March 20, 2015

Ten Things I Learned From A Dog Bite

Last Saturday, I got bitten by a dog twice at one go in a flash of light. Like magic! If my hand had a mouth it would scream as loud as the excruciating pain, while the zombified view of my thigh made me feel so dizzy I almost fainted on the spot; yet my subconscious reminded me that if I did, maybe I would be eaten so I didn’t.

While the past one week had been incredibly inconvenient to live (I suddenly realized how important a pinky finger is), my mind managed to register a few things worth learning from the accident. Here are 10 things I learned from a dog bite.

1. If you are too busy to have a dog, please don’t have a dog. 

Later I learned that the horrified, horrifying dog was previously ignored for 6 weeks and was lost up a hill for about a month, leaving it traumatized with personality disorder because the owner was too busy.

2. Never completely trust anyone immediately when they say “the dog won’t bite”.

Seriously, there is no 100% in this world. (I mean, I asked twice and look what happened to me.) All it takes is ONE bite for you to potentially lose a finger for the rest of your life. I’m #JustSaying.

3. Never go near a dog when its tail is not up and wagging. 

Learned this trick too-little-too-late.

4. Don’t sew the wounds of an animal bite.

First we rushed to a nearby clinic for an emergency tetanus jab. My wound was rolling in the deep and the doctor seemed confused on whether she needed to stitch my hand. My instinct told me this doctor is cartoon so I decided hell no! The next day, I went to the hospital and was told by a specialist that:

When a dog bite you, you bleed a lot and fast because of its enzyme. However, once that’s washed off, the bleeding stops almost equally as fast too. So don’t ever jump into conclusions of getting a heroic stitch or two.

5. There are 2 kinds of antibiotics to consume. 

The clinic gave me a jab and a set of antibiotics. The hospital suggested two different sets – one that only goes for 3 days instead of 5 so it’s an easier course to consume, while the other prevents gut infections for safety measure.

P.S. At first I thought these cartoons wanted to do some medic sales here but when I saw the reasonable bill, I knew this is the way to go.

6. Take the pain killers!

I was worried that if I did, I wouldn’t feel pain anymore; resulting in me moving like a dancing queen. The next morning I woke up with not just a hot pain but two infected swells as well.

The proper doctor taught me that pain killers also play a role in reducing swollen areas and would I have taken them the night before, I would’ve been able to heal a tad faster.

7. It usually takes about ONE week for wounds to recover. 

Just in case you’re wondering.

8. Remove the bandages when you can. 

I had the mindset to keep my bandages on for protection. Nooottttt entirely right. Allow the wounds to breathe and dry out as much as you can, says the doctor.

Try your best to avoid wounds in contact with water at all times. Shower time is the most difficult, especially when it’s hard to get people to help you here. But I swear as long as you promise to keep your wounds dry, they heal super fast.

9. Include vitamin C and protein in your diet.

Vitamin C for speeding up the skin’s healing process, protein for the torn muscle areas.

10. Appreciate your two hands (and every body part you have).

Try driving, typing an email, or wearing a bra with one hand. Try it! You’ll realize that the simplest things in life are only made easy because we are lucky to be in one piece today.

Appreciate every second of now when we are healthy and open our hearts to help the injured when you can. Because one will ever know what happens next, or when you’ll become the one in need of a helping hand.