How to treat a dog bite (or how to get a long MC)

I thought it was about time to post something useful instead of just gossiping about the dog. So here it is, my very first sensible post. Taa-daah!

The family's had dogs for many years but even so, when my bro got bit, we were totally clueless on what to do. As it turned out, so was the A&E department.

The result was three days of MC, a two-night hospital stay during which they operated on his hand, followed by another seven days of MC coupled with daily changes to the dressing at the GP. The bandages came off today and he's just left with a plaster of sorts, but for a week he had chipolatas for fingers.

So, to save anyone who's reading this the agony, here's a recap of what went wrong.

1) Prevention is better than cure. Chassard was already growling when my bro tried to leash him. Continuing to do so was a bad idea.

2) We rushed down to two hospitals in search of a rabies jab before we found out that Singapore is rabies-free. If you get bitten by a dog on this tiny island, there is no need for a jab. If you get bitten abroad, however, it is not just one jab you need but a series of jabs. Tan Tock Seng is the only hospital in Singapore that carries the vaccine and it costs around $100+ for each jab alone.

3) The doctor at the A&E didn't stitch it as the dog's mouth (and any other mouth for that matter) carries a lot of bacteria, hence closing up the wound would increase the chance of infection. As his hand kept bleeding, the nurse proceeded to bandage the wound. However, this had the same effect as sealing up the bacteria in his hand. By the morning of his review check-up, his hand was still swollen and he had to be warded. The doctors decided to operate to remove the infection at midnight when they realised the antibiotics weren't working.

According to our GP, he should have just kept it clean but let it bleed out. That way bacteria would be flushed out of the wound.

4) A day after he was sent home from the hospital, his hand continued to swell and was turning a darkish colour. It turns out, he needed to keep his hand in an upright position so the blood wouldn't collect in the hand. He spent the next seven days looking like he was waving at everyone. But it worked. By Day 4 (post-hospital), it had shrunk back to normal and was a nice healthy shade of pink.

So yes, now the family knows what not to do... especially my brother.