Not all sunshine and flowers right now

Well our luck has run out over the last few weeks. Yes we are enjoying ourselves here in paradise but unfortunately the higher powers have deemed April unworthy to participate in much more than couch-potatoism. And this indignation is spreading. If you haven't participated in the poll by now please do so. Funny thing is, all the health issues except the cellulitis have happened to April, and Hannah was the lucky tot who managed to walk for two days on a foot the size of a baseball, and nearly as round too. For the moment, I, Sir Chadwin of Michael, have my health and my family and that is important (the roaches think so too). We are looking into moving out of the house we are currently in due to financial stresses and finding a more suitable location that is both more cost effective and better constructed. There will be a new slideshow when that move takes place. Now for the story of the week....*cue the snarling dog*. Bob and Joanna have their son Scott and his wife and kids living with them for the time being. Scott and Shannon are excellent, successful people that are both caring and well mannered. Scott restores classic cars for a living and as protection of that shop he has a pitbull. Now, I don't know the reasoning behind the location of the pitbull that fateful day, I do know that it wasn't where it should have been, that is a sentiment shared by Joanna. The dog is trained as a guard animal and is in no way docile to strangers. April and I loaded up the girls and headed off for Bob's house to look at a piece of furniture they offered us (More info on this coming in a later post). Upon reaching the house we noticed that all the cars except Bob's truck and Scott's car were in the carport. This meant to us that Shannon and Joanna were home. Now if I can take a second to describe the scene. There is an L shaped row of tall bushes that acts as a barrier between the yard, which is on the south side of the house, and the road on the east side. This same row of 8 foot bushes acts as a shade between Bob's house and his south neighbor. Where the bushes end on the road side, the carport and parking stalls begin. Deep enough for two cars and two cars wide, the first two stalls closest to the home are covered by the carport overhang. On the south side of the first stall is the sidewalk path that leads to the main door. This path is bordered by a trellace and vines on one side and the house wall on the opposite side. The trellace only spans a few feet of the main house entrance path and stops four feet short of reaching the front door. There is a second path that runs the span of the house from the front door around the side to the patio and very well kept back yard. Nice thing to note is the back yard is more of a garden area with large ferns, a koi pond, a really attractive small back area. The kind you see in the 'no grass yard' section of 'Homes and Gardens'. There is a ten foot span of grassy area between the opposite end of the trellace and the boundary bushes. After pulling the car into the first uncovered stall I immediately noticed a large dog sitting in the shade of the trellace on the main path to the house. He perked up and looked straight at us. We had never had any interaction with this dog in the past, he must have been at Scott's shop or locked away on our first visit to Bob's house. Leary of the dog we attempted to call the house several times with no answer. April and I, still in the car looked at eachother and decided to carefully check to see if we could see anyone inside the house. We both took note that the dog was tethered by a purple leash that by the angle of the drape appeared to be tied about six feet up the trellace post. As April got out of the car, I casually said to her, 'don't get bit by the dog.' She kept a very large distance between herself and the dog as she made her way around the car. The dog being a good 5 yards away from the car. Unable to see anything down the main path April stepped around the car onto the grass, this placing the trellace between herself and the dog. She took two more steps closer to see into the house and I saw the dog jump to its feet and disapear from view. Immediately I looked over to see April jumping back. Over her head was a taught cable that ran from the shed on the lawn near the bushes to the house by where the dog was laying. Before I could even open the car door the dog had lunged at April catching her on the right calf. The cable was a running line for the dog and the animal had near full range of the yard behind bushes. I saw him get a moments contact with April's leg before she jumped back out of his accessible area. She immediately fell to the ground clutching her lower leg. In a microsecond's time, crimson liquid began flowing from between her clenched fingers. I knew the dog had done more damage than I had seen. She tried to stand and only managed to slide herself back toward the parking stall. By this time I was out of the car glancing frantically for something to brand as a weapon to relieve April of her assailant. I rushed to her side and sat her down on the grass well out of the dog's reach. Her leg and hands were now covered in dark red blood. For those of you gentlemen out there who've never seen that much of your own sweetheart"s blood spilt, I pray you never have to. There is a primal sense of rage that errupts and burns inside you like hellfire. I was ready to kill. I came to my senses a split second later when sweet April began to sob and earnstly pleaded for something to stop the bleeding. I ran to the car and retrieved a diaper from the back seat and rushed back. Kneeling down close, I got my first good look at the wound. The puncture itself was only an inch long, but the wound was deep. Insomuch that I could see all the visible layers of skin, the fatty tisse and the muscle underneath. I have a picture I took later at the hospital but due to the graffic nature, I won't post it on the blog. I will email it to those of you morbid enough to request it. cfoley@hawaii.rr.com. I wrapped the diaper around her leg and she applied pressure. I stood up and retrieved the cell phone and dialed Joanna's cell again. Still no answer. I called Lindsey who rounded up Chris and the medical supplies we have at the house, "I'll be there as fast as I can," she said and I hung up the phone. Now by this time, only minutes had passed since the incident and I could now hear shuffling inside the house. I laid on the car horn and sent two loud unmistakeable blasts through the house. Still no one exited. At this point I had been unable to reach anyone but Lindsey and was ready to call 911 and request an ambulance but made one last call to Don's house. Don answered, and I 'calmly' (screamed) the results of our current visit to Bob's house. Don relayed the message to Bob who was there working in the shop and repied "We'll be right there." The two uncles live relatively close together so it was less than two minutes before they pulled up in Bob's white Ford Ranger. April and I took turns applying pressure to her leg as she was now sobbing and unable to sit without shaking slightly. Bob assisted me in getting April into the car while Don retrieved the dog and escorted it out of sight. As soon as April was in the car Joanna emerged from the house rubbing her eyes and was immediately in awe of what had transpired. She had been sleeping in the back of the house and was woken up by the car horn. Shannon poked a reluctant head out of the house and then disappeared back through the front door. Joanna ran to the car and began profusely apologizing for not being aware of our arrival and for the results thereof. Bob immediately whipped out his credit card and offered it as payment for any hospital bills incurred. Joanna decided then to accompany us to the ER. The hospital was about a five minute drive from where we were. By the time we arrived the blood on april's leg had dried in dark purple streaks. Lindsey had been called again and instructed to meet us at the hospital. She beat us there and got a wheel chair from inside. We moved April to the chair and rushed her inside. Lindsey then rounded up the two Girls who had been in their carseats the whole time, and took them home. April and I checked into the ER and waited 30 minutes to be taken back for a preliminary evaluation. Healthcare here in Hawaii, just isn't what we've all come to expect in Utah. We were taken to a room with dividers where April was laid in a hospital stretcher. The nurse came in to take vitals and a report and then disapeared for 45 minutes. We had to use the nurse call button to get pain meds. Poor April had to endure the gaping puncture for well over an hour before getting the proper attention. Subsequently, the wound was numbed, irrigated, xrayed, and required a double layer of stitches. Now, lets reflect back to that rage I afore mentioned. The only qwelling of the flames I received was a very appropriate, "That dog will be dead," from Don as we placed April in the passenger seat. The hospital was doing there job way to slow for me to calm down any further, but with April on the stretcher there wasn't anything to be accomplished by loosing my composure. We left the hospital approximately 3 hours later and Joanna led us to a pharmacy and bought april's prescriptions. She truly is a saint in plain clothing. We're going to work on what kind of saint...
Now, a few days after the incident, I don't know if anything has been done with the dog. But all medications and care were paid for by the De Rykes. They also called to check in on April, who is now nicknamed 'Alpo' by Don. April was off her feet Saturday and Sunday and started hobbling around on Monday. Today is Thursday and she has a nasty looking set of stitches on her calf but is up and about for the most part. The site is still very tender to the touch. She is also under orders to stay out of the water until fully healed. When you live in paradise and can't hike or swim, well, I am not worried about the couch floating away. Can you imagine her frustration? The moral of the story here is two-fold. Hawaii is not all sunshine and flowers, and I now more than ever want to know what pit bull tastes like.

Now its Abbi in the spot light.

I am going to attempt to post a short video of Abbigail. She has finally broken the communication barrier and uttered her most deep and profound thoughts. Thoughts that provoke the human soul to delights. Thoughts that inspire and remind us of the importance of good human nature. This will no doubtedly inspire all of you to mimic this word to each other in recognition of the For the Love of Hawaii Blog. For those of you 'in the know' I salute you, and Abbi greets you. Watch the video before reading further.

Abbi loves to say this to her dolls. At first we thought it was just babble until she said it to us when we saw her first after a nap or after not seeing her for some time. She cognitively mimics us when we say it to her and actually uses her word in correct context and at appropriate times. Cool huh. Such a proud papa here.

Another one bites the dust....or, well, um, the sun I guess...

Once again here in my beach Bumdomhood (Haywood D. 2008) I am finding that the more free time you have on your hands the more you end up at the beach. Its a rather silly life, though. Blue waters, soft sandy beaches, mostly naked people, many in bikinis and speedos that SHOULD NOT be in bikinis or speedos, and the ultimate free playground for our kids. Sometimes Lindsey and Chris are included in that collection. This time however it was just the Foleys. Now, I think its rather unfair of me to post nothing but beach pictures for all to behold, especially when there is a lack of afore mentioned beach back in U-town. But, if you're all willing to look, here's another slide show of beach pictures. This slide show is mainly meant for those two Grandmas that may be missing our oldest. These slides are from our last trip to Kailua beach. This beach is the one closest to Uncle Don. The water was nearly still most of the day, the sun was very bright with few clouds and as you can see, I learned my lesson, I am wearing a spf 50 rash guard, and rightly so. April slathered herself and the kids up with good sun screen just as always. I, in turn, made sure she was covered adequately as well. Its a rather comical seen, but one, I imagine, that is repeated world wide. The train of people standing in the kitchen each with sun screen goo in their palms, rubbing the person in front of them. Next time I'll get a picture. Once at the beach Hannah quickly made friends with a cute little polynesian girl named Shaylinn. Hannah and her new accomplice chased crabs, built sand castles, and played in the small waves. Glorious day. Now for the pending bad news. April cooked herself. For those of you who've never had baked April, it's very tender like steamed March, but a robust flavor like sauteed October. She is now in the hurt. Despite her vailiant efforts to remain covered in sunscreen she is now red as can be. Lucky for us the girls aren't nearly as fried. They did get some sun on their faces but little else. I can only imagine the depths of hell we would be thrust into upon dealing with a sunburnt three year old and 10 month baby......*shudder*........
Enjoy the pictures!