Five dogs had just broken Kathrina Bateman’s arm, savaged the flesh on her left calf and popped out her right knee.

Then she drove herself, in a stick shift, a half-mile to the Skamania General Store for help.

“Everybody’s still going, ‘How’d you do that? Broken arm, knee popped out and this one’s all bleeding,’ ” she said Thursday in her hospital bed, with a smile. “I was determined. I needed help, and you do what you can.”

Medics brought Bateman, 57, to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center on Tuesday evening, after she was attacked by five dogs, which she described as pit bulls of varying size. She spent several hours in surgery.

She met a neighbor at the Skamania General Store earlier that afternoon. He told her he had a litter of mutt puppies, Bateman said, and offered her one.