Sunday, June 18, 2006

In stitches (not for the squeamish)

Today, five Wolves took up an invitation to a training session and practice game with the Tornadoes (the side we only lost to by a point). Lovely day for it, and they were a friendly bunch. We practised throwing, pitching (Manjiv was doing well at that) and batting, then had a practice game. I was fielding in the outfield, and missed a catch. Well, didn't miss it exactly - it skipped off my glove I think, and cannoned into my face. I first noticed stinging pain, then blood, then realised that my sunglasses were somehow stuck to my head. I was thankful to find that I could see clearly from both eyes. The glasses had in fact smacked into my brow, opened a cut, and jammed the flesh between the frame and the lens (my sunglasses are impact-resistant plastic, and worth every penny of the extra I spent, as the lenses stayed intact and so did my eyes).
Now, as these things go, it could have been a lot worse. Not least that the Tornadoes had a qualified doctor and a paramedic among them, and first aider Jane was with us. I'd brought my first aid kit as usual, which was handy as no-one else had one. From the first, I could tell that aside from the nasty cut and inevitable bruising I'd suffered nothing serious. The paramedic and Jane freed my eye from the sunglasses, inevitably tearing the skin a little more, and dressed the wound, then Hoppo (the Tornadoes' captain) drove Jane & I to A&E.
We watched the Japan-Croatia game in A&E while waiting for me to be seen. Eventually, I was seen by a friendly practitioner nurse. She asked how it had happened and everything, plus a bunch of other required questions. "Any other sports or hobbies?". So I said medieval swordfighting. She insisted on putting that down on the form - "that's the only time I'll get to put that!" she said happily. The bleeding was still continuing, due to what PN Julie called "a persistent little bleeder" - a small blood vessel at the edge of the wound which wouldn't close. So I got sutures - five of them in total. Which meant that Manjiv won the sweepstake we were holding via text message as to who'd guess the number of stitches. It wasn't too pleasant an experience, but I didn't blub, and the little bleeder has now been stifled. It occured to me as I was being stitched that if I'd held on to the catch, it would have been the third out, and finished the other side's inning. We were winnning, too.
Jane used my camera to snap lots of cool pictures of me at different stages (face covered with blood, being stitched up, etc).
Interesting experience. Glad I always take that little first aid kit stuffed in my bat bag - I shall continue to do so, and the Tornadoes' professional medics said they'd be doing something similar from now on. They were great, and Jane's first aid and support, spending her Sunday afternoon in AE with me, were also really appreciated.

6 comments:

Julian said...

Sounds awful - thanks for your great description Andy

Manj said...

Andy was very brave and displayed true wolf courage...unlike me! I'm still cringing everytime I think of all that blood...Hope to see you on the pitch soon.....:)

Andy said...

Sory, Manjiv - didn't mean to upset anyone.
I probably shouldn't play this evening (if only not to tempt fate), but the stitches should be out in time for 24th :-)
I'll be along tonight anyway, to help score, and show off my injuries.
Don't know how to post pics to Blogger behind a cut, so I won't post the shots here, but they came out well.

Sonic Boom said...

Bad luck Andy. Sorry to read about your injury, I hope you recover soon. I like the fact that you remembered what the play would have been if you hadn't been hit by the ball. "Third Out". You are a true softballer.

Paul said...

Can we get a good deal on Sports Injury Insurance anywhere!?!

Andy said...

Photos now uploaded. Also there are the ones from our Xmas party.