Crazy day!

The day started off unlike others. Gary took the kids to school and returned and informed me that my tire was flat. He asked if I had any plans today or if I needed to go anywhere and I told him no. He told me he would get my tire fixed for me when he got off work. So I began my list of chores and thought nothing of my unusable. car. At around 10:45, we realized our dog Chloe was no longer inside so I asked Evan to go outside and call her. He followed directions but left the door open for his little brother and they ran across the street to the neighbors house where Chloe's friend "Ace" the german shepherd lives. After ringing the doorbell several times and pounding on the door-waking up their infant and only child-Noelle came to the door and saw my kids. She had Ace on a leash and come out to the kids on her front walk. I realized after a couple minutes that both my kids were gone so I came outside to find out what had happened to them. I went to the side of my porch and saw my neighbor with both our dogs and my boys talking to her. Ace had Chloe's bone in his mouth and Evan tried to get it back so he could come back home. When that was unsuccessful, Noelle retrieved it and handed it to him so he could come home. Well Ace was overly excited and obviously didn't want this boy to have the bone so he lunged at him and bit his upper arm. Evan began screaming and Noelle quickly pulled Ace off as I got off the porch and began walking towards him. I didn't think it was anything to be alarmed about, just a small playful nip maybe, but when he got to me I lifted up his sleeve and saw the bite mark and the fat hanging out of the area his tooth had torn through. I immediately began to cry and Noelle came over to see his arm. She was so helpful and felt so terrible. She offered to drive me as I told her I needed to get to the urgent care and I had no vehicle-of all the days to have a flat tire! She offered to watch my baby while I took him in. I realized that my friend Jen was going to be at my house in minutes to drop off Tanner so I flagged her down and asked for a ride. She quickly and willingly obliged and dropped me and Evan off at the instacare in Saratoga. Once I got there, the Doctor informed me we would have to strap him down and I knew that would not work with Evan. I asked if there was anything they could give him to help calm him down and they told me no. I explained my concern and they told me it would be best if we went to the ER. So my dear friend Ashly drove out and picked us up and I called my pediatrician to ask if they had any veracid on hand and if we could come there-thinking about the ER costs made me want to vomit- and they said they did and to bring him in. So Ashly drove me down to my pediatricians office and the sweetest people work there-angels! This sweet nurse named Mindy helped Evan and Dr loret looked over his wound. They called the ER and spoke with a trauma surgeon who advised them to use the veracid and irrigate the wound with an entire liter of saline before loosely stitching it closed. The bite mark went all the way down to the muscle but there was no nerve damage. It took about 1 and a 1/2 hours for the whole procedure, but he looks good now. There are three stitches in the larger wound and one small stitch in another. Other than that there is going to be a lot of bruising and swelling and there are scabs where the other teeth made contact. Now we just have to worry about infection. I have been an emotional wreck all day and when we got home, our neighbors came over to talk to us about the situation. That was almost as hard as the procedure. We are not going to file a report because I really feel the dog wouldn't have bitten him if he hadn't had the bone. They are the sweetest neighbors and always have him on a leash and are super careful with their dog. With that said, our family has made a rule that no one is allowed to play with Ace anymore. I am just glad that Evan is okay and pray that we won't have any problems with infection. He is on a couple of drugs so we will see and hope that they keep the germies away. Being a mom is the hardest thing in the world, especially a mom to four crazy, adventurous, curious and intelligent boys. I feel so blessed and so cursed all at once. It will probably shorten my life span by about twenty years with all the stress they cause me. Hold your little ones close and kiss them often. I am grateful I get to go to bed now and leave this day behind me. I hope I never have another one like it but chances are pretty good that that hope is poorly misplaced.