My pretty bracelet, (on which they misspelled my name) and the band-aids I came home in. Oh yes, bandaids. I was all, "um... is that going to be enough?..." (sorry Erin, I tried to get gory pictures for you yesterday, but the gaping holes aren't gaping so much any more and it's not so impressive)

Here's the story: I went to Nanette's apartment to exercise with her. Fletcher was with me. As we walked out of the exercise room and into the elevator lobby of the building, there was a young woman there with her two dogs, trying to get them into the elevator.
1) I do not know what kind of dog it was. It was pretty, and looked a lot like that plastic thing in my earlier post.
The dogs were both a bit rowdy/stressed looking. I don't know if one had seen a squirrel outside and was hyped up, or if the loud buzz from the maintenance closet was bugging her, or what.
2) there was a man there, working on the water heaters or something, next to the elevators in this small room. The door was open, and it was noisy.
So the bigger dog, whose back was about at my knee, I think, sees Fletcher and starts going nuts. She's lunging at him and barking and straining at her leash. The owner looks down in shock and starts yelling at her (her name was Coco. I don't think I'll ever forget.) because it's obviously behavior that the owner is not used to.

And then the leash broke.

In two bounds she was there, aiming right for Fletcher's face. I had just enough time to grab him with my right arm and turn so that the dog hit my left side. She kinda ran into my leg, and then lunged up and sank her teeth into my lower arm, which was blocking Fletch.

Next, I think I made sure Fletcher and Nanette were okay, and then I looked up to see where the dog was. She had run to the other side of the lobby and was cowering there, against the door. Her owner was trying to get the leash back on. She (the owner) did not realize yet what happened.

But the maintenance guy had - since my arm was facing him. I glanced down and as soon as I saw the hole on top I resolutely looked away and refused to look back. I didnt' want to pass out on the floor, after all. He came out, saw that the dog was secure, and ran out for a first aid kit. (this man was heaven sent, I kid you not. I don't know how we would have coped without him. Thank You, Maintenance Guy!)

Then the owner saw. She was really upset, of course, and very apologetic. She said she'd take the dogs up, and then be right back.

Mantenance Guy comes back in, plops his stuff on the floor (in a spot where my blood has NOT dripped) and gets to work. I told him that I wasn't going to look at it so could he please tell me what it looked like so I could tell the doctor? He obliged. "Well, you've got two big holes; this one on top, and then another on the bottom of your arm that looks a little bigger, like it wiggled, or tore or something." He put iodine on them, and bandages and tape, and gave me a cold-pack.

By this time the Owner (I never got her name) was back and begging me to let her help me. But Nanette said she was on top of it, and M.Guy said to make sure to go to the ER. And then he looked up at the owner, (he was still crouched down by my arm), and with pity in his voice, he says, "You know, they'll have to report this, and then the police will probably take the dog." She nodded, and was barely able to choke out "I know" before the tears started flowing, and then I started to tear up, and then Nan hurried me into one elevator, and the owner got into the other, and as we stepped off on the first floor, I could still hear her crying, all the way up to the third.

This is getting long.

I called Craig at work, and Mike brought him up to Nan's, and we went to Cedar Sinai's ER and got in pretty fast, and they numbed me, and then cleaned out the holes (i will not describe this, as it made Craig make horrible faces and made me nearly pass out) and declared that they ought not to stitch it because if it got infected they didn't want to have sewn up an infection inside. The hospital sent a report to the police, and Dr. Hardy sent me home with antibiotics. And a handful of bandaids.

edited: craig emailed me the hospital picture - it's been reversed. I was bitten on the Left side, so this is backwards. That's nurse Jeremy on the other side of me. He was funny.

Which I refuse to ever use again, because OUCH!! That adhesive is KILLER! I have no hair, and not much skin left on my arm. This morning I ran to Rite Aid and bought some gauze that I could wrap around my arm. aaaahhhhh. So much better.

My muscles are still really sore, and the holes are still really goopy, and I have no idea how long it's supposed to take to heal. But I'm okay. And thank God, Fletcher is okay. He saw a golden retriever the next day and was all excited to pet it. So that's good. I'm glad.

I still feel really sad for the girl, though. I hate it that that happened, and I hate what the consequences are. But I know that it's probably the best thing. I'm just sad that she didn't do anything wrong, but in the end she will probably be the one that suffers the most from it. :(