Dog Bite

Last week my little white terrier bit the heck out of me as I attempted to break up a fight between her and the little brown terrier - with my bare hands.

Yes, I know. Stupid is as stupid does.

At first I thought the wounds were fairly superficial and would be okay. Did I mention stupid?

By about noon my ring finger was swollen to gargantuan proportions, and my wedding/engagement rings - which I had refused to remove - I know, I know, stupid! - were cutting off all circulation. Troy had told me to take the rings off right away after the bite. He had to cut them off with wire cutters. Luckily gold is a soft metal. I hate it when he's right.

Of course, my finger stayed swollen once it had been made so unhappy. It throbbed. The back of my hand swelled. My finger looked like a bright red shiny painful balloon.

Just about everybody I spoke to asked me why I wasn't on antibiotics, and why I hadn't gone to a doctor. A couple of people mentioned rabies.

Well, I'm vaccinated for rabies. And my dad's a doctor. I called him. He didn't suggest antibiotics, but did mention that I might have gas gangrene. "I had a patient once with gas gangrene," he said. "He died."

But dad, I said, wouldn't my finger be turning black, and have that crackly feeling like when there's gas under the skin? "By then it's too late," he said. He recommended a tetanus toxoid booster, and told me to soak my finger in hot water several times a day. I soaked my finger.

It's been a week. My finger is healing well. It's only 1 and 1/2 times the size of my other fingers. I can move it a lot more, and it's straighter.

What would I have done if it hadn't healed? Would I have taken antibiotics, gotten the tetanus booster, pursued amputation before it got too late? Who knows? I knew it would heal.