9 Stitches Later

Ok, it has taken me a few days to post this but you should understand why after you are done reading it…If you want to skip all of the verboseness and go right to the pictures, feel free but BE WARNED: THEY ARE GRAPHIC (sorry Mom :-)...

If you read my post "ouch" from June 26th then you know i love playing softball, but am not the best player on the team. They moved me to 1st because my arm isn't the best but I didn't figure i wasn't very good at catching either until Wednesday night.

Wednesday is our 2nd game of our softball playoffs. We lost the first game (no surprise – we pretty much suck as a team and have only won 2 games all season) so we were in the losing bracket playing at 6:00. Paris was sick so Lissette had to stay home with her and Tristan and I went with Esher to the game. As I left I told lissette that if we won I’d see her at 9:00 and if we lost I’d be home at 7:00. She said, “see you at 7:00” – NO FAITH :-)…

I missed a couple of throws from Dusty that were so close and we figured out that I was covering the bag with my left instead of right foot (rookie mistake) and I was excited to go back out and use my right foot. So this older dude that can’t run very well hit one to shallow center where Brian (Haroldson from Pro Look) was playing. I consciously covered the bag with my right foot, setup waiting for the throw thinking that there was no way Brian would throw it since it was in the outfield. But, he took it on a hop and started running at me. It seemed like he was just about to the dirt and then he wound up and threw it (it seemed and from troy’s account) as hard as he could to get the guy out.

So, I’m standing there waiting for the thing to hit my glove and then it bounces on the dirt and I tried to adjust but it was coming so dang fast and it (according to those watching) took a very funky bounce straight up past my glove. Next thing I know my ears are ringing and I’m on the ground holding my eye (I think I fell pretty hard because my arm is all cut up from where I fell)…

So, I’m laying on the ground holding my eye. That whole part of my face went totally numb, so I couldn’t tell what was hurt or what was going on. My eyes were closed and I was afraid to open them and I kept thinking about my Sunglasses that I got for my birthday that I just spent $40 to fix a broken lens in and how they were busted (I opened my un-hit eye and saw the frames with the missing lens). I was then worried that pieces of glass broke and went into my eye. Troy ran over and told me to remove my hand so he could see if my eye was still in the socket (I guess sometimes the eye will pop out??? Man, that is gross) and I opened it a little bit, saw light and didn’t feel pain and closed it right away.

My eyes were pretty much closed the rest of the time I was on the ground (my hands were dirty and I didn’t want to get dirt in them), so I just heard voices but there was this one guy that was great. Troy said he shoved Troy aside and took over the situation. Troy thinks he was an EMT from the things he was doing (he put my head on my glove, held my arms above my head and started asking me questions and making sure I was conscious and not nauseous). He yelled up at the booth to bring ice quickly and I heard other people around me talking about it being gross and big cut under my eye.

I was just happy my eye was ok, but pissed about my glasses so the only think I said while laying there was, “I broke my frickin glasses.” They got me some Ice and a butterfly band-aid to hold the wound together and Dusty picked me up to carry me to Troy’s truck to go to the Emergency Room.

It was very surreal being carried off the field and I had so many thoughts. Mostly I was upset that we were going to lose the game because Troy and I were leaving and we didn’t have enough players to finish (we were also down by several runs)…plus, it was strange to hear the opposing team clapping as I stood up to walk off (I’ve always thought when watching sports and someone is hurt and gets up after a long time that it is cool both teams/fans clap for the guy – but being the guy getting the claps was very strange.) I was upset that I didn’t catch it and was going through the play in my head over and over to see what I did wrong (I think I even asked Dusty about the bounce while he was walking me to the car.) Mostly I was amazed that it didn’t really hurt at all. It was just numb. I knew once it stopped being numb it would hurt, but I didn’t feel any specific pain (like the cut, etc.).

Troy was surprised I was completely normal going to the ER (“dude, are you in shock? You aren’t acting like you just got slammed in the face” he kept saying.) But, I didn’t hurt and wasn’t disoriented and didn’t have a concussion. Troy kept talking about the sound it made when it hit me. He said the sound was the worst and so loud and he and Dusty raced over to get to me right away knowing it was bad from the sound of it.

So, we get to the hospital and Lissette shows up with the kids. It took a while to get into the suture room and I told them I’d feel better about an X-Ray to make sure there was no glass in my face and that I hadn’t broken any of my cheekbone. The X-Ray came back clean and it was time to stitch me up. The girl came in and gave me (according to Lissette) 30 shots to numb it. I have no problems with needles, so it didn’t bother me but Lissette was dying during that part. It did feel like they were shoving this 1” needle all the way through my cheek to pull it out slowly to put in the lydicane.

The doctor stitched me up with 9 stitches and we went on our way. And all Lissette could say the WHOLE TIME and every day since then is, “MAN, YOU USED TO BE SO HANDSOME. YOU ARE SO MESSED UP! YOUR FACE LOOKS TERRIBLE” She says it all with a smile, of course, but I know I hurt to look at.

So, without further ado – here are the pictures I’ve been promising to post for you guys...remember IT IS BLOODY:

DON'T

SAY

I

DIDN'T

WARN

YOU

Here is a shot of me when we first got to the hospital. There is a lot of blood, but it is the cut under my eye that is making all of the mess. It is a perfect cut from the bottom of my sunglasses (the glasses don't have a bottom frame - just a lense, so that is why it cut so perfectly). The doctor said that the glasses saved my eyeball because they protected it from being damaged or blinded.

Paris was very sad i got hurt, but it looks like Tristan has no problem with it. She kept wanting to see my eye and kept saying, "cool".

Still waiting...Paris still sad, Tristan still happy and Troy grossed out

Here is the nurse numbing the area with that needle...Lissette counted 30 shots around and inside the wound.

Here is a shot of the doctor sewing it up. He was very good and said that they usually put extra stitches in when it is on the face to make sure the scar is harder to see. He said it should fade and be hard to see in a year or two as long as i put a lot of suntan lotion on it when i'm out in the sun.

Here is the finished cut. You can't see all of them, but there are 9 stitches in all and my bottom eyelid is turning black (it was very black that night, but i didn't get a picture of it because the doctor said it would look worse the next day. It didn't look as black the next day so i was bummed i didn't take a picture)

Here is a picture of me the next morning when i woke up. You can see it bled while i slept and i still couldn't open my eye.

24 hours later. You can see the whole right side of my face doesn't look anything like the left side. Even my lip (behind my beard) was tweaked. I iced it all day to be able to open my eye.

Paris came up with the idea of making me a Cupcake Flower Bouquet to try to make me feel better because i got hurt. Here is a shot of her working on it and Tristan and Esher jumping in to help...they didn't help much, but never miss an opportunity for a photo and to eat batter, frosting and anything that drops within 5 feet of the chef.

Here is Paris working on it. She came up with the logistics of putting the cupcakes in two levels in the vase all on her own (Lissette and I were upstairs while she worked on it all by herself). I was VERY proud of her. She is so creative!

Here is am with my little artist!

The finished bouquet. Look how she tried to do different designs on each one and how the middle cupcakes are higher than the outside (she devised a inner-cup system to raise up the middle). And they tasted AMAZING...I almost forgot how much pain i was in!!!