"That dog had sharp teeth!"

In mid-April the Residence Life staff at Jewell had an end of the year BBQ. Someone brought a dog that they were dog sitting for. Unfortunately, it turns out, the dog had a history of abuse and had been adopted by the current owner. The sitter apparently didn't know the extent that the dog was uncomfortable around children and men. Brad walked up with Rory to ask if the girls could pet the dog. She said yes and when the dog kept running around she offered to put the dog on a leash. She then gave the leash to a guy to hold while my girls stood beside him. He turned to snap at them, knocked Rory down, and caught her head with his teeth (or bit her).

I ran over upon hearing the growl and bark. I saw Rory laying on the ground holding her head and was terrified what I'd find when we picked her up. I couldn't see a bite mark so I just assumed she was scared. While trying to calm her down she said, "My head! It hurts!" I looked where she was pointing and found a little bit of blood and a couple puncture wounds. At this point I was freaking out on the inside. Seeing two little holes in your child's head is shocking. I called a nursing student over who suggested we go to the ER.

Rory fussed a little on the way to the hospital. I don't blame her since she had just been bit on the head. While being evaluated by the triage nurse, Rory was asked to rate her pain level. The nurse showed her the chart with faces ranging from smiling (1) to crying (10). Rory pointed to the crying face because she had cried when the dog bit her.

She was an amazing patient. While waiting for the doctor she turned the water on and off in the faucet, watched cartoons in bed, hid behind the curtain, and drew pictures with the Aqua Doodle. Frequently she asked Brad and I when the doctor would come in to see her. At one point she loudly asked, "When is my doctor going to come in here?!" From out in the desk area we heard a man's voice say, "In about 5 seconds." Our doctor had heard her pint-sized inquiry and walked in the room smiling. Rory laughed nervously.

The doctors and nurses were incredible with her. They explained everything to all three of us. For days, Rory couldn't stop talking about the "frog spit" they put in her bite. Frog spit was a paste put in her wound to numb the area.

Amazingly, the only time Rory cried was while the nurse immobilized her so the doctor could put in the staple. The tears were short-lived, especially once the doctor showed her the new water squirter she was going to take home (the syringe used to clean her wound).

Here's a picture taken a day or two after the bite.

10 days later we headed back to the ER to get the staple out. Rory skipped into the hospital, remembering how nice the people were last time she was there. This time we met Dr. Robb. He took out her staple and gave her a new stuffed friend which she named Miss Mary.

A couple days after the bite, Brad took Rory on a walk to the square. He said they saw quite a few dogs on the walk and Rory wasn't scared of one of them. She thinks the only mean dog is the one that bit her.