I was supposed to be writing a fun birthday recap post today, but our weekend didn't go as planned. Fletcher ended up in the Emergency Room Friday night and we're all still shaken up about it.
I always share the highs and lows of life here so I'm coming here today to document this..
Let's rewind back to Friday night. It was Olive's birthday and we'd had a wonderful week celebrating her. We were playing outside and enjoying the gorgeous weather. We played in the driveway and some neighbors stopped to talk to us like they often do.
We were visiting, talking about Olive's birthday presents at the end of our driveway. They had their dog with them like usual. He had a tennis ball and Fletcher was carefully throwing it back and forth with the dog while he was on his leash. Fletch was being careful and we were all right there.
I've replayed the next few minutes in my head a million times since Friday night.
It all happened so fast.
****Fletcher was attacked by our neighbor's dog. We'd love your prayers for his healing. If you don't want to read a play by play of the events of that awful night, stop reading here and we'd really appreciate you sending all your positive thoughts, prayers and well wishes his way!!****
Fletcher was done playing and we were all just standing there wrapping up our conversations. He took one step forward and out of nowhere the neighbor's dog lunged and him. The dog bit down on his right arm and drug him out to the street.
I've never seen an attack like this. It was like something out of a movie. The dog lunged to attack and then snatched Fletcher away from us. We all screamed. They jerked the dog back, he released Fletcher in the street and we are so thankful that the dog let him go quickly.
Fletcher started screaming grabbing his arm. Kevin was right there to scoop him up in the road. I was holding Leo and trying to keep Olive away from the chaos. When he got him back into our driveway, we quickly realized the severity of everything. His arm had multiple puncture wounds and the blood was coming out of his arm like a fountain. The dog was taken home with one of his owners.
Kevin handles emergencies really well and is super clear headed. I am so glad he was right there, too. I felt like I was moving and thinking in slow motion. He took off his t-shirt right away and made a tourniquet around Fletcher's arm to try to stop the bleeding and stabilize his arm a bit. I ran back to the house with Leo & Olive to get towels. The dog owners were devastated. They are our friends and we talk to them regularly.
Nearby neighbors heard all the commotion and came running to help. They took care of the other kids while we tried to regroup and figure out the quickest way to get Fletcher to the hospital. Fletcher was shaking, shivering and so upset. He couldn't even process what had just happened to him. He kept asking to please stay home and just put bandaids over the bites. He hates bandaids so it was heartbreaking for him to offer to get those instead. We reminded him that he'd need some medicine and smart doctors to help his arm to heal. We were all in shock. Olive stayed with a neighbor. I loaded up all the boys and zoomed to the ER. I called my parents crying on the way there and asked them to pray for Fletcher.
Due to COVID-19 only one parent was allowed at the ER with Fletcher. I anticipated this and it broke my heart. Fletcher was begging me to go with him and I knew I couldn't. That was impossible to explain in the moment. I dropped Kevin and Fletcher off at the ER doors and cried my whole way back home. I hated leaving him there, but I knew Kevin would be the one who could handle this really tough situation best. I'm also still nursing the baby and couldn't leave him.
I got home, retrieved Olive and we tried to settle down. We talked about the events of the evening and tried to focus on the positive parts of her birthday instead of the attack. We prayed for Fletcher and just hung out for a bit. She said she wished there was a way to delete memories from your brain. I called some friends to explain what was going on and asked them to come over and stay with Olive and Leo. I knew I'd have to go and get the boys at some point. They dropped everything and came over right away. They helped with both kids while I was trying to stay connected with Kevin at the ER.
Kevin was texting me pictures and keeping me in the loop. Fletcher had arm x-rays done and thankfully nothing was broken. I was so focused on all the blood that I hadn't even stopped to consider that this 60lb dog could have broken his arm in addition to biting him. He had multiple puncture wounds and some would require stitches. Everything had to be cleaned out and sterilized. Kevin was asking me to pray for Fletcher because he was so upset and in lots of pain. I was just nauseous about the whole thing. This was his first ER visit where I couldn't be there to comfort him.
He later told me that each wound had to have a shot in it, be cleaned and flushed out. He said it was just awful watching Fletcher go through that part. I was hoping he could have some kind of sedation or sedative, but the doctors told Kevin they don't like to go that route.
Finally around 12:15 Kevin called and said they were getting closer to getting released. Fletcher had gotten 6-8 stitches in several different spots. Fletcher was in really good spirits and was super chatty with me on the phone telling me all about this blue stuff that was now in his body (stitches), that shots made him cry super hard (he had to get a shot in every puncture wound), how he had to be super careful, that his belly hurt (he ended up with claw scratches on his belly) and that he could not wait to see MOMMY!! I waited in the parking lot until 1:30 when they were FINALLY released.
The hospital is understaffed right now. It's not busy at all and that made everything move so slow. Darn COVID! I carefully gave Fletcher hugs and kisses and he fell asleep almost immediately when he got in the car. We got home with him at about 2:00am. Thanked our friends for staying with the other kids and put him to bed.
Kevin and I debriefed about the day. Cried and just felt awful. Fletcher is the sweetest, friendliest guy and we just hated seeing him go through this. Kevin was sore from carrying Fletcher around all evening, sore from holding him down along with 3 other nurses for the procedures and tense from all the stress.
There's nothing we could have done to anticipate this attack.
This was a dog we were familiar with. We were being careful and watching Fletcher closely. We were in our driveway and all right there when it happened. This was a total freak accident, but we were/still are having major parent guilt about it. As parents, you just want to protect your kids from everything, but this attack felt extra awful. The dog owners/our friends have done their best to make amends, apologize and no longer have the dog.
Given a few days to reflect on the attack, we are so thankful that the dog let go of him fairly quickly causing puncture wounds vs rips/tears. Fletcher's injuries could have been catastrophic had he been shaken, been bit multiple times, etc. We are thankful that the dog bit his arm instead of his neck or face. We are really thankful his arm didn't get broken and that his wounds will heal. We are very thankful for all the friends that stepped in to help us that night.
We've decided that we will be extra cautious around dogs and our kids from now on. I know that most dogs are good dogs, but after witnessing this, we will always have our kids be friendly, but extra careful around dogs. A lot of people are out and about with their dogs now that the weather is nicer so we'll have plenty of opportunities to practice being careful around dogs this Summer.
Prayer requests:
1. Fast healing for Fletcher. He can't take a bath or swim until everything heals.
2. Easy removal of his stitches. He had a really tough time when he got his staples removed last summer so I'm dreading this a bit.
3. Healing for all of us. We're all traumatized. I don't want him to fear dogs, just to be careful around them from now on.
Kevin texted me these pictures from the hospital. I wont publish any of his arm.
Fletch had gotten so upset and cried so hard that he wore himself out.
Ready to see Mommy!!! 1:30am
The boys slept in until noon the next day. Fletcher woke up in pain in the middle of the night, but was able to fall back to sleep after some medicine.
My parents surprised Fletcher with the sweetest balloon bouquet and bear on Saturday. He loved it.
We have to keep his arm wrapped and check on his bites every day. We are trying hard to make sure he takes it easy. Puppy got a matching arm wrap. He also gave himself "treasure map" tattoos on both of his legs :)
We tried to take it easy the rest of the weekend to recoup from this scary, scary experience.
