Maddie's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day Part I

“the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry”

The second weekend of May we had the biggest plans for our trip to College Station. My cousin Rosie graduated Friday night. I got to see her walk the stage for the third time to become Dr. Rosalinda Castillo-Reyes. Saturday we had planned to visit with all of my cousins and their kids and go to Rosie's graduation party. Sunday was Mother's Day and I was so looking forward to a pedicure with my mom and maybe getting pampered by my hubby and kids for the day. It was going to be the BEST weekend!

Here I am with Leilani at her mommy's graduation

Cut to Saturday morning, May11, 2013. We spent the night at my mother-in-law Suzy's house. We slept great there and were relaxing enjoying coffee, cereal, the news and each other. Maddie and Maddie were loving being at "Honey's" house. The next thing I know I hear screams coming from Suzy's room. At the time I had no idea what was happening. From what I understand Maddie was playing on Suzy's bed. She fell off the bed and and landed on Kale. That is when he started to attack her. Shawn jumped up, ran to her room and saw that Kale was on top of Maddie. The other dog Macey started to bite Kale too. Thank God, Shawn was able to pull Kale off of Maddie and threw him outside. This was not easy to do, Kale was a huge dog, about 100 lbs. Through all this, I can't even remember the details, I panicked. Thank God Shawn kept a clear mind and we rushed to the ER immediately. Maddie had obvious head wounds and was crying, but I knew she would be okay.

So Shawn, myself, Maddie and Max were at the ER, all in our pajamas. All shaken up, Shawn and I were covered in blood. Max was scared. They rushed Maddie to a room, started her on and IV and gave her ketamine. I called my parents to come help with Max and just help us out. It was all so surreal. The nurse was great and she helped to calm me down. I was either in tears of very matter-of-fact about the whole thing. Shawn was my rock through it all. He held Maddie while they did the stiches on her neck and ear as well as the 16 staples she needed on her head. With the anesthesia she felt some discomfort, but it made her sleepy which I think was good to let her sleep. After they finished with the staples and stiches, the doctor decided to do a CT scan since one of the wounds on the back of her head was pretty deep. I was able to hold her hand through it all. She did great and went right back to sleep when they were done. She was scared though. It was so hard to see my baby go through so much pain. 

This is from  after her CT scan when she was finally resting

The CT scan results showed that Maddie did have a small fracture to her skull and the doctor told us that we could take her home and observe her or be transferred to Texas Children't Hospital in Houston for observation. Shawn and I didn't know what to do, but we decided that point we to go ahead and be transferred to Texas Children's Hospital for observation because for fear of any complications. 

I rode with Maddie to Houston in the ambulance. She looked so uncomfortable, but she slept most of the way. The EMT was great and shared that she had been attacked by a dog when she was young. Since this incident, so many people have shared their stories of dog bites. When we finally got there we had to go through their ER system. We were visited by the general pediatric doctor, Neuro and ENT specialists. They talked about more CT scans, infection, CSF leakage, etc. We were finally admitted.

The ambulance ride

My gorgeous girl, waiting and watching Cinderella

We had several friends and family come by the ER to show us their support and to see Maddie. Everyone kept telling me how strong I was, but honestly I don't think the reality of it had really sunk in. By the grace of God, that dog didn't kill my baby that morning. If it hadn't been for Shawn's quick actions, we might not have been so fortunate.

Our first night at Texas Children's Hospital

For those wondering, Kale, Richard and Suzy's dog was a Chesapeake Bay Retriever. He was an agressive dog, normally he was kept away from crowds and children. Suzy is in the process of moving from her home in the country to her new home. We all had our guard down, Maddie should not have been near him. Suzy decided to put him down that day. We all know it was for the best.