This one is for me. Dog Bite, 8-22-2018

I was told that writing of my experience may help me in processing what happened.

Dean dropped me off at the Maverick in Mount Pleasant so I could run up to our cabin, about 5 miles, and he could make a house call to someone in the town.  He figured he would be about an hour, and that's about how long it would take me to get to the cabin.

The weather was perfect for a run.  I had passed the high school, and decided I would run the North/South streets, and walk the East/West streets.

I was feeling really good about my run.  I was running on the East side of the road, against traffic.  On the other side of the road was a log cabin.  On the side of the road I was running on, there we no homes, just open field.

I had passed the log home with the red roof, and all of a sudden I had PAIN!  Like it hurt bad!  I can't recall my reaction at the time of the attack.  I can't remember how or why the dog stopped biting.  I also can't picture why the dog crossed the street, I don't know if I hit the dog, if it was just done, I can't put this piece of the puzzle in place.

This picture is taken from where the dog attacked me.

  I felt my leg, and felt blood.  I got my phone out of my sports bra, and snapped a picture of the dog.  I knew that since he had "broken the skin" we would need to find the dog.  Then I sent a text to Dean, telling him I had been bitten by a dog. No response from Dean. The dog was walking away from me, towards the red roofed cabin.  There was a truck driving towards me.  The dog turned and started chasing the truck.  

 This brought the dog back in my direction.  I waved down a van, headed North, towards the log home.  I told her I had just been bit, and I needed her to give me a ride past the log house, to the corner.  I just couldn't run past the dog.  I thought if I could get past the corner, I could run to the IMC clinic I had seen down on Highway 89.  In order to get to the clinic, I would have to get past the dog house.  The lady was really nice, and drove me to the clinic.  The people at the clinic were really kind.  I was in shorts and and tank top, no ID, no money, no insurance card.  They treated me anyway.  Eventually, Dean answered a phone call from me, and sent me a copy of our insurance card.

•  I tried to take a picture of the bite, since I couldn't see it.  There were two punctures and a cut.  The Dr cleaned the wound, and put disinfectant on it.  They don't stitch dog bites because it increases the rick of infection, unless it's on the face.  The Dr also gave me a prescription for an antibiotic.  The Dr.'s office called the police.   Officer Taylor met me at the clinic, and I told him what happened and gave him the picture of the dog, and asked him if he would give me a ride past the dog house, and up to the gate of our development.  I walked from the gate up to our cabin.  A deer jumped out in front of me, and about caused me to have a heart attack!   I was freaked out, and super jumpy!  I got up to the cabin, and few minutes later, Dean arrived at the cabin.  He had finished up his appointment, and picked up the antibiotics for me.  He saw the police at the log home, so he stopped and talked to them.  They were able to chain the dog back up, and were waiting to talk to the dog owners.

Pretty soon, the bruise started to show up.

I had asked Officer Taylor to let me know when he had talked to the dog owner.  We never heard from him.   Dean called dispatch, and they got a hold of the officer.  He called later that evening, and left us a message telling us they had talked to the dog owner, and the dog had not had its shots.

 I needed a tetanus shot, so on Thursday, I went to the health department and got the shot.  They suggested that I go to the emergency room and start the rabies shots.  I went into the emergency room on Friday morning to start the shots.  The nurse practitioner was ready to start the shots, and the pharmacist came in and the three of us talked about whether to start the shots or not.  We decided to go ahead and get the shots, just in case.  Friday, the police picked up the dog, and had it in quarantine. The hospital talked to the police, and the dog seemed to be doing fine.  A guy that worked at the hospital, not sure if it was a Dr, nurse, or whatever, he told me it was my decision, but he thought we should wait on the shots till the dog showed signs of being sick.  If the dog doesn't have rabies, then there would be no need for me to get the shots.  So I left, without getting the shots.

This picture was taken on Saturday. three days after the attack.

Monday morning, we hadn't heard anything from the police, so we drove down to the police station in Mt Pleasant.  The officer that has been feeding the dog was there and told us the dog looked fine.  That was a relief.  They also told us we could call anytime to check on status of the dog, rather than waiting for them to call us.  There still hasn't been a police report filed, and we need some information so the dog owners homeowners insurance could pay for the medicals up to this point.  We didn't get any of that information.  Dean wanted to stop by the log house, and get the information from the guy himself. I wasn't up to it, so we drove up to the cabin and spent the day working up there.

Since the attack, I have had a really hard time sleeping.  Only a few hours a night.  I keep having flashbacks of the attack.  I cry a lot.  My bishop had his son, who is a therapist, talk to me on the phone on Sunday night.  That was helpful.  He told me it is normal for the attack to always be on my mind.  He said that it was good that I'm able to talk about it.  We need to do something about the sleep issue, but that was also a normal reaction to what had happened.  Tuesday morning, we had to be at the airport at 4:30 a.m. to catch a flight to Detroit, so no sleep that night either. 

We are visiting Amanda and her family in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  This has been good to be here with family.  Caitlyn is also here from Alaska.  I have had a couple of panic attacks since being here, and everyone has rolled with it so well, and have been great to talk about it. 

Tonight is Wednesday, one week since the attack.  Dean had left a note in the dog owner's door on Monday, asking him to call so we could get some information from him.  He called tonight and talked to Dean.  He said the dog will be "put down" as soon as the quarantine  time has passed.

I'm confused about my feelings about that.  It makes sense that if the dog has rabies, it should be put down.  If the dog doesn't have rabies, and this is just how it acts, it should be put down.  When I heard that that dog is going to be put down, I once again tried to think about all the things I did wrong, that was going to cause this dog to be killed.  Talking to my family here, it makes sense that I didn't do anything, whoever was going to be going past that house was going to be attacked, it just happened to be me.  It's weird to feel responsible for this dog being killed, when I should be glad I'm ok, and also, nobody else will be hurt by this dog.

We have also had a discussion about how I have handled this.  When it is really a hard situation, my reaction is to joke about it, rather than to let anyone know that it has been a really upsetting thing for me.  I need to not hide behind humor, so people will know that I am a little messed up right now, and that's ok.