The Attack

Well... where to begin with THIS post?

Chris and I get home from work last night and our main focus of the night is in getting the kids relaxed, fed and in bed by 9pm. The two high-schoolers wanted to get up VERY early to get ready for school... Justin at 4am and Kayla at 4:30am. Amanda has gone to her friend Jeannine's house. Amanda used to work with Jeannine (who is our age). Jeannine has a cousin (Gene) who is interested in dating Amanda and he was cooking a meal for her, then they were going to watch a movie. Chris and I took a relaxing dip in the pool for about 30 min, then at 6pm or so I go in to begin dinner. On the menu for the evening was fried chicken, mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. I just get started and the phone rings. It's Amanda, and she's crying her eyes out. She tells me that she is at the Emergency Room (my heart drops) and she wants me to be there with her.

Apparently she had finished dinner with Jeannine and they were sitting watching a movie. Her dog (Elvis), a Labrador mix (mixed with what she doesn't know), had been loving on her... pushing into her as if to say 'pet me', licking her, etc. Then for no reason, the dog then took a deep breath and bit into her cheek, hard. No growl, nothing. He then began to shake her. Gene punched the crap out of the dog trying to get him to release her, which it did. But Amanda has a horrid bite on her face and it was bleeding very badly. Jeannine lives across from UCH Carrollwood, so they ran her over to the emergency room. She was bleeding very badly so they took her back immediately, and that's when she called me. When we arrived we saw her... here is the photo we took with our phone:

Yeah... not good, huh?

The Physician's Assistant saw her last night and put 4 sutures in her big gashes. But a plastic surgeon never saw it first.

There's so much confusion now. Jeannine paid $400 towards her ER visit, but she still needs to fill a $120 prescription. She needs to see a plastic surgeon who won't take the homeowners policy - he wants cash up front. She's missing work for a few days. I finally convinced Amanda to to to see an attorney. She has an appointment with them on Monday. The first thing they need to know however is if Jeannine has the homeowners that will cover a dog bite. We're still waiting to hear about that. Of course, Amanda doesn't have a vehicle to get to the appointment... and she should have seen the plastic surgeon before then. In the meantime, Animal Control has called Jeannine and she is now bringing her dog in to be euthanized. She never gave him shots and they need to check him for Rabies. Add this to the severity of the bite and they need to euthanize him. Very sad.

In the meantime, Amanda is at home... in pain.... feeling lost and confused.... and not sure what to do next. She's worried about sueing her friend. She's sad that the dog had to be put down. She's upset that she's not able to work right now. And I"m sure she is feeling as if she has no control over ANY of it.

I forgot to tell you about the kids during all of this. We explained the emergency to them, and THEY prepared their own dinner (minus the broccoli), ate, cleaned up, and went to bed on their own. I was VERY proud of them. They even got up this morning on their own. (Thank goodness because me waking up at 4am trying to drag them out of bed was not at the top of my list of 'things I want to do'. LOL)

I'll let you know more when I know something. In the meantime, say some prayers for Amanda. Her face is really bruised and swollen and she's in a lot of pain. She doesn't have the relationship with Jesus that Chris and I do... so I know she's feeling lost and alone, with no faith. I remember that feeling, and it pains me to see her going through it. But I'm sure that prayers will help.