Adventures in the ER

In March, we hit a milestone - two years in Vegas! And with that, we hit an even bigger milestone: two years since any of the girls have been to the doctor for anything other than a routine checkup. No injuries, and no illnesses. I celebrated quietly, in my head, because I really didn't want to tempt fate.

Well, it happened anyway.

We spend Wednesday night in the ER. I am sure you can all guess who the patient was. Alysa... of course. That girl has been in the ER more times than all 5 of the other kids... combined. Since she has been born, she has been in the ER for twice for concussions, four times for dislocating her elbow (the doctor finally taught me how to put it back in so that I would stop coming to the ER), one time for stitches in the head, once for sticking a bead up her nose, and once for a broken arm. One of the two times that Brylee has been in the ER I also attribute to Alysa. She fed Brylee a gigantic, plastic, toy ring when she was about 7 months old.

So this time she landed in the ER for a dog bite. Our wonderful, fabulous, neighbors (that was extremely sarcastic) who are unemployed, and sell prescription drugs for a living, decided that it would be a great idea to take on the responsibility of two pit bulls - even though they aren't even responsible for their four kids. Well, it only took about three weeks until one of them decided to attack - and unfortunately my little girl was the victim.

I took one look at the bite, and knew that it wouldn't need stitches. They were puncture wounds, so there really wasn't anything to stitch. But a few of them were really deep, and I know that those dogs are not licensed or had any shots, so we headed to the ER.

Our first experience with Vegas doctors was great! The hospital staff was very nice, and we got in very quickly. They basically just cleaned up the the bite area, and gave her two prescriptions - an oral antibiotic and a topical one. She also has to keep it wrapped up for about the next week, because the bite was pretty deep and there is a high risk for infection.

I took a couple of pictures of the bite this morning, while I was changing her bandaging. It is healing really well - much faster than I expected. The pictures don't really do it justice. Two days ago, it was gut wrenching.

The thing that really upsets me, is that they have been avoiding us like the plague. They haven't stopped by or called to see how she was doing. When Brian went to their door, as we were getting ready to go to the hospital, the kids answered and said they, "didn't know where their parents were". It really makes me mad. I have a dog. If it were to bite someone, I would want to know what happened, and how the person he bit was doing. I would want to be responsible and make sure that the problem was taken care of, with no hard feelings. Apparently, not everyone thinks like I do.

Anyway, whenever you go to the doctor or hospital for a dog bite they have to report it to animal control. The dog has to be quarantined for ten days for testing and observation. Unemployment is not a very lucrative career, and those fines and boarding fees add up fast. So I am sure that the dogs will never come home.