hospital where she received antibiotics by IV every 6 hours from Tuesday around noon until Thursday evening.
Incredibly, she looked worse Wednesday than she did Tuesday. The redness was dark - what my sister-in-law would describe as angry - and the swelling went from her eyebrow all the way to her neck. Her eye was almost closed with it, and she could not fully close her lips because of it. They also decided that day, since they didn't know exactly what bacteria was causing the problem, to treat her as infectious. We were not allowed to go to the play area, and the food service personnel would not enter her room. We were supposed to go home Wednesday, but obviously, it was decided we needed to stay another day. This was definitely my low point. I was scared and could cry any time I looked at her, when I let myself.
During a rare moment of clarity Wednesday evening, I demanded a visit from a doctor who could tell me what was going on. A resident visited me and assured me it was common for it to get worse before it got better. She also assured me the fact that she hadn't run a fever since her first round of antibiotics was an excellent sign. I felt much better after this conversation.
Thursday morning, plastics visited her and decided the swelling was normal, not something that needed to be drained. While I had a plastic surgeon in front of me, I took full advantage of it and grilled her about how to minimize the scarring. She assured me the stitches were done very well and gave me some tips.
Shadow is currently at my mother-in-law's, a situation I do not agree with. Not only has he proved himself unsafe around people, but if he is in enough pain to snap anytime someone touches him, it would be the kindest thing to him to put him down. This on top of the hearing loss and cataracts. One problem is that I have never liked the dog. Too active, too loud, too hairy. He bugs me that I can't walk 2 feet without him getting up to follow me. So the person that likes the dog the least is the one wanting him destroyed and I just don't think anyone believes me when I say it's for his own good. Not only that, but my mother-in-law is over 70, recovering from hernia surgery herself, and taking on a 50 pound old dog. The whole thing just doesn't sound smart to me. I'm not going to dwell on this, but I'm also very hurt and utterly pissed that some family members have seemed to be more concerned about Shadow than Mandy. If they want him, they can have him because if he comes back to my house, he's getting picked up by the Humane Society and destroyed.
In fact, we will never own a dog again. Despite Shadow's many irritating characteristics, I would have described him as a good dog. He loved Mandy. Any time she was in her crib and I was somewhere else, he was parked outside her door. Anytime she cried, he usually got to her before I could. I used to be naive and think there was a difference between a good dog and a bad dog. But if a good dog can bite, then dogs are just not safe. And forget that crap about dogs having one seventh the germ in their mouths people do, because that one seventh is apparently enough.
This is what the poor girl looked like Tuesday morning.
Incredible that it got worse, huh?
There were a couple of fun things from this week, so I'll end with those. One is that Mandy decided she wanted to pull a handrail off a wall for some reason. So she would go tug at one with all she had and when she gave up, she would declare "stuck." Then we would walk the 8 inches to the next handrail & she would try again. It was so adorable!
The other is that all day long Tuesday, she kept saying Elmo. I would look around, not see an Elmo image anywhere & for the life of me, I couldn't understand why she kept saying that. It's not even her favorite character. Finally, at 11pm that night, I noticed Elmo on the diaper they had covering her IV. Mandy noticed it the moment they put it on, but it took all day for mommy to.
| By Wifeepoo | 7:12 AM
Comments
I am really sorry this is how your week went. Sorry for your hurt and for the many moments that you watched your daughter be miserable. How your mother-in-law manages to care for the dog is not on you and if you felt he was unsafe then I am glad he is out of your house. I hope that her face continues to heal quickly and am praying for rest for both of you.
Posted by: Jenn at January 16, 2009 9:05 AM
man, i am so sorry that you guys had to go through all this. i worry about the same thing with our dog....she's not at the arthritic point yet, but she is 12 and really does not want to be messed with too much unless it's me or chris.
anyway, we prayed for you guys last night and will continue to pray that mandy's face heals quickly. at least kids bounce back fast.
Posted by: erin at January 16, 2009 1:39 PM
:(
Posted by: Tobias at January 19, 2009 12:42 AM
i totally understand the frustration with family members who's concern is for the animal, not the HUMAN! we have the meanest, grouchiest, most unfriendly cat that my father-in-law thinks is just wonderful, even after it bit my toddler.
Posted by: jill at January 20, 2009 1:28 PM
