Jeffrey's Stitches

Friday was one of THOSE days.  You know the kind.  Where everything absolutely goes wrong.  The kind of day when you wake up in the morning and have no idea what is in store.

It started off fine.  We even got out of the house on time for the final day of VBS.  Pretty impressive!  When we came home, we went straight to my mom's to eat lunch. 

Then we got invited to pick sweet cherries.  Jeffrey went home to change out of his spy clothes (they've been dressing up all week like spies) and came back to Grandma's covered from head to toe in blood.  Cinders bit him when he was trying to leave.  

We got him cleaned up, and called the doctor.  They were booked, and recommened we go to the minor emergency clinic.  After an evaluation there, the doctor referred us to the local Children's Hospital for getting it stitched.  Because of how close it was to the eye, and how fearful Jeffrey is of needles, she wanted the option of sedation, which only the hospital had.

So we left again.  And in the meantime, I made one of the hardest decisions I'd ever made.  We had Cinders put down.  This was the second time he bit one of the kids hard enough to draw blood.  The first time was only a 2 on the bite scale, and it didn't require any special attention.  This time around, it had moved to a 3.  And was really, really close to both eyes. 

I didn't want to wait for a chunk of skin to disappear or anything.  Or have the baby bitten.  Or have a kid lose an eye.  Or a visitor attacked. Cinders was becoming more aggressive, and it wasn't worth it.  I loved Cinders--he was always my dog.  But...I love my kids more. 

Back to Jeffrey.  He was a trooper in the hospital.  Child Life came around with an iPad, and he enjoyed playing a game called Balloonimals.  That's an app I'll definitely be purchasing in the next few weeks!

Jeffrey with medicine on the wounds to stop the pain and help clean them out.

He did better than I thought he would until it came time to give him the medicine to make him "loopy."  It was in a syringe with a sponge on the end, and looked like a huge needle for a shot.  He finally calmed down and allowed it to go in his nose.  

Once that kicked in, he was a champ.  The doctor stitched him up.  Three on one side, and five on the other.   When we were discharged, he couldn't walk straight.  And he was hilariously loud and just not like himself.  He liked his band-aids a lot. 

And he's been healing for the past couple of days.  He goes to our pediatrician tomorrow for a follow-up and to check for infection.  I don't think he'll have further problems, thankfully! 

I have also learned that our family is not at a stage now where having a dog is a good match.  We will not be getting another puppy--at least not while we have little ones in the house.  You just never know.  Dogs are dogs.  And they act like dogs.  Regardless of training and love and everything else you give them.  Sometimes they just snap for some reason.  We'll never know why.  But I learned my lesson a very hard way.  

It could have been worse.  The Lord really provided for our family during this time.  Jeffrey's eye wasn't affected.  The inside of his nose wasn't punctured.  Grandpa was able to watch the kids while Grandma drove Jeffrey and I to the doctors.  And Bryan was able to leave work and meet us at the hospital. And I'm thankful for those things.