It's all fun until someone gets hurt

Did you hear this when you were a kid? I did, and now I catch myself saying it to my own kids. Well this time it happened to me. I love, love softball. Love to watch, love to play. Ryan put together a women's team of some of his high school players and some that played but have graduated. He put me on the roster if they needed an extra player. It has been so much fun playing again. I was surprised that my 30 year old body could still run pretty fast and hit the ball pretty well. I think Ryan was impressed too.

Last week was our second week to play. We were the visiting team and up to bat first. We were hitting the ball well. I even hit a home run!! And then it went downhill after that. Our team went out in the field and second base is the last spot open, so I took it. Back in the day I played second base, so I thought no problem. Everything was going well. We had two outs. Runner is on first. Ball gets hit to the third baseman. Runner is coming my way, and she is the closest out. I get in position and see the third baseman wind up to throw the ball. Then it happens. The ball hits me smack in the middle of my face. I instantly went down and blood gushes from my nose. I sat there for a few minutes dazed with eveyone huddled around me. I couldn't figure out how that could have happened. Apparently I need to practice catching the ball. Ryan gets mad at me because I swipe at the ball instead of just letting the ball come to the mit. I am told that the ball did hit my glove before hitting me. That makes it a little better than if I just missed. I finally got up and off the field to try to get the bleeding to stop. It took a long time. I called Ryan, who was at Hunter's ball game, and the first thing he says is, "What did you break?" I told him my nose and he comes back with, "Why didn't you catch the ball?" I wish I could answer that question myself. My face instantly swelled up, which I think is a good thing because it went numb and I couldn't feel the pain. I decided that instead of paying an ER copay I could wait until morning to get looked at since I am fortunate enough to work at the doctor's office and we have xray equipment there. They took xrays and I have a deviated septum. At least I don't have a crooked nose. If, after the swelling goes down, I still can't breath it may have to be fixed, but hopefully it will be okay. My face has changed colors everyday, but has not been too painful. Thank goodness. Ryan has been very good to take care of me and I appreciate him so much. I have realized there are simple tasks I have taken for granted since they now all cause pain like breathing, blowing my nose, and small facial movements such as squinting. It is getting better though. Here is the progress of my injury:

Day 1 Right after it happened


Day 2 Very swollen

Day 3


Day 4


Day 5 Today. The color is now starting to fade