Which Brings Me to Today...

About a year ago when my life changed drastically in a blink of an eye, my daughter had a very traumatic experience for which she will wear the scar for the rest of her life. Like every working day my ex dropped my daughter off at daycare and headed to work. I was already at work because I was working the early shift. While at daycare she was feeding their dog a treat and the dog turned on her biting her beautiful face, just missing her eye and cutting her lip in two right up to the base of her nose. I received a call from the hospital at around 11 am and they told me to sit down. I knew right away it was one of my kids, but a million thoughts ran through my mind. The nurse proceeded to tell me that my daughter had been bitten by the sitter's dog. I asked if it was repairable and she said "We aren't sure." I broke down in tears. My daughter was blessed with great beauty, light brown skin, sparkling green eyes and curls that make her look like an angel. Although I was relieved that she was alive, I knew that if they could not fix her face her life as she knew it would cease to exist, as like all other little girls she placed a lot of importance on looking like a princess and feeling pretty. I had always tried to stress how that was not important, but little girls see the world around them and notice how much importance is placed on how they look. The nurse told me that my ex would be coming with my daughter to pick me up and warned me that my daughter's face might be upsetting. We were to drive to Kingston to speak to a plastic surgeon there. It seemed like hours before they came to get me, but it was probably more like minutes. They had bandaged my daughter's face so well that I couldn't tell how bad it was.

We arrived in Kingston and checked in at the emergency department. We were scheduled to see a specific doctor, but we still had to wait for several hours. My daughter was bright and beautiful as usual. We read and coloured and she tried to talk. She was hard to understand, but she kept trying to tell us that the doggy didn't mean to hurt her. It touched my heart to see that even through all her pain she could find love for the animal that bit her. My daughter showed herself to be very strong in the face of difficult times. I was so proud of her.

When they removed the bandage and I saw for the first time the face of my daughter I tried to hold back the tears, but they streamed down my face uncontrollably. I knew I had to be strong for my daughter so they were silent tears. The doctor assessed the injuries and said he would likely be able to fix her up, but when I saw her face I feared for the worst and hoped for the best.

It would be a couple of hours before she would be having the surgery. It was one of the longest days of my life.

When they wheeled her away to the operating room she waved like a queen to the nurses and doctors and they couldn't believe what a sweet girl she was. Her surgery was quite quick but it took a long time for the doctor to come to us with a report.

The doctor told us the surgery went well and that he anticipated that she would do well. I breathed a sigh of relief, but I still was afraid that she would have terrible scars.

We stayed another night in the hospital and then we were sent home. We were to try to keep her out of the sun as much as possible and put vitamin E and Polysporin on it. We did our best even though it was Spring, and Summer was fast approaching.

She healed amazingly well with very few scars, but may have to have an additional surgery to repair a small flaw which is not too noticeable, which brings me to today. It is the day of the follow-up appointment. Hopefully all will go well and we can put this whole thing behind us having learned from it, and become stronger people.

I've learned that difficult times and trials make up our character and my daughter will be a better person for having experienced this, and so will I.