Bites are worse than the bark...

One year ago, my family and I went to a barbecue at a friend's house. Another friend of theirs brought their dog along (a Boxer) also. Victoria and other kids were playing and literally out of nowhere, with no warning, no bark, no growl, nothing, Victoria was on the ground crying and the dog was walking away. We thought the dog had simply knocked her over...I bent down to pick her up and saw this...

Oh Holy Crap! What the HELL just happened to my beautiful baby girl?!?! I freaked. I scooped her up in my arms and went running inside for some paper towels. I NEVER thought this would happen. The whole time I just kept telling my husband "Let's go! I just want to take her to the hospital, now. Let's go. Let's go. I just want to go." and I was shaking...oh, man, was I shaking. We had to find her "Hooey" (toy hippo/lovey) and we left. This photo is actually from the backseat of my car on the way to the hospital. I was holding her. It was about 2 miles to get there.
Once inside, they immediately took us to a room and gave her some pain meds. She was terrified, I was horrified. As a mother, all I wanted to do was make her NOT hurt...how could I help? It was very difficult to even keep her calm. This next photo turns my stomach...you can see the hurt and terror in her eyes and the cut is so deep you can see the nerves and the bone. EW.



We had to wait for a plastic surgeon, so they cleaned it and put a bandage on it while we waited:
She was slightly distracted by Dora, so that was nice. When the plastic surgeon got there, she gave her some meds that basically knocked her out, but her eyes were still open and they shook back and forth (that was freaky), then she stitched her up...19 stitches. 5 internal stitches and 14 external.



So, one year later, the scar is healing quite well. She still calls it her "dog bite" but is not, in the least, scared of dogs, although she does not like it if they run up to her face (can't say I blame her on that one). Most people don't even notice it and those that do would never fathom that it was because of this, or that it was that deep or that bad.

We count our blessings that since she was bitten, it was where it was and there was no meat missing or anything...it was a straight, clean cut. Missed her eye and her throat, which are much more important than her vanity.



For those that might be curious, the dog's owner had a 5 month old child at the time, and as far as I know, they decided to keep the dog. The city put the dog in quarantine for 10 days to check for rabies, and then released it back to the owners. They did feel bad and it's not like they had their dog attack her. No one was sued or will be.