May 24, 2014

June 2005

  I really hated today.  Sydney left to ride bikes with her friend this afternoon.  A couple of hours later we got a frantic knock on our front door.  It was her friend, telling us Sydney was bit by a dog.  She was playing fetch with this friend's dog, when he turned on her.  He came after her, and as she was running away, she slipped in the mud.  The dog got on top of her and wouldn't let go.  Thank heaven my neighbor was looking out her back window.  She saw the dog chasing Sydney, but couldn't get to her soon enough for stop the dog.  The neighbor said she could hardly pull the dog off of her.  She had to have her father hold him back from attacking her again.  
  I'm sure my neighbor was more shook up than anyone.  She didn't know who Sydney was, so she called 911.  We had a cul de sac full of police, firetruck, ambulance, and animal control.  Sydney was relatively calm, holding a towel up to her mouth.  I could see the cuts on her cheeks, and when I asked her to move the towel, I saw two teeth pulled out, dangling from her braces wire.  I imagine the dog got his teeth on her braces and yanked.  Sydney was in shock, which is good because I don't think she was processing the pain.  
  Thankfully, Jeff was home and knew just what to do.  We declined the ambulance ride and headed off to the ER.  In retrospect, I wish I had taken a moment to comfort Shelbi a little.  She is terrified of dogs and this put her over the edge.  I wasn't thinking too clearly at this point.
  I could go on, but basically we had all the right people in the right place to put Sydney back together.  Her dentist came in immediately to put her teeth back in.  Jeff was geared up to do her stitches, but we convinced him to step back and let someone else take care of it.  I can't imagine the pressure of stitching up my own daughter.  He takes pressure much better than I.
  We finally came back home six hours later.  Our kids had been fed (a whole other story), Shelbi was calm, and we were exhausted.  Syd was still woozy from being sedated.  I just wanted my silly, sassy girl back.