Red Eyes and Dog Bites

The not-so-fun events of the summer were Mr. M's eye surgery and Little L's dog attack. Starting with Mr. M, he has been told since he was two that he could have surgery on his right eye to make it more straight (it turned in a bit more than it should.) Anyhow, this was the year he chose to do it. On a Wed. night Mr. M was at home getting a blessing from Dad and then we were off to stay in Portland with our friend Jean (she was a fantastic hostess!!) On Thurs. morning we went to see Dr. Reznik, had his eye measured, and went to get prepped for surgery. After changing into his lovely gown Mr. M got to drink some very yucky pink stuff and then was taken away to the surgery room while I waited in the waiting room. Once in surgery they gave him a general anesthesia, did his IV and then opened his eye with a special septum. The muscles on both sides of his right eye were cut, his eye was repositioned, and then the muscles were sutured up. Waking up after surgery was hard but after an hour we were back at Jean's where he took another nap and then by dinner he was his old self again, except for his "zombie" eye. His eye is almost completely healed now and Mr. M says he can see forward now with both eyes. We are so glad that things went well.

Unlike Mr. M's surgery, Little L's experience this summer was not planned at all. We were enjoying a relaxing day at the river and at one point I took the two youngest out into the water to play. Little L saw a neighbor come down to our little park with her two Dobermans and so she went up to play with them. As she was playing catch with one of the dogs, the ball got close to the second dog and he lunged at her and locked his jaws on her thigh. The owner, who had been holding him when he bit her, pried open his jaw to get her free but then he attacked her on her back. By then she was screaming and I was scrambling to get to shore. By the time I got to her the owner had sent the dog home with her son and called 911. Little L was in complete shock from the experience and all the blood an the holes in her leg were making her really weak. We got her to the car, I dropped the kids off at home and then drove her to the hospital. Dad met us there and gave her a blessing before she was treated by the nurses. It was such a blessing that a family friend who is an RN was working that day. He took such good care of her. The bites were irrigated and the holes sutured just enough to allow them to seep but not have them be gaping holes. She had 10 stitches in all. There was a hole on the top of her scapula, one under her arm and numerous ones on her leg. The animal control officer said it was the worst bite he had seen this year. Yikes!! Luckily she is doing well now, healing up just fine and still loves to play with dogs.