The One Where Ruben Is Viciously Attacked

Yesterday was a day for the books. It rates as one of the hardest days I have had in a long, long time.

The morning started with a visit to the OB. That was fine-thank goodness! My BP is fine, weight fine, her heart rate was good and I am measuring right on track.

At 1 we headed to Dr. Price's office for Brian's 3 year old well check. Brian was amazingly good. He stepped right up on the scale which he has NEVER done before. He weighed in at 38 pounds-94th percentile. He is height was a little trickier. He didn't understand why he had to put his feet up against the wall along with the rest of his body. Nurse Kim decided to measure him laying down and he measured 41.5 inches-99th percentile! Dr. Price thinks he'll be 6'2" or 6'3" as an adult.

After some confusion over his records, Brian was given a Hep B vaccination (this is where the day went sour). Upon arriving home and entering his stats in the baby book, I realized he had been given a 4th Hep B vaccination. They are only supposed to get 3. I called immediately and spoke with the nurse who was pretty sure it would not be harmful to him, but wanted to check with the doctor. I consulted the internet and text my Aunt Sarah (also a pedi). Google didn't find any ill effect and later Sarah assured me he would be okay as well. Whew!

At about 5 we decided to take Ruben on a walk. Brian likes to stroll the neighborhood and hold the leash while walking at a Brian pace (really slow). We were enjoying our walk...I was enjoying listening to Brian's speech-"Come on Ru, Ru!" "Sidewalk, Mama." I really just wanted to take a freaking walk with my dog and my kid.

Anyway, as you know from the title, things went down hill fast. As we turned the corner around the block I noticed a lady knocking on the front door of one of the neighbor's houses. I heard dogs barking inside and out of instinct I took the leash from Brian-afraid Ruben would bolt toward the dogs and Brian would be pulled over.

Never could I have imagined what actually happened.

A big dog (I recalled it as white, but have since been corrected-it was a brown boxer) ran out of the house, straight toward Ruben and before I could do anything had Ruben in the air by the nape of his neck. The owner ran out of the house and jumped on his dog, trying madly to pull the dog off of Ru. Brian was standing there in complete shock and horror while I pulled on the leash trying madly to help Ruben get free. The whole time I was screaming like a madwoman drawing 6-7 neighbors out of their homes to see what was going on. The dog just kept flinging Ruben into the air, Ruben was yelping, I was yelling major profanities at the owner and the dog-I really thought the dog was going to kill Ruben. I have never seen anything more violent in person in my life.

At some point the dog finally let go, the owner swept him into the house and we were able to get a hold of Ruben and check him. He had a pretty large puncture wound on his neck, but otherwise seemed okay. Of course somewhere in all of this our doctor called back to say Brian was not going to get Hep B. Are you kidding me?

Shawn had forgotten his phones, so I tried to call the work line with no luck. I called Mom and she flew over to my rescue. A neighbor got me the number for our vet, an ice pack for my fingers (have some pretty bad rope burn from the leash), and a bowl of water for Ruben. I called the vet and luckily our good friend Kate answered the phone. She said to bring him right in.

Somewhere in there I did get Shawn and he ended up meeting us at the vet. It turns out all of the skin on Ruben's neck was ripped away from the tendons, so he had to have surgery this morning. We left him at the vet last night, afraid that Brian would torture him here. The surgery involves 1, maybe two drain tubes that he will wear for 3-7 days. They will drain out onto the floor, so unfortunately he will be confined to the kitchen while he is wearing them. They also had to shave him from his ears to half way down his back. I just called for a status update and he is doing fine post surgery. I am sure the vet will elaborate on this when we pick up Ruben at 5.

The dog owner gave Mom his name, number and address last night, so I will be passing that along to the vet so he can cover Ruben's bills. We are still trying to decide whether or not to report the dog. What would you do?

Tell you what if it weren't for our beach vacation and the excitement of Lilah, this summer would really stink. Between the stupid health department banning our pool time and not being able to take a walk in my own damn neighborhood, I am kind of over it!

The good in all of this is that Brian stayed put. He didn't run away or into the street which would have made things much worse. I feel terrible that I couldn't protect him from seeing what he saw, but I am hoping that he is young enough that he won't remember. Also, I'm pretty much okay aside from emotional wounds and the rope burn, and Lilah is also okay. Ruben will be okay after some healing. Our neighbors came pouring out last night to check on us. The whole neighborhood knows what happened and they are all concerned. It's nice to have people who live nearby and have your back!

Please say a prayer for Ruben (if you pray for dogs!). I am sure he's going to have some pain and with the 4th coming up, he's going to be even more agitated now that he'll have healing to deal with on top of fireworks. Also, please pray that I can keep Brian a safe distance away from him! Thanks!