The father (Chris) dove on top of him to protect his head, neck, shoulders and arms. The dogs were ripping apart his legs. They had grabbed hold of the meat (muscle) on his right leg when dog owner came outside and got her animals off Alex. Luckily this was before before his muscle and tendons were ripped completely away from the bone.
Alex has been in Beaumont since Saturday afternoon. He has had surgery on both legs with two major lacerations on his left leg. They were able to stitch them up. The right leg had to have the muscle cleaned and dead tissue cleaned out and the muscle put back in place. The amazing staff at Beaumont feels confident he will walk, run and jump again. But-- not with out several more surgeries and skin grafts. Alex has a long road ahead of him. He is blessed with two AMAZING parents and two supportive siblings.
Family and friends have been sending very welcome prayers and support. Please help me give them one thing to not have to worry about- bills. Erin will not be able to work for the next 2 months. She is self-employed. This is a huge financial burden we can all help ease. If you have a few extra $$ please donate. If you don't, we are always welcoming prayers for Alex's recovery.
Update 1
It's Wed 10/12/16. Alex had a procedure yesterday to check how his wounds are healing. No confirmation on if he will need skin grafts. Hoping for no! The put him back in splints. Today he was given blue casts. He is going stir crazy but has been good as gold! When I walked in yesterday he was playing with his dad and his legs flapping everywhere. Where does he gets his strength? Probably the reason for the casts LOL. Alex will need another procedure next week. He will hopefully be able to go home for a short time at least soon. Erin and Chris are amazing! God bless the Scalise Family!!
I think I'm finally ready to give an update. Here's the GREAT news, Alex came home today. Unfortunately he is home in double leg casts, unable to walk (just for now, not forever). The damage to his legs is in a hurry up and wait phase. We know there is healthy tissue that will assist in healing his legs, but we also know there is some dead tissue that will need to run its course over the next ten days. He has his next procedure a week from Monday where the Dr's will remove his casts and assess the healing or lack of. From there we will have a better understanding of the damage/healing/future procedures. The body has an incredible way of healing itself, even in the most gruesome of circumstances. We have a healthy guy with youth on his side so we are hoping the next 2-3 months of procedures and healing go as smooth as possible. It's going to be very hard to keep this kid off his lower half!! If you know him, you know he wants to move and move often. So please continue to send us positive energy because we are all going to need it as we go through this unfortunate process. We don't know what we are up against just yet, but we do know we are glad it was just his legs and nothing more. We have his hero Daddy, Christopher Scalise to thank for this ❤️❤️
Here's the part that's been even more difficult to talk about. When we came to the hospital by ambulance, the ER staff was kind if looking at me weird and whispering about us. I quickly figured out they assumed it was our dogs that attacked Alex. I actually had to say, loud enough for them to ALL hear, "NOT OUR DOGS". That sucked. Last thing we needed were the looks and whispers upon entering, I quickly put a stop to that. That brings me to the next delicate subject of the attack, how it happened and why it happened:
Chris and I were playing outside with Alex and Gigi. We decided to go to the grocery store to grab a few items to make dinner. I asked Chris to load the kids in their seats while I grabbed my purse from inside the house. No sooner did I run in, grab my things and wonder what the noise was outside, the attack was over. The next door neighbors dogs managed to open their storm door, lunge into Alex and knock him down. Chris made a "turtle shell" over the top half of Alex's body, unable to cover his legs. Chris yelled and fought the dog(s) off as best he could until the neighbor came out to pull her dog(s) back in the home. I am not sure how Gigi managed to get away, I just know that she was spared. 2 dogs, 2 kids, I still can't think about the what if. Chris screamed for me to call 911 which I did in the worst panic I've ever experienced. I screamed at the dispatch so much I had to call the next day to apologize. What I walked out to was my Husband covering my Son, my Son covered in blood. It happened so fast I missed the attack. Luckily I didn't see his actual leg damage because Chris was applying compress to the legs by the time I was done screaming at the poor dispatch lady. The first responders came, wrapped Alex up for transport and we were off to our new home of 5 days
What we quickly learned was our neighbors have created a real shitty situation for not only us, but their 2 dogs that deserved a better life. They had (yes, had) 2 male pit bulls who have never been to a regular vet for routine checkups, have never been fixed, have rarely if ever been walked and have had some questionable altercations/situations in the past. They were not registered or licensed either. I am not bashing the breed, so nobody go there with me. I'd just like to bring some awareness to ALL animal owners of ALL different breeds. If you are going to have animals, you need to know what you've got! You need to socialize your animals. It may be a great idea to fix them if you aren't planning on breeding them. You need to create a safe home and yard for them. It may be a good idea to get them out of the home more often then just the backyard to go to the bathroom. You need to make sure you have them secure in the home so they can't just bust open a storm door and attack anyone. There are many walkers (no not zombies ) in our neighborhood. If they didn't get Alex, who could've been the unlucky one? So please people, if you are a pet owner, PLEASE BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR ANIMALS!!
Alex was panicked to come home today. He kept asking if the bad dogs were going to get him again. This breaks our heart over and over. He is safe in our home tonight, eating, breathing, being sassy, bossing us around....or as we say, being Alex and that is the best gift we can accept right now.
Love,
Erin, Chris, Alex, Caleb and Gigi ❤️
Update 3
Well, week one is in the books. I should probably start a blog to write my journal entries, but for now this is how I reach our family, friends and incredible supporters, so this will have to do.
Alex has been home since Wednesday afternoon. When we pulled in the driveway we made a point to see how he felt, the instant feeling was, "are the bad dogs going to get me". Our hearts broke right there. We quickly reassured Alex the bad dogs no longer lived there and they would never be able to "get" him again. The dogs being gone is probably the only reason we feel comfortable in our own home. The neighbors appear to be moving, so that'll make our living space even more relaxing once they are gone.
Chris and I quickly took on our roles as Alex's nurses. We have to carry him wherever he needs to go, hold a bottle for him to urinate, remind him over and over to stay still/seated and do just about anything he asks, and he definitely asks For all of us, this is a huge adjustment and a total bummer, but we are grateful. Normally, Alex is on the go from 6:30 am until his head hits the pillow for a nap or bedtime. Keeping this guy content on his tush is a job all by itself.
Alex is terrified of taking medicine. He is so frustrated at the sight of another dropper or plastic cup filled with "I DON'T WANT THAT". He begs us not to give him his meds. He has panic attacks, but we remind him of the hospital and how he had to have the IV and we don't want to have to bring him back, not yet at least. We haven't really discussed our next appointment with the Dr, no need to bring more stress as it is 8 days away and he seems to be adjusting.
Alex has some PTSD, naturally. So does Chris. I'm not sure what I have at this point, but I have a TON going on mentally. I am devastated for my Son and our family. I am heartbroken he has a full body rash as of last night and is terribly itchy all over on top of it all. For those wondering, his rash is a common reaction to Augmentin and it happens with 10% of kids and less than 5% with adults. It's not an allergy, just a reaction and it runs it course in 3-5 days. We've been down this raod with him a few years ago and his pediatrician has assured us to not stop the meds and let the reaction run its course. I'd be in more of a state of anxiety if this was his first rodeo, but I trust our Doc and my gut which makes me more at ease. Benadryl and Benadryl lotion is in the mix for the next few days.
Before I talk about some things that have bothered me over the last few days, I really want to talk about the love and support we have received. My Cousin started Go Fund Me which was such a nice idea even though we felt a bit weird about accepting donations. After Chris and I discussed the financial burden this accident will bring us over the next few months, plus the unknown of the future medical procedures/healing/therapy and BILLS we decided this was an amazing gift. We are both on hold with our jobs. Chris is on a leave from WSU and I have suspended my clients through the end of November, but it looks like it may be through the first of the year. According to the Dr, just based on the 2 procedures, we have a good 2-3 months ahead of us. Now we wait until the next procedure to see what happens next. We almost had to pay out of pocket for one of the medications the other day, but Walgreens fought and took care of that battle for us. Thank you good people of Walgreens We really want to make sure all of you who have called/texted/messaged/emailed/donated, well, you are what is getting us through. Our minds are calm with this support and we are so fortunate to be able to fully concentrate on our family and making Alex as comfortable as possible. We can never thank you enough ❤️❤️❤️
Now to the part that has me upset and angry. Well, beside the neighbors being totally shitty pet owners, there is something that almost made me lose it this week. A few people gave me and my cousin a difficult time about mentioning the breed of animals involved in the attack. Not once have I gone on the attack about the breed, but the bottom line is, the breed was Pit bull. Do I hate them? Nope! Am I cautious around them, YEP! I'm ALSO cautious around ANY animal that isn't part of my life. Plain and simple. Our "truth" or story, whatever you want to call it is 2 pit bulls escaped their home and viciously attacked my 3 year old son. I forgive them (the dogs). I am sad about their upcoming euthanization. They deserved better parents who never took the time to socialize them and care for their life. They need a life. They need exercise. They need to carefully meet strangers. They needed their balls chopped off, I mean come on, did you really think they needed them to live inside 4 walls? They needed more than a yard to get their energy out, which they only used to go to the bathroom. Rarely, if ever, were those dogs doing anything but staring out of a window That really makes me sad and angry. So my message is, BE A RESPONSIBLE PET OWNER!!!!!! Truth is, is my cousin didn't tell the whole story, many would speculate and message me and ask more questions. I respect her decision to do so and I hope our message of responsible pet ownership is greatly received. I even had someone go so far as to tell me to take the breed down from my updates/Go Fund Me and we would be better supported. Shame on them, our support card is beyond anything we could've ever imagined.
So here we are. A family of 5 back under one roof. Gigi came home from a spoiled stay at her Nana Linda's house. She is giving Alex the business and he is giving it right back. It makes things a bit more difficult, but we are so grateful we get to have 5 living humans under our roof tonight. When Gigi upsets Alex, we are happy. The "what if" of our story could be something different and we really don't want to even imagine what we could've been dealing with a week later.
I will update as we go! This really helps us to reach out to those of you who are worried and calling/texting/messaging. I am trying my best to answer the messages etc, but sometimes it's hard. Let's face it, sometimes I cry when I have to talk about it over and over and I want to keep my tough girl spirits up for my family. They need me to be strong and I am giving them 150%.
Thanks for the continues love and support.
Erin, Chris, Alex, Caleb and Gigi ❤️
Update 4
Week 2 is in the books. Hard to believe what our life is at this point, but we are digesting, coping, healing and dealing. It's been a tough week but so many of you are still reaching out with an overwhelming amount of love and support. This is what gets us through. Your support is our lifeline right now.
Alex is doing as well as a kid in 2 full leg casts can do. He is anxious, frustrated, worried and BORED! On the other hand he is being spoiled and waited on like a little king so he doesn't have it all that bad. We have noticed an extreme difference in his normal personality which we expected, but it still breaks us. He still has his funny charm but it's quickly taken over by anger and frustration. We are doing our best to accommodate him, reassure him and bring a little life to his situation.
We've made it a point to try to have an activity each day that breaks up the time, gives him something fun and helps him get that near 4 year old energy out. On Tuesday we took him to the zoo. This was our first big outing in a wheelchair. Lucky for us this is a kid size chair so it's pretty easy to lug around. Unfortunately, the makers of this chair forgot actual adults would be pushing the chair, so we roll him around like a couple of hunchbacks The new penguin exhibit is beautiful, however the downward ramps and the mist make it a difficult walk down. We made it though. We quickly learned the hard way to never forget the "porta pee" bottle as Alex had to go and Chris had to take action and somehow hold Alex, help him with clothes and walk away dry from using the bathroom. Chris is kind of awesome like that. We decided to have a bite to eat before heading home where we were greeted by EVERY DAMN BEE AT THE ZOO. Luckily none of us were stung, but damn, kind of hard to flee when you have one in a wheelchair and one in a stroller. Plus, everyone close by us was probably treated with me yelling "these f-ing bees, why can't we catch a break"!?!? I can just imagine the people around thought we were a hot mess, and we are for the most part But we make it work
The next day we thought it would be fun to test the bee capacity at Yates. Yup, bee central. We grabbed our cider, apples and donuts, pet the goats a few times and bolted before the guests were treated to Mom's choice words about our buzzing friends. The good news was Alex wanted to keep petting the goats. He even let one come up and lick him. This is a good sign he is not terrified of all animals....plus goats are my favorite so it was a win win!
Between the rain on Thursday and a visit with Great Grandma Mimi on Friday, Alex was a busy guy and we made it through another week.
The week hasn't been that great for me, though. I am emotionally and physically drained. I'm sure the emotional part is what's really bringing me down, but I always do my best to not let the kids see or feel it when I am in the dumps. Earlier in the week we received a very nasty message from a stranger. Apprently he had some choice words about us and what he thinks "actually happened" the day of the attack. I want to protect the situation as best I can, but this really brought me down. First of all, who the hell is he? I don't know him. Second, why is he making any of this his business when he wasn't even there to witness what went on? Third, SHAME ON HIM for taking a very upsetting and difficult situation and trying to make it worse. He went out of his way to say false things to hurt me and Chris. A very good thing came of it, though. A few neighbors reached out to me to let us know they weren't hearing whatever venom this asshole was spewing and they were behind us and Alex 100%. That really made us feel so much better. We are kind of in a weird place as our Son has been attacked by the neighbors dog, a neighbor is attacking us for our situation and we really don't know what the future holds as far as treatment and healing goes for Alex. Having good people offer their kindness makes you feel so much better, so we thank them and send HUGE hugs ❤️❤️
Monday is a big day for Alex as we head back to the surgeon to have his legs looked over and assessed. We will know a ton more from this appointment and we look forward to getting on to the next phase. Chris and I are both curious how they are going to saw those casts off without sedation and/or sawing his legs off. He is anxious and a fighter, the day may be very interesting
We will update again once we have more information. Once again, thank you to all for keeping us in your thoughts. We also can't thank our friend S William Schudlich enough for his dedication to our family. If you haven't already, please take a look at the page Heroes for Alex. My new friend has called on fellow artists (some current and former students) to create a super hero drawing for Alex. We received a great package in the mail yesterday of these drawings made into stickers. We are blown away and forever grateful. Alex even wore one of them all day today ❤️❤️
Thanks again everyone! Keep sending upbeat thoughts our way as we muscle through!
Erin, Chris, Alex, Caleb and Gianna ❤️
Update 5
Here we are, 3 weeks later and our life is in an adjustment period, naturally. Alex is making strides each day and we are faced with new obstacles.
Alex had his big blue casts removed on Monday. That was an ordeal. I'm sure if anyone in the lobby was nervous, Alex was sure to scare the life out of them with a 20 minute scream-a-thon. Have you ever had a cast or 2 removed? Sounds and looks scary. Alex managed to kick poor Dr. Zaltz in the nose and I had the blood on my hand to prove it The Dr said Alex is right on schedule and to let him try to put pressure on his legs and start to walk at his own pace. At first there was a bunch of falling but he has gained his balance and gets better each day. Poor guy looks like he's been riding a horse and walks kind of like a duck, but he is managing to get himself around the house, this is great progress. We see the Dr a week from Monday and we will assess the situation and go from there. Fingers crossed the worst is behind us!
We are quickly learning that this whole experience has really left us with some serious PTSD and me with some crazy emotions. I'm sure it's understandable that we are having some struggles in certain ways, but I/we are finding some normal stuff quite difficult. For example, taking the kids for a walk. Today was a beautiful day and Chris offered to put the kids in the wagon for a walk to give me a little down time. As nice as that would've been I told him NO! I didn't want him to be out and have something happen and me not be there to help. Crazy, huh? A simple walk around the neighborhood has turned into a terrifying event. We decided to take the kids together. Every animal we see, Alex covers his ears. This is his coping mechanism when he is scared. He covers his ears all of the time these days. He has massive anxiety. During our walk I mentioned to Chris that maybe we need to consider some type of protection in case something happens to us. I'm not talking about a gun, but maybe some sort of folding "stick" that we could quickly take out to use as protection if needed. This is not how I normally think, but life has me thinking different these days. I hate this. I'm scared to walk around the neighborhood, scared of something happening, scared something awful could happen again. It happened once, right?
My emotions have been all over and my strength has been tested this week. We have to change the gauze on the legs each day. This gives Alex anxiety attacks and creates a big upsetting event when we change the dressing. Chris has to hold him while we reassure him we will not hurt him. We make it through to the other side but it is difficult and heart breaking to watch Alex have such a hard time and be so scared. I have become a leg wrapping specialist. Quite proud of the 3 of us when the task is complete ❤️
Alex has decided he doesn't want to sleep this whole week. He has a hard time shutting his mind off and relaxing. This is a tough thing because he needs to rest and heal, we need to rest and recover and this does not seem to be happening. We have a few therapists we are considering and will nail one down on Monday so Alex can start working on feeling better emotionally. In addition to not sleeping, he demands stuff all day and we are working on what we are willing to jump for, and what we have to say no to. This is hard. We want to give him everything to make him feel better, but we are probably creating a monster here so the therapy will be great for all of us.
Update 6
Gigi has finally let us know she would like to have her equal share of attention back. She has started acting out in certain ways and has become a bit aggressive with us and Alex. We can handle that pretty well because she really is a sweetheart under her tough girl act, but her needs are real and we need to bump her up to the front and make sure she gets some equal time. I am working on toddler tea and spa morning for just us girls. The only thing is, she'll ask for Alex the whole time and worry about him. Their bond is the sweetest. Alex asked for Gigi the while time he was in the hospital. I never understood that type of love between siblings, it really does make the craziness quite beautiful.
If you read my last post, you may recall a neighbor who sent a very nasty message to us about what they "think" happened the day Alex was attacked. Well, we finally found out how this came to be and it has rocked me to the core. It has tested every bit of my being to not act out in any way. Here's the scoop....
WOMAN TRYING TO KEEP DOGS FROM BEING PUT DOWN
A friendly lady/neighbor who walks her dog each day by our house stopped to ask how Alex was doing. I told her he was getting by and all of that good stuff. She pointed out the neighbor across the streets house and said that particular Lady was petitioning the neighborhood to not have the dog who attacked Alex euthanized. Her reason for the petition? Because she has stated, the reason the dog attacked Alex was because Chris was wrestling and getting rough with Alex on our next door neighbor's lawn. This was also the story the neighbor who is responsible for the attack dog is spewing.
EXCUSE ME? Let me pause right there. Let me take a minute here to say a few things on here that I would love to scream at these 2. Number 1, if you know Chris, you know he isn't the rough wrestling type. Number 2, if wrangling our kids into the car to go to the grocery looks like a wrestling match, you need fucking glasses. Number 3, the reason Chris was on top of Alex was not to wrestle, IT WAS TO SAVE HIS LIFE FROM YOUR DOG who managed to open YOUR FRONT DOOR and knock my son to the ground to maul him. Do they understand that? Those fucking idiots. So not only do I find out the idiot next door is using this "wrestle on her lawn" story as something to make herself feel better, she is sharing this bullsit with the nutjob across the street who has taken to the streets to petition the neighborhood and SPREAD LIES. LIES. Complete and total bullshit. Not only has my Son been attacked but now we have a crazy person going door to door, giving false information about MY FAMILY in order to save a dog that should've never been able to get out of the house to attack my child.
Let's take the dog out of the equation here and look at the real issue. She is going door to door in the neighborhood I am raising my children in and doing a total character assassination of my Husband and smearing shit that has 100% nothing to do with her about MY FAMILY. It has taken everything within me to keep my composure and my mouth shut. You really don't want to mess with a Mom, not this Mama at least. If I find physical evidence I am going to have our attorney shut this smear campaign down. This will not be tolerated. This has shaken my core.
All of this brings me to another difficult decision I had to finalize this week. I had to inform my clients I am shutting down through the rest of the year. I was considering until the end of November but after the week we've had and the terrible anxiety Alex is experiencing, I just wouldn't feel right being away from him. In fact, I paused my writing for about a half hour just a bit ago to help him through an anxiety attack. He was hugging Chris so tight, yelling and screaming about how scared he is, completely unable to catch his breath and calm down. So this is our life. We hold him, love him, reassure him, talk to him and basically do what we do best as Mom and Dad and let him know we will never let anything bad happen to him again. Our baby is suffering this awful anxiety. My heart hurts.
With all of the difficult stuff we have going on, I have made some great plans in my head about turning the Heroes for Alex into a bigger project to help other children around the world. I will write more about that once William Schudlich and I can connect and brainstorm some ideas. This project he has created will be bringing some serious joy to other kids down the road, at least that is our plan.
Happy Halloween from the Scalise's! Again, thank you to all who have offered so much support in so many ways. We love you ❤️
Erin, Chris, Alex, Caleb and Gigi
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