Sometimes in life somethings shouldn't be messed with. Having my 8 year old miss his last friend party with his buddies was one of them but apparently life is meant to test me these days and pretty sure this was the final straw for me.
March 30th started off as a busy day. We had planned a party with Jacob and 9 of his friends to go bowling for his birthday. It was going to be a blast!! I had been up late the night before making treat bags of caramel corn and making sure all the party stuff was in order. We had family and friends all contribute to make sure I had yummy party snacks. It was super appreciated. I was sitting on the computer around 1:00pm, signing the kids up for something when the phone rang........this is when the day went terribly wrong......
The name on the phone was that of Jacob's best friend.......a number we see often as my kids are always at this house. I thought nothing of it as the boys had been playing all morning. When I answered it was Melanie and you could hear it in her voice.......the sound of fear....the sound of something really bad......and then she said Jacob had been attacked by a dog and to get over there FAST. Time suddenly froze........I was running around the house trying to find keys, trying to organize what kids I had in the house, trying to phone help......nothing but panic. I got over there fairly fast only to find a trail of blood leading to the couch. My initial reaction to looking at his cuts was that this isn't too bad.......but then I was informed her had bigger ones in the back of his head. This upset me beyond. How could this happen to him?? I was mad. Everything in my body just hurt......how was I going to make this better and fast???
My in-laws weren't far away when they got phone call to come. They came straight to the Ryan's house. Once we got the bleeding under control Darrell drove me to the hospital, Charlotte went to the house and Melanie took over in throwing my son's birthday party. Things are tight for us budget wise right now so cancelling wasn't really an option as replacing the food and even finding another time was just impossible. I am forever grateful for the friends that I have in my life but especially grateful for the one who threw my son's 8th birthday party without him even there.
We got to the hospital fairly fast and went through all the questions they ask. The check in nurse was extremely sweet to Jacob as he was worried he would have none of the chips from his party.....she brought him a bag in the waiting room. It cheered him up. We were in emergency for about 4 hours. The toughest part was the cleaning and stitching. It was pretty scary for Jacob and it hurt a lot. He ended up with 9 stitches. He probably could have had a few more but at that point he wouldn't have made it. We came home to a fairly quiet house as it was piano recital night. My Mom had taken the big girls to their recital. Jacob was a little bummed to have missed it but that was just his luck that day. He was soon greeted by his best buddy Michael with all the leftovers from the party.....including wonderful gifts from his friends. That helped cheer him up after a long and scary day.
So you wonder how it happened.......when Jacob was playing at Michael's house they decided that they wanted their friend Austin to come out and play. Michael won't go to the door because the dog had nipped/scratched him in the past so fearless Jacob went. When the door was opened the dog pushed past the 6 year old and knocked Jacob over and attacked his head. The Mom had to pull the dog off of his head. Jacob then just bolted back to Michaels house with blood everywhere. The dog was a Great Dane.......this is what disgusts me the most right now.....
1. The dog is STILL at the house
2. The dog's life is more important then my child
3. The parents have NEVER called or anything since the attack and I have talked with them many time
4. Did you catch #3??? Why the heck would you not call??? I'm sure the visit they had from the RCMP might not have helped but this is my child we are talking about.....he is not replaceable.
5. The city made $350 off it and I won't even start to tally up what it cost me to have a party for my own child and him not be there......not to mention the emotional side of it all.
6. Did you also see they still have the dog?? She has a muzzle order and has to be microchipped but the muzzle doesn't have to be on in the house so if she escaped again the same thing could happen. These people let their oldest child stay home all the time from atleast the age or 5-6 so I'm sure the dog isn't getting what it needs.
7. Can you tell I'm still livid about it all????? I am a mother and will fight for my kids!!!! You can only imagine how the conversation with his father went since he is on the other side of the country.
How I met him......
Bandaged up in the ER
Blood still soaking through....
Trying to be brave.....
Getting the bites cleaned out.....this was NOT fun....
The was the biggest gash.......it was brutal......but this isn't enough to seize the dog from the home? Guess it had to be more fatal???
When his head was shaved we found 2 more bites......
The iPhone was trying to distract.....
Two spots in the front that had stitches too......
