Sorry Russ, this may make you queasy

Me: Goodnight babies.  Ok, one more scratch for both of you.

A nice long pet for Merlin before I put him back.  Then I get ready to move to Tikki's cage.  I stick my finger through the bar first as I usually do.  Alarm bells are screaming at the dark recesses of my brain.  Should wash your hands first they scream. 

Me: Hey Tick-tick.  Oh no, oh god!  Stop!  Oh no, please let go!  OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!  AHHHHHHHHH!  Ah-Ah-Ah-AHHHHH!!!!

I eventually get my finger back.  The crunching sounds as he bit down were almost worse than the pain itself.  Almost.  Blood flowed from my hand like warm milky water.  I felt it run down my leg, splashing my foot.  Made it to the sink but can't get the water on.  I'm trying to keep pressure on my index finger, trying to slow the bleeding while my brain screams the need to clean the bite.  I know how bad an infection could be there.  Eventually, I manage to get the water on and a paper towel around my finger.  Through the pain, I find my bedroom and as calmly as possible beg my husband to wake.  He flies out of bed.  The panic must have been evident in my voice. 

Me: Oh god, I think I need to go to the ER.  Oh god, I don't want to go.  Oh god, oh god oh god. 

Husband: Jamie, what's wrong?  Where are you hurt?  What happened?  Calm down and tell me what happened. 

I don't answer and instead stumble back to the kitchen.  Must not wake Jasmine.  Don't want to scare her.  Ohhhhh god it hurts.  What am I going to do?  Where's my mom?  I need her.  Eventually, through sobs, I explain what happened.  I'm in the midst of a panic attack now.  Hyperventilating.  I continue to sob on and off for a full hour.  I did my best to prevent further swelling but it was just too painful.  I couldn't touch it without screaming in pain.  I think my muscle is torn.  Some kind of tissue is protruding from the bite.  I eventually decide no ER.  I hope not to regret it.  I took a large dose of high potency antibiotics and a tramadol.  I would've preferred an Oxycodone but I don't have that strong of drugs.  It still throbs, hours later. 

The white part is what I believe to be muscle.  You can't tell from the picture but it is actually sticking out a ways.  After doing some internet searching, I found that when a rat attacks, the bottom teeth separate in a V form, allowing the top teeth to penetrate between the bottom.  This causes a deep and nasty bite.  The crunching I was hearing, was the teeth meeting and grinding together in my finger.  The reason for the attack was that I smelled strongly of the other male rat.  Merlin's brother died yesterday (Toby) and I have reason to believe it's the cage so I moved him to the other room in a smaller cage.  Tikki isn't used to him and would like to eat him, hence my wound.

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