Val's Words Come Back to Bite The Pony in the Arm

Do you ever wish you could take something back? Like I did, the moment it left my lips while talking on the phone to The Pony Monday morning. I had the audacity, when discussing his skinned knee, to mention "At least it's not a dog bite."

I even mentioned my regret in the last sentence of my blog post I wrote that night:

Anyhoo... we'll see now it goes. It's not like a dog bite, which I made the mistake of mentioning. And instantly regretted putting that out into The Universe.

Of course you know what happened on Tuesday! When I heard a text on my phone at 12:14, my stomach tied itself in knots. I looked. Yes. It was The Pony.

"Bit by a dog. Will call you later."

Immediately, I got that panicky feeling. Like a tingly feeling all over my body.

"Dang! Are you going to a doctor?"

"Yeah. Manager coming to drive me. Since it's on my arm."

I was really worried. The Pony usually deals with his dog bites, and doesn't leave work. Getting the manager involved must mean it was serious. I felt a little better when The Pony sent me a picture:

That is right after the dog people applied a bandaid. So it was a false sense of security for me, but probably why The Pony sent it.

"Get rabies info? Is that above or below the elbow?"

"Forearm."

"It swelled a lot."

"Yeah. It did that instantly. And yeah, she's got all her shots they say, they've got the papers."

"What kind of dog?"

"Mid size black one. Muscular, not sure the breed."

"If it let go, probably not a pit bull."

"Some Italian purebred thing I can't spell."

By 1:00, The Pony was back at the main post office.

"At the office. Gonna call Dad since not 100% trusting myself to drive to an urgent care, and don't want to make work drive me. Going to the one management said the last dog bite went to. Sent the last guy there for stitches, but we don't think mine will need it."

By 4:00, The Pony said, "Done and doctored. Meds picked up." And by 5:00, sent me another text: "Got Chinese food. Phone was dead. Could call any time if you need to talk to reassure you I'm okay!"

Of course I called immediately, and got more of the story.

The dog was a 110 lb Cane Corso. It belonged to an elderly couple who are here visiting for a couple weeks, from Florida. They were all sitting on the back porch of the homeowners. The Pony came walking along the main sidewalk, having just delivered to the house next door. He was heading for the corner, where he would turn and take the mail to their mailbox on the front porch as usual. He could see the people on the back porch, but not the dog, because the trash cans were blocking it. 

The dog (unleashed) jumped off the back porch and ran across the yard and in front of The Pony. The Pony was surprised, took a couple steps back, and was putting his satchel between him and the dog. That's the training they get at the carrier academy. 

"It was so fast that I couldn't get my dog spray out of my satchel. That's what the manager asked. There's no denying that I had my satchel out in front, because my blood ran down into it. I'm not happy about that, but at least it didn't get on the mail.

The people started yelling at the dog, and it got down. Then they came and grabbed it by the neck and took it inside really fast. The residents asked if it got me, and I said it did. Then the man stayed with me while the lady went in and got peroxide and antibiotic ointment and a bandaid. They put it on me and I called the manager. The old people had a copy of the dog's vet records, showing it was up-to-date on all its shots. The manager took a picture of it."

"WAIT! They had a copy with them? They didn't have to call and get it emailed? WHO carries their dog's vet records with them??? To me, that just says THAT DOG HAS BITTEN SOMEONE BEFORE!"

"I don't know if it has, but yes, they brought the records with them. My manager told them somebody would probably be coming to ask more questions about it."

"I am SO SORRY that I even mentioned a dog bite when talking about your knee!"

"Mom. It's not your fault."

"Well. At least you won't have to worry about it happening there again..."

"Yeah. Because they'll be taking it back to Florida. This was the last place I would have thought I'd get bit. I've seen them there with the dog last week, but it's always on a leash, or they rush it into the house when they see me cross the street. But today I was already on their side."

"The homeowners are probably afraid of a lawsuit, since the dog was staying on their property. At least the dog had its shots. I don't know what the post office does to try and get the money back for the doctor bills. That adds up to a lot, considering all the bites in all the cities in all the states!"

"I don't know either. I just know it took so long at the urgent care because they had to enter the paperwork for the workers' comp claim."

Anyhoo... The Pony sent me a few more pictures. That's your warning if you don't want to look below.

The Pony thinks those are claw scratches, but I'm not convinced it's not teeth trying to get a grip.

I guess The Pony might have put on a bigger bandaid (knee sized!) before riding over to urgent care with Hick. The medical people said it was GOOD that it was bleeding so much, because that helps clean out the wound. Then they proceeded to spray something not peroxide and not alcohol-based in it, to rinse it out. The Pony said he could see the different skin layers.

The Pony thinks this wound on his upper arm was from a paw and claws. I think not. I don't think a paw would bruise like that in the space of two hours. I think that's another bite.

More bleeding from the cleaned-up puncture on the forearm.

Urgent care hooked The Pony up with some big bandaids, like the one on the upper arm.

And one under the pressure bandage on the forearm, which they said should stop the bleeding. The Pony got a prescription for cephalexin. They said the preferred drug for dog bites is amoxicillin, but The Pony is allergic. I told him to watch out for a rash, because I had a reaction to cephalexin.

Anyhoo... I guess we're not worrying about the skinned knee infection any more.

It's kind of scary that the dog jumped up to bite The Pony's arm, rather than taking a chunk out of his leg like the other biters.