In the calmest voice you can imagine. "Hi Ally. Um, K took a pitch to the, uh, well, to his eye and well, he's okay, we're getting some ice for it. We've got him laying down here, but I just wanted you to know what was going on here."
My mind is weighing what I'm hearing. Is he telling me just so I know? Or does this require medical attention? Or do I need to go get him? "Okay, well is this something he's going to hang in there through, or do you think we should come down and get him?" I mean, if my kid took a ball to the noggin, maybe he shouldn't be driving a car.
Still with the uber calm voice. "Yeah. Yeah, I think it would be a good idea for him to go home. Yeah, I think that would be a good idea. It's pretty puffed up, but he's got the ice now."
Ohhhh-Kaaaay. Seriously, my son's coach is one awesome dude. It takes a lot to get him riled. And I mean A LOT. But he is a coach, and there are rules about head injuries and so forth. So I grab my husband and we drive down to the training center. I have no make up, my hair is a mess, I'm in yoga pants and some stupid t-shirt and fleece jacket. And I'm still trying to figure out from what he said how serious this is.
We walk in and the coach greets us halfway through the door. The assistant coach is leaning over my son, who is laid out on a bench, holding a giant ice pack on the side of his face. There is another dad standing there watching. I glance down and there are tears rolling down K's face. K is a catcher and gets nailed routinely. When it comes to baseball, he's one of the toughest kids I've ever seen. He will hold in all tears until reaching the safety of the car, and even then they are more out of frustration than pain.
"Okay, buddy, you better let Mom take a look," the coach says. And they slowly pull the ice away.
Holy shit. His eye is swollen shut. And he has the imprint of the stitches across his eyelid. There is blood in his nose. I've seen a lot of injuries, but when it's your child, there's just no turning off that mother reaction.
My biggest concern is less about head injury and more about whether there was impact to his actual eyeball. We took him home and made the decision to take him the ER for a freaking expensive visit that will all be applied to our enormously huge deductible. Urgent care is out because with a head injury, they want to have the options of MRI and CT available. Don't get me wrong, I would give up my house for my son's health.
By the time we hit an exam room, which was pretty quick I might add, I was pretty sure we were just there to be reassured that everything was fine. Then a tech came and gave him an eye exam - you know, cover one eye and read the smallest letters on the chart you can. He did his good eye first - the kid has superman vision. Then the injured eye. Oops, it was half what the other eye was. Oh and there was that comment he made about everything being sepia colored on that side. What?
And then he pulls a classic - the doctor is examining him in the darkened room, with the bright little lights on the eye examining machinery, and then she tips him back to paint some dye on his lower eyelid and starts touching all that swollen eyelid and..... he suddenly feels like he's going to pass out. Then he feels like he's going to throw up. While this could be symptoms of a head injury, it is also a symptom of being a male in my family. Ahem.
Long story made just slightly shorter - he's okay. No damage detected to his eye, his vision symptom is due to swelling. And thank goodness, we have a doctor who does not recommend CT unless absolutely indicated due to the fact that it's like 200 times the radiation of an x-ray being blasted at his brain. He's lucky, because he was turning away, so it likely was a glancing blow instead of full on impact. But she wants him to avoid sports for "a few days". PROBLEM. High school baseball tryouts start tomorrow. And THAT coach is not so understanding. In fact, he's the world's biggest ass. The doctor agrees to just Monday off sports. However, the swelling has to come down for him to see clearly. And without being able to see clearly, he'll be lucky to be able to catch the ball, let alone hit the ball. Baseball is my son's love. It sits right above music. I'm pretty sure if push came to shove, it even sits above the girlfriend.
Sigh. It is so hard, at this current place in my life, not to scream Why us? Why us AGAIN? Because the shit storm just doesn't seem to want to stop. It's like the bad luck Gods are hovering over our lives. And I want them to keep their filthy hands off my kid and his dreams! Sigh.
But I am thankful that he is okay. I am thankful that he ER doctor was super nice and super thorough. And I just need to stay focused on that. I told him that he was now truly a stud, for sporting a seam imprint on his eyelid. But to please not ever do that again.
And in case you wonder what a stitched baseball seam inprint on an eyelid looks like, scroll down
Hey, the swelling had started coming down by the time I took this! He could actually slightly open it! (He's not very happy that I'm posting this - he says he looks awful. He must be feeling better.)
***Ally
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6 comments:
OMG!! That is soooooo scary! I would have done the same thing you did to make sure.
That poor boy of yours!
I am SO grateful that there won't be long term and lasting effects from this, but ouch!!!
Ouch OUCH OUCH.. My hubby was playing softball and got nailed by a line drive from the baseball. It hit him right in the ribs, knocked him to his knees and he like your son had the stitches imprint on his side. It was black and blue for 2 weeks.
OMG I'm so glad he's ok! Wow, baseball imprint. My son had both eyes whacked (at different times) when he played baseball. He wanted to quit after the second time (he was only 9) but I wouldn't let him. In retrospect, I'm not sure I should have been that hard on him.
Anyways, so glad everything's ok!
Terri
OUCH! I hope he's healed quickly.
What a trooper! AND what a nightmare for you. Good to know all is well!!
As a ball player, I know EXACTLY how he feels, and as a parent of a child who has taken his share of hits to the head, I know EXACTLY how you felt.
Over the years, both growing up and as an adult player, I've been hit in the face and head so many times that I've lost count. The worst one was a softball to the eye socket that swelled up and closed my eye within seconds. I lost time from work over that one, not to mention the pain. And my son has taken his share of licks too, including a scary shot to the head and neck with a bat. Fortunately, those incidents are far behind us and we're none the worse, except that now I get to tell the stories about them.
As a ball player, my instinct is to let him do the tryouts despite the injury. It's in his blood. You can always protect the eye with a mask or some other sports related contraption they have these days for those types of injuries. Heck, anytime baseball comes before girls, you just gotta let him tryout. LOL
Tell him that a fellow baseball fan wishes him well in his recovery, and the best of luck in the tryouts.
And for goodness sake mom, take a deep breath and relax. It's one of more to come.
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