7 November 2007
11:07 PM
I suppose that can be said of anything.
You never expect to get in a car accident.
You never expect to fall in love with someone.
...You never expect to wake up and be told that your brother was seriously injured.
My sister, Angela, called at about 10:00 this morning, which woke me up. I was pretty drowsy, so I accidentally hung up on her while fumbling with my phone. She texted me, I explained what happened, and she called back. I wasn't really sure why she was calling, so I thought it odd for her to be calling me so early, when normally she'd call in the afternoon to talk or she'd just text me. Obviously, family matters are too urgent to send in text messages. Here's how the story goes...
My brother Victor flew in to Vegas on Tuesday because his friend Walter's dad had recently passed away, and Victor wanted to pay his respects. He was only supposed to be in town for a day, and fly back on Wednesday (today) because he had a meeting or something important to attend. Well, I guess he went out last night, to Walter's house. The way Victor told it, according to my dad, was that Walter's dog, a basset hound, hadn't seen Victor in a long time, so it was uncomfortable around him, and growled at him all night. Victor was just petting the dog, and all of a sudden, it freaked out and bit Victor's face. I would never expect a basset hound to really be capable or likely to cause that much damage, since it's not a particularly tall or aggressive breed. Apparently, though, the dog's bite went through Victor's cheek, and sent him to the hospital, where he received numerous stitches. Angela said he got 23, but my dad said it took 29 to patch him up. Either way, the wound is obviously large. My dad emailed a picture of it to me. If you want to see it, IM, email, or message me on MySpace or Facebook. I'd rather not just post it in here for anybody in the world to see.
Victor's still pretty woozy right now, from what I hear. If not from the sedative they gave him while he was at the hospital, then from the pain killers he was prescribed along with his antibiotics. My dad says his lips are so swollen around the wound that he can't close his mouth, and thus can't even suck anything through a straw. Chewing's out of question as well, so until the swelling goes down, he's going to have to get his nutition from some liquid superfoods that my sister bought for him. He has to stay in Vegas until at least next week, which must have a large impact on his studies and plans back in Fremont.
Angela said my mom's been really brash about the whole situation. She thinks the dog should be put down. I'm not sure how anybody's going to go about that situation. She also thinks Victor's going to need plastic surgery to make his face look the way it used to. My dad called about plastic surgery, but they said they typically wouldn't look at what needed to be done until after the wounds subsided. Angela says that the doctors who stitched him up would have suggested plastic surgery if they thought it necessary.
Angela's pretty rational when it comes to just about any situation. She's capable of looking at the big picture before deciding on a plan of action, as opposed to always acting on first instinct. I really wish I were more like that. She's the one who suggested to me that filing a claim with the insurance company for my stolen computer probably wouldn't be of any use because the cost of the parts wouldn't reach the deductible rate. She's also very educated, which helps in situations like the current one. She went out and bought the superfoods, some mineral water that's better for Victor's healing, and I think some ointments or treatments that will reduce the visibility of the scar. I should start reading into things like that - thing with practical uses - in preparation for unexpected things like this.
Thinking about it, my siblings have been through some painful experiences in their lives. I think my oldest brother Richard was the one who broke his collarbone when he got run over by a motorcycle (I think the story I've heard actually somehow places my other brother David on that motorcycle =x). My brother David crashed his motorcycle when he hit a pothole. That was when I was young, and I remember I would piggyback on him while he would do leaning push-ups against the wall with one arm while his broken arm was recovering. Angela was in a hit-and-run accident when I was very little that put her in the hospital, and she also got pretty banged up when she was riding on the back of a motorcycle with a guy and they ended up crashing. And now Victor's been in this incident, which could result in a significant change in appearance that can't be concealed as easily as the asphalt in my sister's knee. Though, thinking more, I realize my siblings are all very lucky in that things could have turned out worse. Victor could have lost an eye from that bite; Angela and David could have had the same fate as CJ. They are alright, though. They are still capable of using both arms and legs, of moving all fingers and toes. Through it all, my family members have been quite lucky in regard to their injuries.
Well, I wanted to write about some other stuff, but it doesn't really fit the mood of this entry, so I'll save it for a later date. It's better that I got this important stuff down first. I actually wrote a lot more than I initially thought I was going to.
Until next time.
Be safe out there.
Vaniah Juniper Schwenoha
No comments:
Post a Comment