One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

The girls have really been affected by the dog attack on June 29th. In regards to their Selective Mutism. They have slid backwards as to where they will speak etc. It has been real hard to watch because each step forward was so hard to achieve. Their doctor said it good. She said that they went through a trauma. It was horrible for all of us but hearing it labeled as a trauma is hard too. It made more sense when she reminded us of the events following the attack. At first the Hippie said she did not remember anything happening. But now she talks about how she was scared of "losing Sissy" and how she remembers this or that. The Genius usually seems fine but things do surface occasionally.
On a much happier note, the Genius is allowed to swim again (at least until her laser surgeries begin) AND just in time for our first vacation in 2 years!!!! We are beyond excited! I could spend all my time searching online for what we are going to do. First we are off to visit my hubby's family, then we are taking the girls to my parents for 3 days so we can go away for an early anniversary!!

One Month Ago today.... today's Wordless Wednesday

Just a reminder

Tonight as I was relaxing and watching Season 1 of Army Wives, I saw a friend's status on facebook that basically said, "He's gone." In the military family, we all know what that means. This friends husband was gone for a year, home 9 months and is gone again for a year. It just hit me that even though I am a military wife, I am guilty of forgetting at times the battle going on for our freedom. So I am off to bed with this friend and her family heavy on my heart and mind and I am going to pray for all the troops and their families. I encourage you to do the same.

Hitting the Pavement

It was making us a little sad that the girls are missing an entire 6 months of sports because of the attack on the Genius. She cannot do contact sports and of course, no place here, offers track for 6 year olds. We decided to take matters into our own hands. It has been FUN! My hubby took the girls yesterday, but today, we all went to the track. The Hippie, staying true to form, played in the sand the entire time! The Genius and I ran together for 1 mile and it was a real sweet fun time! She loved it and being type A really enjoyed having a goal to focus on. My husband ran on his own, but afterwards he took the Genius and did stairs with her. Then he had us all doing lunges out on the field, running backwards and other "fun" stuff =). After all that, he chased the girls and played tag with them. We all had a great time! Now the Genius wants a "real" pair of running shoes like her Mommy. So, tonight I making her a chart and once she hits a 20 mile mark, we will take her and let her get a pair of running shoes!

Geo-caching and a moral dilema

I posted some pics of our Geo-caching adventure today. It was sweaty and fun! In the one picture with the Genius writing.... that is a code that some Geo-cachers use to give you clues for hard to find caches. She was decoding it for us.
As for the moral dilemma....back in 2005 my husband was driving a rental car and someone ran into the side of him and he flipped in the car and spun across a highway. He came out 100% injury free. It was really amazing. BUT the car seats (with no kids in them... he was driving alone) both came loose and would not have done a thing to protect our kids. Therefore, we began researching and learned that the best car seats were a brand called Britax. At that time, I believe, they were only officially recommended car seats from the NHSTA. Anyways, we invested in two front facing Britax car seats. The difference in them was amazing. They really grabbed onto the car, were much easier to loosen and tighten the belts, were more comfy, had more layers for protection etc... When it was time for the Genius to move up to a booster, we bought a Britax and then when the Hippie was old enough, we got her a Britax booster. Finally, here comes the moral dilemma. In 18 months (roughly) the Genius will be free to ride in a car without any booster. My husband has a car now too and we wanted a second set of boosters so we could his car on the weekends etc. So, here it is. After researching, we learned the Genius is fully qualified by both state and national standards for a backless booster. The kind where she uses the adult belt. Until now, she has been in a 5 point harness Britax booster. We have bought her the new backless booster for her to use in both cars. But we feel terribly guilty. Here we have the Genius in a $30 booster and the Hippie in a 5 point harness $250 booster. Granted the Hippie is still too small, but still, we feel awful. Any thoughts? Right or wrong? Any new regulations we need to be aware of?

Bet You'll Never Guess....

what we saw in a parking lot today. We took the girls to this free festival today. They had inflatables (any parent with kids ages 2-.... KNOWS you MUST go to a festival with free inflatables) =). We were walking around and looking at all the old cars when we saw something just ahead of us on the parking lot. It was a 9 foot python. Yep. A nine foot snake. Slithering around. Luckily it did have its owners with it =) and it appeared to have been recently fed (judging by the tell tale bulge in its tummy). But after our encounter on June 29th, we encouraged the girls to stay way back =).
I also had to share a cool experience tonight. Between the Army messing up our pay and LOTS of trips to and from doctors... we have been really stretched financially. Our pantry was quite low on things that would actually make a real meal. I called my super-de-dooper friend for a recipe and she shared a WONDERFUL website with me supercook. It is SUCH a cool resource. The only veggies I had was some green onions and potatoes. At this website you put in what ingredients you have and they give you recipes that use them. I typed in potatoes, green onions and milk and it gave me a recipe for Green Onion Potatoe soup that was WONDERFUL! It was easy to make and very filling. Just thought I would share! I plan on using this website many more times.

Velvet

We watched the movie "National Velvet" with the girls. It is a sweet good movie! They really enjoyed it! It took us 2 nights to watch the whole thing. Now we need to find it cheap on DVD.
This afternoon we served at out church's food pantry. Our whole family together. It was a lot of fun and it was the first time we have been able to do it together. The girls really enjoyed it. I must say, that our church does a GREAT job with the whole thing! It is a great set up! Evidently, they work with Second Harvest Food Bank. I guess they just changed their name to Feeding America. If you are looking for someplace to donate to, they would be a good one.

Dry Eyes

First, I want to say that Chunk Head was here earlier and if possible, is looking even nastier! We love that bird though!
We had a yucky rainy day here and used to clean and have a family movie night with some popcorn. We watched "The Velveteen Rabbit". At the end we were closely watching the Hippie. She understood the story and we could see that little lip quivering. I could see the tears hovering. She looked over at us and said, "For some reason my eyes are dry." =)

Introducing....

We have a few bird feeders on our small little deck. We get some blue jays, morning doves, red bellied woodpeckers and a few red birds. Evidently red birds lose their feathers, but before we knew that we kept seeing this little guy. He looked so nasty and was missing a chunk of feathers so we named him Chunk Head (said with the greatest of affection). Just thought you would enjoy meeting Chunk Head too. =)

Watching a Miracle

We had an appointment with the plastic surgeon today. The silver stuff really seemed to be helping the Genius, but we were not supposed to clean it off. Today was our first real good look at her nose since last Monday. Now, I KNOW that literally thousands of prayers were lifted up for our daughter, but I still did not see this coming. She has healed so much and so unexpectedly that....... NO SKIN GRAFT!!!! Praise the Lord!!!!! He has worked a miracle on the Genius! Our next appointment is in 3 weeks and she will start laser treatment to remove the thickening scar tissue and there might also be a follow up surgery and still more work years from now, but the skin graft is not needed and for that we have one explanation. God has worked a miracle in our babies life. Thank You Lord! May You get all the credit.

Berry Picking

Today we went to church, lunch and then out to pick a few blackberries. We ended up with 3 gallons of them! It was WAY too much fun! The girls were running around eating berries, picking berries and just loving it! We came home and made a home made blackberry pie, fresh corn on the cob and my pasta. It was SOOOOO good! We have had a great day with our family and berry pickin'!!

Peach Festival

Today was just peachy keen! We hit a peach festival and it was great! We took a hayride, played on tractors, did a little corn hole and tried some peach salsa! Tonight my husband's mom and step-dad kept the girls so we could go out. We went and saw "Ice Age". The girls were great and SO cute all day long!

Great Expectations...

not a real great experience though. My husband said that even though he sawed off part of the gun stock was still too long for the Hippie. She enjoyed it though and is looking forward to her next time out. She is still wearing her "hunting princess" cap everywhere. Thanks for all the positive comments though... esp. my husband's cousin! You made us feel so much better.
We had a fun day here! I hit some garage sales with my friend and met another friend for lunch! Then we went with our company to a cool part of town and we spent lots of time out walking. We came home and I made more steaks and we had a "garage picnic". That sounds SOOOOO redneck, but it was quite nice! Then the girls entertained us with some bike riding. Tomorrow I think we are off to a peach festival!

What a girl got!

This. I am not posting photos of how cute she looks with it because I realize it probably quite controversial. Rest assured, she will be under supervision of TWO adult males and will be taking safety classes. She is so excited and she even got safety glasses and a hat that says, "Hunting Princess". She is ready to start but understands that she has to start small by taking classes and learning about safety.

A Must See Movie

Tonight we watched the movie "Faith Like Potatoes". It is available to buy here.


It was such an inspiring movie. It is based on a book with the same title. It is based on a true story. If you have seen "Facing the Giants", "Fireproof" or "Flywheel" it is along those lines. I do not believe it was the same church or anything but it is a top notch movie. It has a very graphic scene so I would not recommend young kids watching it, but if your children are older or you are willing to fast forward a little it is an awesome family flick.

Not too much to share other than that. We had a great day here! The girls were so good all day long! I got to meet my good friend for coffee and we had a fun chat! I got lots of cleaning done and tomorrow company comes rolling into town!

What a girl wants?

This is what the Hippie wants for her birthday! She really wants to learn to hunt. In fact, she has asked for the gun in the link at the top. This week my husband is planning to take her to the range to start learning to shoot etc... He also will get into a hunter safety class and a few other things before he takes her out. We told her if she gets her first kill and helps clean it etc., we will have it made into a fur or whatever they call it. I guess I may be learning all these things with her! She is a Daddy's girl for sure!

Take a moment....

And check out this pic on goofy, I mean, GOOD friend's blog!

Yea!!!

Thank you Lord for convincing us to switch doctors!!!! We went to our appointment today and were called back within 5 minutes. About 3 minutes later the doctor came in. He was thrilled with her progress. He said the wound on her nose is about 20% smaller. He said she will still need a skin graft but that we can hold off on it for a little while longer!! We were so happy to hear that BECAUSE..... the longer we hold off, the more likely she is to get "her" nose back!!!!! Right now, he would need about the size of a stamp amount of skin and she still has a big deep chunk missing. If we let it go another week it will be a smaller graft needed. Using a smaller graft he might be able to take the skin from behind her ear. It will mean a scar but it more likely to be accepted and match the rest of her face PLUS the healing is much easier than taking it from her poor little bottom. We go back next monday and have another check up. We may or may not be able to schedule the surgery then. The other great news..... NO MORE BANDAGES!!! She was even having an allergic reaction to the paper tape. The doctor said her skin was irritated but I think it is the same thing. It was turning red and starting to bleed. SO we have silver sulfidine (Spelling????) to slather all over it and just leave it open. MORE great news.... she was cleared to ride her bike!!! So when we got home, her Daddy took her out on a long, special bike ride. This new doctor is so confident and talks to us about what is taking place. We all feel so much better! Tonight we celebrated by making homemade fruit smoothies. YUM!

Funnest Thing Ever

When the Genius turned six, Nana and Gampy bought her a Mommy and Me cookbook. I got a few recipes out of it today and we tried one for dinner tonight. It was a homemade pizza recipe. I thought it would be really fun and I poured most of the ingredients, but they did ALL the mixing and kneading and forming of the pizza "circles". As they were mixing the dough the Hippie said, "This is the funnest thing I have ever done! We are getting dirty in the kitchen! This is the funnest thing ever!!!" The Genius said, "Well, we did go to Disney World one time." The Hippie said, "Oh yeah, but this is really fun!" By the way, the pizzas were incredible! We made one for my husband and it rivaled his fav. from Papa Johns!! Great night!
Tomorrow... off to the doctor.

Farm Meetings

I will start with a cute story today. We were driving past a farm today. There is a white horse that lives there. Our Hippie has named the horse White Horse. Seems appropriate! We drove by and White Horse and all the cows were standing under a tree. The Hippie said, "Look! White Horse and his cow friends are having a meeting!" I asked, "Oh, what are they meeting about?" She said, "Mmmmm, don't know. Windows are rolled up. Can't hear 'em." Is she cute or what??????
Not much happened today in regards to the dog incident, but we are wondering if we are starting to see some ramifications from it. Today we were just driving along and the Hippie said, "I did not like it when Sissy had her face wrecked by the mean doggie. I was scared she would be losed from us forever." Basically, she was afraid her sissy was going to die. It broke my heart in two to hear her say that. Also, the Genius is being quieter than normal and today she had an accident. She NEVER does.
Moving onto to happier things.... my husband and I were able to snag a 2 hour date tonight and we saw "Night at the Museum 2". It was cute and funny and numbed our minds for a few hours! Plus we had cold diet pepsis and hot buttered popcorn! I also hit some garage sales with my friend. We each found at least a few deals. It was nice getting out!

Quit Wasting My Time

I apologize. My blog will be full of happy posts again soon, but right now it feels like our life has been consumed with the dog attack on the Genius. It really hit me today that this is just not going to be a quick fix. First off.... her nose is being bandaged different. We are using the paper tape instead of the bandaids. Therefore, her saline soaked gauze is drying out quickly. Leading to stuck on gauze which makes her nose bleed a little more every time we pull the gauze off. Therefore, she is now crying every time we pull them off. It is heart wrenching.
Secondly (and this really burns me up), I spent over an hour on the phone today dealing with insurance issues. See, when we went to the ER we were assigned a plastic surgeon. He was the one who stitched her up AND the one whose office we waited at for 4 hours the other day. The same one who did not remember her and the same one who has STILL not called with a date for her "urgent" skin graft. This past Monday we had gone to a different plastic surgeon for a second opinion. His opinion was that the first doctor was doing fine, but he said he was willing to accept the Genius. We chose to stay with the first one, but that was before the aforementioned issues arose. After much discussion we decided to go back to the second doctor. We all felt great with the decision. But I remembered to call and tell them we were switching. It started with a call to the Genius's PCM. They told me to call our insurance and request a referral and to check and see if this second doctor is in our network. I called and spent 39 minutes on the phone. Basically I talked to one person and they said that they could not find this second doctor. They transferred me to another department. That department could not find this doctor and told me that we could switch but that we might end up paying. They finally transferred me again and this lady told me we could not just ask to go see a plastic surgeon. I informed her that we did already have a plastic surgeon and wanted to just switch. She said that the first doctor is NOT listed as a plastic surgeon. My BP was starting to spike by now. I asked her if our insurance would cover this second doctor. Basically they will pay for half so we have pay the rest... at least till we reach settlement. But when doctor #1 says he is not sure he can fix her nose and doctor #2 says he CAN but that it will take time.... what would YOU do for your daughter? Obviously, we are going with doctor 2. But, nothing like feeling like people don't care and nothing like thinking we spent over an hour dealing with this today. Then we had to stop and buy merderma skin cream to help her scarring under her eyes.
I think that covers my complaint for the day.
On the cute side of things...
The Hippie made up two super cute songs and sings them all the time now. They go like this, "Pecker birds they peck, Pecker birds they peck. Peck, peck peck all day. Peck. Peck." "Tweeter birds they tweet. Tweet a lot. Tweet. Tweet. Tweet." Very endearing to listen to while we drive down the road. Also very funny when you are washing the van and hear your husband unknowingly singing, "Pecker birds they peck. Peck, peck, peck." =)

Super Daddy

I totally forgot about this tender moment from our day. The Hippie and I were making a trip to the bathroom. It was in a store and we had found some neat blocks that my husband was buying for the girls. While in the bathroom, the Hippie said, "When we leave here I am going to run give daddy and big hug and kiss!" I said, (thinking of her very, um, exuberant hugs) Make sure you don't knock him over." She said, "Oh I couldn't. My Daddy is too big and strong." Wow. That has got to make him feel incredible. What a statement of trust and belief in her Daddy. Just the way it should be.

We have Counsel

It feels every bit as weird as it sounds. We feel as comfortable as we can but this whole thing still stinks.
Other than that we had a great day! We went to the "big city' with my sister-in-law and we did some shopping. We tried a yummy new place for lunch and for dinner I made a new steak marinade. YUM! The girls were great all day and the weather was real nice! Tomorrow my husband's sister is leaving. It was great having her here and great having all this help. We are still waiting to get the surgery scheduled. Thanks for the prayers!

Our Poor Baby

My sister-in-law came into town today to help us out. We are SO thankful she did. We took the Genius for her check up. It was all kinds of terrible. First, the plastic surgeon had some emergency procedures and was running 2 hours behind. So we sat for about 2 hours waiting and waiting. That was the nice part. We went back and they pulled out all 40+ of her stitches and every single one had embedded in her skin. Every single stitch caused her to scream in pain. She laid there on the table with her big blue eyes silently begging her daddy to help her. It was TERRIBLE! She was screaming and I was bawling. Then he wanted to re-open her nose wound. My husband told me I better sit down and I was so glad I did. He basically took a scalpel and scraped off all the skin that was healing. He took more pictures and then showed us the pictures of the night of the accident. We had seen her then, but these were the pre-surgery pics. We had no idea the extent of the damage until we saw these. They literally took my breath away. They were awful. I just feel SO darn bad for our Genius. She is so obedient and even when they were hurting her she did just what they said. She was shaking and screaming and hyperventilating. To top it off.. she gets to do this ALL again after her skin graft. This really stinks. To make it even better.... we learned she is allergic to band-aid adhesive. So, all the clean parts of her nose are now blistering and bleeding. I am sorry. I know this sounds down, but it was so sad. I want all this behind her and I want to make it all better for her. Her next surgery will be next week sometime. Please keep our girl in your prayers.

Normal Rocks

I think today was as close to normal as possible! The Genius finished her meds. I am still doing her stitches and bandages 3 times a day, but it is easier than it was. She has a weird spot forming on the side her nose. It is hard to explain, but we are very thankful to be going back to the doctor tomorrow to have it looked at. The girls got along great today and the Genius seemed like she was back at about 90% energy! It felt so great! She ate three meals today too! My husband's wonderful sister is coming tomorrow to help us with all we have coming up. I am so thankful she is coming! It will make everything so much easier knowing that the Hippie is home with family and happily entertained etc. Today we got back to home-school, 3 meals at home and my husband even took the girls out to play so I could mop the floors. I made milk shakes for the girls and a homemade blueberry pie for my husband!
Today the Hippie asked another one of her famous questions.... "When someone dies does their body go flat or stay bumpy?" Ya gotta love her!

2nd Opinions and Such

Surgery. Plastic surgeon. Attorney. These are the words that are rapidly becoming familiar here at our house. 1 week ago today, our quiet (or semi quiet) world was turned upside down by the attack on the Genius. Today we went and saw our second plastic surgeon. He was basically a second opinion since the first surgeon was not sure he could fix her nose. This new doctor said that the first doctor is on the right track and that he is correct. The nose will be fixable but not easily nor quickly. We were told that she is ready for the next surgery. We hope to get that scheduled at her next appt. this Wednesday. My husband's sweet sister is coming to live with us for a few days to help out. To complicate matters... the new doctor told us that we need an attorney. He made a reccommendation and after a call from my husband, we now have "counsel". It makes me sick. I guess what it boils down to is that the attorney will help us get a settlement from the home owners insurance. The Genius will need frequent surgeries as she grows. Her nose may never be what it was before the attack. I hate all these new words and hate that we have to think about securing the money for her FUTURE surgeries. Sorry to sound like a downer tonight. I am aware of the blessings in this.... the prayers, the people visiting us, the offers of help and the fact that we still have our daughters. Thanks for the prayers and please keep them coming!

On a happier note, we had a great trip with the girls! We just went away for the one night and it felt great!!!! On our way back today we ate a Famous Dave's (YUM) and went to a Bass Pro Shop. On our way in we were able to stop and pet two dogs. The Genius was tentative but did pet them. Afterwards she said, "Mommy, they did not put their teeth on me!" At Famous Dave's we saw another dog and all had a moment of terror when he rolled onto his back for her to pet his tummy. She jumped about a mile high. Poor kid. We watched a dvd in the van today called "Duma". It is an old movie about a cheetah. At the end, the boy who raised the cheetah has to tell it bye. I looked back and the Hippie was bawling. I said, "Are you sad about the cheetah?" She said, "No my tummy hurts!" But she was not warm or anything. A few minutes later I said, "Were you sad about the cheetah?" She started with the tears again and said, "no." We realized... she had no idea how to explain what she was feeling. She was SO sad the cheetah had to leave the boy but had no words to express it. It was adorable and very, very sad! But also very cute!!!!

Break Time

Our whole family needed a day like today. We got up and had church. The Genius got more prayers there. We stopped back by the house and got our luggage and medical supplies and hit the road. We came to a mall and had an outdoor lunch and my sweet hubby got me a Karen Kingsbury book!!!! We found a neat little cafe with homemade desserts and all had something yummy. We walked a mile or so around downtown and then went to a horse race. We were all laughing SO hard! There were 12 horses and we all picked a random number (though in my defense my HUSBAND looked at the stats). The girls picked 6 and 12. My husband chose 3 and I picked 4. We saw the race and the girls were WAY into it. I was like, "where is 4????" Oh, he was there. At the very end. VERY far, like 1/4 mile behind every other horse AND he looked like he was dying. It was so funny! For awhile we all forgot about the past week and it felt like a normal family outing.... just changing bandages and keeping up with meds. My husband treated us all to a super yummy dinner and then we came back to the hotel. The girls enjoyed our super cool shower here... with no time limit! =)

Crazy

Guess what I did today? Called the local police! We were outside and these guys came by. They offered a free room cleaned (the carpeting). We told them no, but they gave us a flier and walked to the next house. I remembered a friend talking about this being a scam. I walked inside and looked up the company and they were not in our phone book. My husband got their car make and plate numbers. I called the police and as soon as I said the company name, he said, "Where do you live?" He was in here in under 5 minutes, rolled down the window and said, "Which way did they go?" We showed him and he FLEW out of here. My husband said it must be real scammers because that police man was on the hunt. Wow. It was crazy!
The Genius is still doing good. We played outside a lot today and it was WAY too much for her. She was asleep by 7. She is still not eating very much. We are a little concerned because she is not having ANY pain at ALL. Now, this could be a blessing from God, but we are worried about possible nerve damage? She saw her first dog today too and ran screaming in terror. Poor kid. She is such a pitiful little site.

Love is in the Air

Those flowers were from my aunt, uncle and Granny. The survival kit was from a friend from a wonderful group I belong to called Christian Military Wives. She did not send her name, just her love and prayers and this cool/yummy kit! We also got a bear and balloons from an aunt, uncle and cousins in Michigan, coloring books from a different aunt in Michigan and numerous cards and calls. We appreciate ALL of us! Thank you SOOOOOO much!

22

Maybe it should be titled...Tylenol with codine.
We have been giving the Genius her tylenol only at night, right before bed. She is such a restless sleeper and good sleep is important to her healing. So tonight, I went to check on the girls. The Genius sat and and put her nose right up to mine and said, "22". I said, "What?" She said, "22 animals and dolls are in my bed with me." Boom, laid back down and was asleep. Just had to share!

Greasy Hair and Stitches

The Genius is so cute these days...in a grungy sort of way =). Her hair is always greasy from the bacitrican (????) we put on her stitches, she has the shaved bald spot, and her little black eye. She looks so pitiful. Tonight we came home and on our doorstep were 2 HUGE balloon/flower arrangements, 2 cards and a set of coloring books. The look on her face could have melted ALL of Antarctica. She absolutely lit up. All that grunge faded away and she looked just like her every day regular Genius self.
We had their weekly therapy today. Afterwards we hit a mall to walk around for awhile. It is a real neat outdoor one. Along the way they have all kinds of flowers and bushes. They girls we walking and put their ears next to a bush. I asked what they were doing and they said, "They bushes are singing!" There were speakers hidden and the girls thought it was the bushes and flowers! It was SO sweet!
We have an appointment Monday for a second opinion from a different plastic surgeon. Other than that we are just getting ready for a four day weekend!

Can I Swim Now?

The Genius is still being a real trooper. It is really surprising us. I can only believe it is because of all the prayers going up for her from literally around the world! We are pretty sure she has been prayed for is just about every state and several countries. She has been on now at least 10 church prayer chains and was prayed for live on a Christian radio station. Trust me, we FEEL these prayers. She usually throws up when we give her liquid medicine and she is swallowing this NASTY stuff like it's candy. She has kept it all down even though it tastes so gross. This morning neither she, nor I, cried when changing her bandages and cleaning all the stitches.
She has even given me a cute story to blog about. She was asking me yesterday if her nose was well enough to go swimming yet. I told her no, not for awhile yet. I explained the doctor did not want her swimming in pools. I told her we could put a little water in their tiny pool to cool off on hot days. She said, "But if we get another flood in our ditch I can swim in the mud water huh?" That just tore me up! I explained to her about trying to keep germs out of her boo-boo. She said, "well, the doctor said my days were going to be a little different, but he was wrong. (insert some small sniffles) They are going to be a LOT different." I felt bad for her, but also thought it was funny that she thought a flooded ditch with mud running through it would be sanitary!! Today we begin a 4 day weekend together!!! We are looking forward to it and trying to come up with things to do that the Genius can handle.

The Whole Terrible Story

Monday dawned a beautiful day here. We went to swim lessons, painted outside and the girls rode bikes with their 3 friends. The girls were great! I made a special new recipe and my husband came home to eat with us. We all innocently loaded into our van and drove to lessons. The Hippie got the horse and was riding. The Genius was sitting about 2 feet in front of us on the grass petting a dog. A border collie. A thousand times we have replayed what happened next. Both my husband and I struggle with feeling guilty. I honestly cannot type without crying. The dog, Jim-Bo was laying on his back so the genius could rub his tummy. She leaned down to whisper to the dog and before you could blink Jim-Bo was on top of our baby. The snarling was awful and the image of him tearing into her and trying to shove her head side to side. I just keep praying for God to erase it. It is awful and it seems whenever I am trying to relax that is all I can hear. My husband is the hero in this awful story. He was up and on top of the dog before the first scream tore out of me. I ran screaming to the Genius and picked her up and ran. Someone got the Hippie off the horse. There just so happened to be a vet there. She was wearing a pretty little riding outfit. We both know that God put here there just to help us. She told me to follow her to her truck. She yanked out a bunch of medical stuff and calmly said, "I cannot fix this we need a little trip to the hospital." The Genius and I were both still crying. I ran with her to van and put her in her seat. The vet hopped in and started treating and bandaging her. My husband got the Hippie into the van and she buckled herself in. Right now, my husband just told me what he did. I guess he threw the dog off her and saw me grab her. He saw the vet helping us and thankfully he had the presence of mind to remember our other daughter. He looked over and everyone had deserted the field and the Hippie was all alone on top of that big horse! Thank God he remember her. I honestly would have left. You have to understand how incredible my husband is in an emergency. The girls could not have a better daddy. That was another way we knew God was watching was the fact that my husband WAS there and not gone to the field. Anyways, he said he got her off the horse and I did remove her helmet and grabbed their bottles of gatorade (don't ask me why but God knew what He was doing). I ran back and hopped in the van and the vet was in their sitting in front of the Genius. She rode with us and kept talking to her and treating her the whole way. She had a very calm voice and demeanor. I have no idea who she was or how to thank her, but God was watching out for us. My husband put on the hazard lights and flew (safely) to the ER. I grabbed the Genius and ran inside. I already had my military id card out and handed it to them and kinda cried out, "Um, our daughter was attacked by a dog!" They rushed us back and it seemed like there were people everywhere. They got her height and weight and took us back to triage. The owner of the dog came and told us Jim-Bo was current on all shots and he took the lady vet back with him. Oh, the gatorade. I was not joking when I said God knew what we needed. The vet was worried about the swelling and wanted ice. We did not have any, but remember those bottles I grabbed? They were still cold, so she used those to try and help ease the swelling. Back to the ER, I was in, I'll say, medium panic mode. I was trying SO hard to calm myself but I was having trouble breathing. There was just so much blood. All over me, my husband and our daughter hair was no longer blonde. Her whole head was dark red and was dripping everywhere. Blood was pouring out her nose. I was terrified. My husband is the most amazing person. He was asking things that I was too shook up to think of. We called our friend who lives close to us and she came to get the hippie. I guess we were in triage for about 1 hour or so. The plastic surgeon came down to photograph the wounds and they were not sure they could treat them at that hospital. They took her back for x-rays to make sure she had not fractured her skull or the inside of her nose. My husband left to go get the hippie, bring me back clothes, phone chargers etc. He packed a bag of our daughter's favorite things. Then he took the hippie to our friends house. They know her real well and she thinks my friend's husband is really cool! They kept her and my husband came back. While he was gone, they took me and the genius upstairs to where they wait for the operating room to be ready. It was such a surreal time. All these nurses kept talking to us and asking questions. They gave her a cute little monkey, we call him Hospital Monkey. He was able to go to surgery with her. I was doing much better by this point and she was being so good. You cannot even imagine. If you know me, you know I get woozy at the sight and smell of blood. I almost passed out when my sister got her ears pierced. This was very hard. Both my husband and I had trouble making eye contact because it looked like her nose was gone. We could see cartilage and plus, it was OUR baby. While he was gone they took her back for surgery. That was so hard. I had to walk away from her and she kept flashing me the "I love you" sign. A nurse walked me over the waiting room, where I was alone waiting for my hubby. He came back and we hugged and cried and starting talking through everything and the fact that our daughter was in surgery. They called us several times to update us. There were 5-6 people working on her. After 2 1/2 hours it was over. About 30 minutes after that we got to go see her. She was so pitiful. She was out of it from the meds but wanted me to hold her. She had been intubated and wanted a drink but was not allowed. The doctor explained her injuries. She ended up with over 40 stitches on her head and eyes and nose. He was not able to fix her nose. The cut was too deep and too much dog bacteria. He told us we will have to come back in 2-3 weeks for a skin graft for her. We got checked into her room about 2 in the morning. They gave her some more meds through her iv and checked all her vitals. She was running a fever and her heart rate was VERY high. It was making her body look like it was shaking because her heart was beating so hard and fast. She was sleeping and her heart rate was about 145 beats per minute. They told us it was normal, but it did not help us feel better. She slept through the night. People were in and out of the room every 30 minutes or so. My husband slept sitting up and I laid down on this very short cot thing. About 5 we woke up for the day. I got in bed with the genius and we watched tv together. All day long we were literally flooded with visitors! Some we did not even know personally! You have no idea how that blessed us. It was astounding! Last night we got to bring her home, but I kinda wish we were still there. She is starting to get back to normal, she is playing with the Hippie, but we have to change her dressing and clean her stitches 3 times a day. It hurts her and it kills us. Plus it is gross and scary. I will end up doing it alone and I honestly would rather drive in 3 times a day and let someone else do it. Last night she said, "Mommy, I think that doggie did not hear me right. I was saying, 'Oh, you are good boy', but he thought I said, 'bad boy' huh? That is why he put his teeth on me or maybe he thought I was someone else." Oh, it hurt to hear her say that. You cannot even imagine how good and brave she was through all this. She broke down 1 time and it was because she learned that she cannot finish her swim lessons. She just hugged her legs and sat there crying quietly. If you know her, you will know why that broke our hearts worse than if she had screamed at us.
So far she does not show any hesitation about anything. She hates us changing her bandages because it hurts her a LOT. She is sad about not riding her bike.
If you have been praying here is what we need...
1. Complete healing for her in every way. Right now they are not sure if they can fix her nose. Even though it is a vanity issue, we want our baby back whole. I don't really care if it does sound selfish. It is what we are praying for and trusting God for.
2. For my husband and I. To be able to bandage her and do it well and safely. And for God to ease the nerves I am having. The genius is handling it better than me right now =)
3. For the Hippie. I know things don't feel normal to her and she has been a little slighted on the attention scale. She is not complaining at all! Her only complaint is that we have to find her a new horse to ride! =)

The fourth would just be praise for all of God's blessings through this. The family and friends who rallied around us. I think we were on 8-10 church prayer chains. We had countless emails, calls and visitors. The vet who happened to be there. My quick as lightning hubby. The gatorade. The lack of traffic as we rushed to the ER. Just everything good that has happened.

I think that about sums up the story. I am not posting pics on her because a lot of people read this with their kids. If you want some I will email them to you, but I am going to post them on facebook in the album Dog Attack.

Thanks!

P.S. I forgot to mention... they are NOT putting the dog down. They will still have him. AND will still be offering riding lessons to kids.