Warning to those faint of heart!

It was a beautiful Saturday morning and we were all very excited

to get out to the Farm for our Hayride to the dairy. This farm

has been a special place to me, what seems like my whole life.

We all piled out of our cars and I was reminiscing a picture I

have of Sadie at 18 months on this same swing. When great

commotion ensued.........

I am crying trying to write about this right now. All I

remember seeing is the dog jumping up on someone with

a red shirt and then realizing that it was Ruby. I felt like

I was moving in slow motion, just walking to her. My brother

got to her first, picked her up and told me that she was bleeding.

I held her in my arms and I started looking around saying," I

can't, I can't!" Cory was right behind me and took her and

they went in the house to clean her up. I couldn't stop crying

and shaking. I would go inside to check on her, but I couldn't

even look at her. I didn't want to scare her, and I had no control

over my emotions. My oldest brother got in my car and to

drive us to the hospital. Cory, held Ruby in his arms. Later

he told me that he drove like 95 mph. I was worried about

the small town emergency room that we would be visiting,

but knew the next big town would be an hour away. The nurses

were all really nice and were even able to calm Ruby down. The

Dr. didn't want to treat her, He wanted a Plastic Surgeon to work

on her. He called the childrens hospital and found a surgeon

that would be awaiting our arrival. Meanwhile, My brother,

had put gas in our car and most importantly given Ruby a blessing.

I am so very grateful for him. He didn't want to leave our side until

he knew I could handle the situation. On our drive, Ruby was able

to sleep. And all of the Drs. were waiting for us when we got there.

They gave her medicine to put her to sleep and said that she would

never remember what happened in the hospital. I could tell she was

groggy when we walked out of the room and she didn't even notice.

I was grateful not to hear her crying. There were so many people

in the room with her watching the procedure, it was scary. I kept

telling myself how blessed we were. The dog attacked initially,

but ran off quickly. I have heard much worse stories about dogs

not letting go. She had about 10 stitches. One on her cheek and the

rest on her lip. She had a scratch under her right eye, bit her lip and

a gouge on her chin. When they were finished she was very swollen.

Once she woke up we got some medicine for her and headed back

to our family. Again, she slept. I slept. Cory drove. We went back

to our family reunion, Cory and I were starving. But when we got

there she was very thirsty and drank a lot of water and then threw

it all up! We went back to our hotel changed and tried to rest some

more.

I knew she was feeling better when she asked if she

could go and ride her bike. So, YES, we went back

to the reunion and she rode her bike. She is amazing!

She had learned days earlier and so she needed EVERYONE

to see her ride a 2 wheeler.

5 days later she had her stitches removed. That was

traumatic. She screamed for 2 hours. I was not

prepared for that. But, she looks great.

And I am much more afraid of dogs than she is!!