Rec Sports...

On October 13th Phil had his last Rec League Softball Game.  It had been a fun season for him, playing with many of the guys in our neighborhood.  Fun for the kids as well since that meant many of their friends were at the games.  He commented before he left out the door that he hoped he didn't get hurt, since he had pulled a hammy a couple games ago and was still hurting (a 16 year old mind in a 37 year old body will do that to you!) The last game was later in the evening so I stayed home to put the kids to bed.  Little did we know what a blessing that would be.  Phil hit, and as he was running to first base, found himself on the ground.  Apparently, the short stop, who usually plays outfield threw a crazy ball to first and instead of hitting the first baseman's mitt, hit Phil smack in the temple.  He was a little dazed, but never lost consciousness.  My friend Brandy called to let me know Phil had been hit, but that he wouldn't let her drive him home, and was headed my way, and to please call and let them know he made it home safely.  Once he got home, I could tell it was bad, but he was insistent that he was just going to ice it and go to bed.  I called my mom to be on hand in case I could talk him into going to have it looked at.  He was in so much pain, and could tell I was worried that he finally relented.  I called the Insta-care and they closed in 10 mins, so we left Jess in charge until my parents could get there and ran out the door.  As soon as we walked into the Insta-care, they took one look at Phil and told us we'd need to get to the ER.  He wasn't looking good.  So off we headed to the ER.  After about an hour wait, Phil finally got what we had come for, some good pain meds and a CAT scan.  The CAT scan confirmed our fears.  Phil had fractured the left side of his face in three different places.  After meeting preliminarily with the plastic surgeon residents and and eye specialist, we knew his eye and vision were good.  But, had mixed feelings on whether surgery would be required.  One plastic surgeon thought it would be for sure, the other consulted us to wait to meet with the head doc.  Here's how Phil looked when we got home...

  

 (if you look closely you can see the stitching from the ball)

And the next morning...

Thankfully, the appointment with the head plastic surgeon produced good news.  One of the fractures had moved 2mm, but that wasn't worth the risk of fixing it to put him through surgery.  It would completely heal on its own in 6-8 weeks. We're sure grateful it didn't hit him even a few centimeters either way or it could have been a lot worse.  He is one tough cookie!!...but it may be awhile before he plays Rec Sports again ;)