As we approached the automatic doors, I drew a tense breath. I feared what they would reveal when they opened. I’ve spent many nights in Emergency Rooms, and it’s never a pleasant experience.
I held my arm around Anne’s shoulders, and we walked into an empty room. A television hung from one wall, and Dick Clark counted down the remaining hours of 2002 for several empty chairs and a threadbare couch — the only occupants of the very small waiting room.
Anne pressed a towel to her mouth, hoping to slow the flow of blood. The shock was wearing off, and she was beginning to feel the pain.
I walked to the check-in window and thought, this is a fucked up way to spend New Year’s Eve.
Since the kids were with their dad, this New Year’s had presented Anne and me with several options. We could have attended numerous parties, eaten dinner in several restaurants, stayed home alone, or even walked to Colorado Blvd. and staked out a spot to watch the Rose Parade.
Two of our friends had recently bought a new house, and they were having a quiet gathering there. Most of our friends would be in attendance, so that’s where we went. Quiet and low-key would be the perfect way to end the year.
The evening had been pretty fun. A trip to the ER was the farthest thing from my mind as I played Munchkin with some of my friends, and Anne sat on the floor, trying to convince our friend’s new dog that he and Anne should be friends.
The dog, however, is the anti-Ferris: he’s really aggressive, and not good with people at all. He was recently rescued, and is still getting socialized around strangers. During the evening, he’d snapped at pretty much everyone there, and kept growling and barking at my friend Darin. Anne has the animal empathy of an 18th-level Druid Ranger, though, and she was determined to bring out the love in this animal.
She was doing a great job, too. She sat on the floor with him for close to two hours, calmly talking to him while his master held his leash, and the dog eventually relaxed. Everyone at the party was amazed, except for me. My wife is the very definition of boundless love, especially for animals. As soon as we were warned about the dog, I knew that Anne would have it eating out of her hand by the end of the evening.
While Anne continued to pet the dog, my friends and I prepared to follow up Munchkin with a rousing game of Naval War. We were laughing and fooling around, and then, like a bad made-for-cable movie, everything went horribly wrong.
I was holding the instructions in my hand, looking for the number of cards to be dealt, as my friend Cal shuffled them. KROQ was counting down the top 106.7 songs of 2002, and our friends Pat and Shane had just arrived. I heard the dog begin to growl at Darin, and thought nothing of it — he’d been growling at Darin all night long.
Then the dog barked, and I heard Anne’s voice cry out, shrill above the din of the party, “Wil!”
I turned, and saw something no husband would ever want to see (unless he was OJ Simpson): my wife was holding her mouth, as blood poured over her hand.
Anne went into shock, more from the emotional trauma than the wound, I thought. Before last night, Anne had taken 44 stitches in her face, and eight of them were not from a dog. When that dog bit her lip, Anne was five years old again, helpless and terrified.
We packed ice into a towel, pressed it against her mouth, and drove her to the hospital. Since it was empty, we got through triage and into a bed very quickly. While Anne was being prepared for closure, I walked out to the waiting room, to tell our friend Joe what her status was. He owns the dog, and he and his wife felt terrible about what had happened. We told him that he should go home to be with his wife at midnight, but he insisted that he stay with us until Anne was cared for.
As I walked to the waiting room, I passed an old man who was on a ventilator. A woman, possibly his daughter, sat at his feet, and leaned over the bed, clutching his legs. Sobs rocked her body. My heart went out to them, as I thought, “it’s just a dog bite. It could be so much worse.”I told Joe that we’d be leaving soon, and walked back to be with my wife. The doctor put six stitches into her lip, and we were out of the ER by 11:45 PM. We walked back into Joe’s house with 2 minutes remaining on the year. Anne drank a champagne toast, and we hugged our friends goodbye.
Joe and his wife walked us to the car, apologizing the entire way. We weren’t upset with them, and still aren’t. It wasn’t their fault. It was just a terrible accident. I thought back to that man on the ventilator, and told them that it could have been much, much worse.
We drove carefully back to our house. Each car on the freeway was a potential drunk driver, especially the one who was weaving across three lanes on the 210. I pointed to the car, a white Toyota, and told Anne that things like that made me wish I’d outfitted my car at Uncle Albert’s. She didn’t get it.
We were in bed by 12:30. Anne watched “Sex And The City” and I read “Watchmen.” We were asleep by 1. Yeah, this was not the way I planned on spending New Year’s Eve.
Anne woke me up in the middle of the night, crying. Her Advil had worn off, and she told me that the pain in her face reminded her of when she was a little kid. I wished that I could take her pain away from her, but I did the best that I could: I held her in my arms, and let her tears fall against my cheek and roll onto my pillow.
We fell back asleep, and slept until two Stealth Fighters flew over our house at 8 a.m. to start the Rose Parade.
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Yikes! Good thing she’s okay. Hopefully the dog didn’t have any diseases that could be passed on. It might be a good idea to take her in for a check-up soon, just in case. There’s no knowing what the dog could be carrying. Here’s hoping she gets better soon!
Best wishes to Anne for a speedy recovery.
I found my way over from the techtv site after having “hey, I went to high school with him. I wonder what he has been up to.” pop into my head. This post brought back many memories. I dated Shane way-back-when, and I remember what good friends all of you were. It is heartwarming to see that you have held onto those friendships for so long. We (husband and kids) left La Cresecenta in May to move to Oregon. This is the first New Years in a long time that the stealth fighters did not wake me up. Thinking about it made me a little homesick, but in a good nostalgic way. I hope your wife heals well from her trauma. Happy New Year to you and your family.
Glad Anne is okay. What a way to spend your new years. I hope this year is a great one, and we continue to hear and read about your great adventures.
God Bless you and your entire family on this New Year.
P.S. SKUNKS ARE EVIL
Not much I can say that hasn’t already been said… I hope you feel better soon, Anne!
Best wishes to all for a happy new year.
My Gosh! I hope that Anne gets through this with a speedy recovery.
Anne:
I sincerely hope your love for animals does not diminish based on this incident. Physical pain is never a pleasant experience, it does however allow us time to reflect on the choices we’ve made and whether or not those past choices would have been made differently with the knowledge we now posses. In most cases that choice would not have changed a bit. Be proud that you are privelaged enough to be aware of this despite unfortunate incidences. Pain will come and go, kindness is forever.
Wishing you a speedy recovery
Peace
– Eddy
sending love and prayers off to your lovely wife… may she be comforted and healed in a timely manner!
I had something similar happen to me (not on the face, but on one of my hands) some years ago, so I can certainly appreciate what the two of you went through. Here’s hoping you were still able to enjoy watching the Rose Parade and get on with the New Year. I sincerely pray that Anne will recover quickly, and that the New Year will have many joyful times for the two of you and those kids. Take care, you two, and God bless!
Wil,
Your story stirred my memory of last Christmas.
My mom was in the hospital, intensive care, fighting for her life. She had a very bad reaction to her chemo and subsequent emergency surgery, and had been comatose for a couple of weeks.
I spent some time with her on Christmas day, just her and I, holding her hand, rubbing lotion on her poor dry hands, putting Carmex on her lips so that the ventilator tube wouldn’t chap them more than they already were. Praying.
I spoke to her for a while, and reassured her that if she could just get through this, she still had a chance. There were other chemo’s, other options.
She made it through, and she had another shot at chemo. Unfortunately, it was too little too late. She survived eight months and two weeks from that Christmas, and lost her battle on September 10, 2002.
So, hearing your story of the E.R. visit, I thought back to last year, Christmas. I was the one quietly sobbing.
My best to you and Anne, and I hope her wound heals rapidly.
Jim
Get well soon, Anne. You’re a kind woman and brave. 🙂
Mucho healing Mojo to Anne. Hope she’s alright soon.
Lara
Best wishes for a speedy recovery for Anne!
I am sorry to hear that happened.
On a separate geek note, I’ve always wanted to build a car wars car for real…. wouldn’t that be fun?
Wil,
I was shocked to read your post today. I’m so sorry to hear about Anne. Please wish her a speedy recovery. Dog bites are very painful.
Please also give my best wishes to Joe and his wife. I’m gathering from the post that they are the owners of the dog. I’m sure they feel absolutely horrible about what happened.
I can directly relate to both Anne’s experience and your friend Joe. I had a dog who bit a friend and a year later bit me, my wife, and my other dogs. It was awful every time. After consultations with half a dozen dog trainers, an animal behaviorist, and two vets, we came to the horrible conclusion that the dog had to be put down. Desipte our love for him, we could no longer feel safe around him. One of the worst days of my life was holding my beloved dog in my arms while my vet euthanized him. It was a thousand times more horrible than the bite he inflicted. I have tears in my eyes again as I think about it.
Again, my best to your wife and your friends. I hope 2003 only gets better from here.
Pete
When I was a child I was mauled by my friend’s huge German Sheperd. (Or it seemed huge to a 7 year old anyway) It was bad enough that I had to get about a dozen stiches in my left arm. It was the first time the dog had attacked anyone, and unfortunately, the last. My friend’s parents had the dog put to sleep that same day. I felt awful. My friend loved that dog so much and now the dog is gone, because of me.
Did Joe and Mrs. Joe do anything of that sort?
My heart goes out to Anne. I cannot even begin to imagine the pain she is in. I wish her a speedy recovery. Hopefully this incident will just become a crazy old memory down the road.
Happy New Year Wil.
I was bit in the face as a kid too but I still love dogs too.
Anne, hope you are feeling better soon! Take Care!
I have read repeatedly on here that you are very lucky to have a wife like Anne. I think you are very lucky to have each other. What a wonderful thing to have.
Oh m’god, that is really awful.
Anne, feel better soon.
I’m so sorry that this happened to you.
Leave it to Wil to be the “Glass half full” kinda guy.
Yes, it could have been worse.
Yes, you have each other.
My gosh! This is HORRIBLE! Get well soon, Anne. You are right, it could be a lot worse. Just do what you do best, Wil. Hold her. Everything will be all right.
***Pain-free healing and much comfort mojo***
My best wishes for anne and a speedy recovery. Two years ago I sat with my grandpa on New years while he was on a ventalator. I know what that lady must of been going through. We lost my grandpa eight days later. Don’t take anything for granted because you never know how long your going to be in this world.
Why didn’t you call an ambulance?
***healing mojo dance***healing mojo dance***healing mojo dance***
My best to Anne for a full, fast, and pain-free recovery, to you for being a stand-up guy and perpetrator of art (acting/writing/whatever else you have up your sleeve), and to your family and all the monkeys for a wonderful 2003!
Syd
I was bitten on the face by a dog when I was little, so I can understand why Anne would remember that. She is so lucky to have a wonderful husband like you to take care of her. (I have a wonderful husband of my own, so I know how important they are.)
Best wishes to you both.
Mojo to you all and I hope Anne has a speedy recovery!
Hug!
My sympathies, Wil.
I hope Ann heals fast. I’ve always heard that lips heal pretty quickly.
I know it sucks to have something like this happen on the 31st. My new year’s eve was messed up too.
I always pick up a 30 piece Brown’s chicken for a small gathering about an hour away. As I was placing the just purchased (and pre-ordered) chicken into my car’s trunk, my back went “snap”. I managed to pull a muscle. I shouldn’t have parked in that particular spot on their parking lot. My car was facing downhill, about 10 degrees I suppose), and I had to bend that much farther forward to place the chicken in the trunk and secure it.
Well, I straighted up, seemed to feel ok, and made the mistake of bending over again to verify that the chicken was really secure. It was, but my back muscle had a spasm and I could barely move.
It took me several minutes to straighten up and close the trunk, but literally two hours to get into my car to drive home. Opening the car door was bad. Sitting down was bad. Getting my right foot into the car was bad. Getting my left foot into the car was what took 2 hours. It hurt. Lifting that leg put pressure on the back muscle that I’d hurt. I sat there for 2 hours with one foot on the pavement, and my pants unbuttoned to help relieve the pain.
I must have looked like some kind of pervert as I sat there grimacing and trying to move around to relieve my back. Every once in a while I tried to get my leg in again, and my back would spasm, and I’d have to stretch out to stop the pain. People walked by and laughed, although one Brown’s employee (taking out the trash) tried to ask what was wrong. Didn’t seem to speak english though.
Finally I managed to get my leg in, and after I got past the pain, I was able to drive home. Fortunately, a friend of mine hadn’t left for the gathering yet, so was able to take the chicken there for me. Obviously I was in no condition to be driving for an hour.
I just relate this so you know that you aren’t the only one who had a rotten new year’s eve. I figure maybe my story will make you and Ann feel a little better.
I’m actually able to sit in chair tonight. Couldn’t sit this morning. Won’t be able to go to work tomorrow (40 minute train ride, and 15 minute bus ride would kill me.) so I will have to use my vacation time.
Anyway, hope 2003 is better for everyone than 2002 was.
I hope Anne goes through a speedy, rest-of-it-painless recovery, and a happy, joyous, and prosperous new year to you and your family.
Happy New Year to all! Here’s to a new beginning, and a hopefully good start. 🙂
Oh! Im so sorry for what happened. Thank God that Anne’s okay. Hope that she has a fast recovery. Happy New Year. May your New Year spring great stuff in your life. Your so sympathetic! Hope the romance with you and Anne lasts FOREVER. And to all a good night. May God Bless you all. Live long and prosper my man.
wil… i’m very sorry to hear about Anne… i wish her a speedy recovery… i’m really quite speechless by it all… it was an accident, and accidents do happen, but you just never wish for it to happen to anyone… 🙁
Man, Uncle Albert’s. That takes me back.
My friend Mark and I would play Car Wars until the wee hours every Friday and Saturday night. I remember outfitting our Gas Guzzlin’, steel-armor’d with ram plate, missile totin’, lead slingin’ battle-van’s, making critical turns and loving life.
But, our favorite thing to do was to just make cars, and Uncle Albert’s always had the best gear.
Wil,
I am glad that you were there. I know that she will be fine.
FG
Sounds like Wil and I had a similar New Years, but I was still at the hospital when the midnight hour came and past. Though my wife’s troubles didn’t center around her face, so we could share a New Year’s smooch. 🙂
Hope Anne gets better soon!
oh, that’s sounds so painful! I had a dog snap at my face when I was little (kids are ALWAYS putting their faces up to dogs). Anne sounds like she’s compassionate and understanding and will recover from her fright eventually. it’s good she has you, Wil! and Ferris.
Best wishes!
I’ve been reading your blog for a little while now, but this is my first comment. Just wanted to say I’m sorry to hear about your wife. Hope she gets to feeling better soon. I’m insanely in love with my wife, as it sounds like you are with yours. I’d rather have bad things happen to me, than her. Anyway, hope she feels better soon.
Best wishes to your whole family for the coming year, and my sympathies to Anne.
A couple years ago, I was working in a campground at a National Park- it was evening, I was the only campground ranger left and I was working on buttoning things up when a van screeched up to me- they had a 16 month old or so baby who’d been bitten in the cheek, lip, and scalp by a family friend’s kid’s dog. The two families were there camping together. Thankfully for my peace of mind, the baby was OK except for the wounds themselves and some blood loss, and there was an interpretive ranger nearby who came running to help, and my roommate with her EMT training was only a few miles away.
But I was shaky for a good long while, as were the baby’s parents, the mother and father of the dog-owning family, and the dog’s owner- a boy maybe 10 years old or so who was devastated by the whole thing. The dog was a good dog, good with children, he just… snapped, I guess. I sometimes wonder how the baby will feel about it when she’s older, whether she’ll remember any of it, how the boy took it when the vet put down his dog… I guess I’ll never know the rest of the story.
Anyway. I feel for you all. This kind of happening is a real shocker for all parties involved, and especially for the injured. And when it’s something that happened to a child, reliving it as an adult… that’s got to be a nightmare. I hope Anne recovers and heals quickly without any additional complexes- for an animal lover, that would be awful. And I hope everyone else recovers (mentally/emotionally) quickly, too.
Hi Wil and Anne,
I’m very sorry about what happened to you and your friends are very lucky that you’re not angry with them. Anyone who owns a dog that growls at everyone at a party, and snaps at “pretty much everyone there” should not be there. Period.
A dog that acts that way simply cannot be trusted and must not be put in a position where he could hurt someone. My own dog is a rescue, and any responsible owner should know their dog’s limitations and *never* ask them to take on more than they can handle.
I hope these people will know better next time, and leave the dog at home until they know he can be around people and not be scared and/or aggressive.
Brian
I’m really sorry to hear about this incident. Here in BC a teenage girl was savagely bitten in the face recently, and everyone is sick about it.
You hear about these stories all the time, and I even witnessed one as a kid. A friend was attacked by a German Shepard, which bit a hole in his cheek so large you could see my friends teeth through it. Maybe if the owners were given a hefty fine when this sort of thing happens, it might make some people think twice.
In this case, if the dog was distressed at the party, as you indicated, why didn’t the owners do something about it, if only for the dog’s sake? I wish some owners would take more responsibility for the care of their dogs and how they interact with people.
the best goes out to you and your wife and here’s to a healthy and speedy recovery to your wife.
happy new year.
eric
fargo, nd
I wish my husband will be as sweet, kind, caring, concerned, and sensitive as you are to Anne. Way to go 🙂
My understanding is that caffeine will help ease the pain, because it will contract the blood vessels (and when it wears off they contract, causing caffeine withdrawl). Just mentioning if your out needing something to ease the discomfort, and drugs aren’t available or inconvenient, you might want to try something cold from a coffee place.
Yep, it could’ve been a lot worse.
Two years ago my cousin John passed away on New Year’s Eve after a few months of torment with a brain tumour. He was only 34.
Since then I’ve never felt like partying much on New Year’s Eve. Go figure.
I sure hope Anne is ok, but yes, it could’ve been a lot worse.
My friend’s girlfriend in Potsdam, NY, had to spend NYE in a hospital, too – but overnight, due to a cyst on her tonsils or something like that.
I would have done the exact same thing as Anne. Dogs rule!
It very well could have been much worse. I’m very sorry to hear what happened.
My wife and I had issues this holiday season, as did a friend, just last night.
My mother-in-law died of an accidental overdose on the evening of the 23rd, less than 24 hours before Christmas festivities were supposed to begin.
Just last night, a relative of my wife’s best friend had an accident at a friend’s house. She’s 16 and was having New Years minus adults for the first time. She and a friend were at the friend’s house when all hell broke loose. They were both retriving coats from the closet when a rusted water heater valve burst and sprayed the both of them with scalding water. They both ended up in the ER last night with mild-to-moderate burns.
This last week has definitely taught me not to take anything lightly.
Owch! I was bitten by a dog, before and I still remember the pain. Speedy recovery to your wife. Uh… Try to have a happy new year…
Wil,
Be good to Anne: Lots of hug and kisses for her, breakfast in bed, and a clean house. 😉 I hope you both have a wonderful New Year.
Get Well Soon, Anne!
I’m sorry to read what happened to Anne. Those first couple of paragraphs were really scary. I hope Anne recovers quickly.
“Before last night, Anne had taken 44 stitches in her face, and eight of them were not from a dog.”
Does this mean that the other 36 stitches were from a dog? The remark about Anne as a helpless 5 year old made me think this. If it does, and she still has this wonderful tenderness in her heart, she’s a remarkable woman. But of course you know that already.
My brother was bit by a dog when he was about 3. One of those small dogs, like a Yorkie. Although it didn’t happen to me, I’ve always been a bit nervous around any dog. Of course, dogs being dogs, they want you to love them. So naturally they go to the person who they sense isn’t sending those love vibes out to them, me. I wish dogs would just ignore me.
Have a safe(r) and healthy new year.
Glad every thing is Ok for you You handled it like a Hero On Septemember 20 2002 I found my mom on the floor of her bathroom She suffered a massive stroke from alzhimers complications she died on September 25, I was going to cancel my trip to Pasadena TNG convention but my family insisted that I go, that my mom would have wanted it that way. I enjoyed my conversation with you at the convention. I told you about my dream that you directed the remake of the Cage and Chris Reaves (superman) played the part of Captian Pike. See ya Keep strong for Your Family