My Mom Always Hated That I Was a Pitcher
And this is why...
Say hello to my disgustingly bruised and extremely painful quad.
Turns out when a dude rockets a ball up the middle, you get very little time to react, and last night, I just couldn't get out of the way fast enough.
It's one of the occupational hazards of being a pitcher. My mom never really loved that part of the job.
Nice backdrop for softball
Luckily the injury happened late in the game, and the ball hit about two inches above my knee or else I would have been in the hospital with a shattered knee cap.
Perhaps most importantly, I managed to keep enough composure after it happened to scoop up the ball and make the throw over to first to get the batter out.
I think my first words were, "I got the out right?" (Priorities).
But then I pretty much hobbled around the field trying to walk it off. I pitched the rest of the inning, which was only one batter I think. I don't really remember, everything hurt a lot.
You know the ball hit hard when you still have stitch imprints on your leg, and the guy playing in left center said he could hear the ball make contact.
This was maybe two hours after it happened and after 30 minutes of icing. You can't see the swelling in this picture, but it was massive.
To his credit, the batter apologized right away, and when I bumped into the pitcher and another guy on the opposing team at the Metro later, they both apologized too and asked how I was doing.
I had iced it down at the bar after the game, which helped a bunch, but trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in last night was impossible. I'm a stomach sleeper, and that just wasn't happening. Sleeping on my side wasn't working so well either because the bruise was so massive. So I'm fairly exhausted today.
On top of the exhaustion, I can barely walk because it hurts so much and it's just generally been throbbing all morning. Ice seems to help so I'll be doing that a lot at the office today.
I know I'll have the bruise for a while, but I'm hoping most of the pain subsides in time for Friday night's game. Until then I'll be on a steady diet of ice and ibuprofen.
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4 comments
OUCH! If it isn't feeling better in a day or so and still hurts to walk, you might want to get an xray just to make sure the ball didn't fracture your femur.
ReplyDeleteThere's a product called Arnicare by a company called Boiron -- you can get it over the counter at walmart and I'm sure just about any drugstore. Usually it's by the muscle creams like Ben-Gay or by the first aid stuff. It's a clear gel made from some plant and it works WONDERS on bruises. I discovered it when I had an unfortunately run-in with a piece of firewood and ended up with a huge swollen purple grape-sized lump on my chin. It was right before thanksgiving and I was grumping about looking like a freak in all the holiday pictures that were going to be taken and a friend of mine recommended the arnicare. It worked wonders - I've had bruises like that before that hung around for months but with the arnicare this one was mostly faded in a few days and gone completely in about 2 weeks. I recommend giving it a try on your leg - it will take down the swelling and make it hurt less and fade the bruise faster. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI am sorry about your leg. We in our family have used Arnicare all the time. We used even for my granny.
ReplyDeleteIt really speeds up the healing. I think the ice also gives you an immediate relief, so good job you had the chance to put some ice right away.
Well, today is Friday, so is your leg better for the game? I wish you the best. Have an awesome game!!!
Hope you're feeling better! I started playing in a league this spring, and I've played catcher - the only equipment provided is a mask, and I'm so scared that someone will foul the ball off into me....so far, so good.
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