I've Done Smarter Things...

I had a conversation with my friend two days ago about how I probably shouldn't go play racquetball the night before probably the most important physical I'll ever go through. After a discussion weighing the risks, it was decided that it isn't all that often cute girls ask me to play racquetball with them, and I should snap up any oppotunity that actually does make itself available. I mean seriously, what are the odds I could actually suffer an injury.

...

We'd gotten through maybe 5 points when I ended up diving for one near the right wall. I made the shot, it came high off the front wall right near the right wall, and came over my head to ricochet off the back wall and bounce very close to it, and fly back towards my position. I hunkered down like I always do when stuck in this position, hoping to get low enough that she'd be able to make the shot over my head. She went for it alright, and was sure to add some extra power into what would probably be a difficult shot. Unfortunately, she slightly misjudged the position of my head, and swung clean through it. Her racket edge caught me just above the left eye in the temple, full force, still accelerating. She even followed through before she realized what she'd actually made contact with.

It surprisingly wasn't as painful as one would think initially. Just an "ow" and I was about to pop up and see if I could return the shot in case she made it. I felt a little wrong though so I reached up with my hand, and was surprised to find I had gained a new forehead. Imagine a golf ball implanted under the skin of your temple. That's what it looked like, I kid you not. It swelled up INSTANTLY like a balloon, the most swelling I've ever had on any part of my body. My main concern was whether or not is was bleeding, and in between "OH MY GOD's" and "I CANT BELIEVE I HIT YOU's" she informed me it wasn't. I made a quick jaunt to the restroom to use the mirror and see what the deal was, although based on the expressions of the people I passed by it wasn't good. I basically scared myself when I looked in the mirror. It seriously looked like a skin colored golfball, almost like something from the cartoons when they get whaled on with sledgehammers. My eye seemed alright though, she'd missed it by a good inch or so. I returned to the court, constantly checking to see if it was beginning to bleed, but it never did. I couldn't even feel it really, it was just numb. I checked as best I could to see if there was any damage to the skull or anything, but as far as I could tell it was just swollen. So, we played three or four more games.

:)

What, think of the options: 1. Go home and ice your head for the rest of the night, by yourself, unable to do anything useful 2. Play racquetball with a cute girl for another hour or so, eventually go home and ice your head for the rest of the night, by yourself, unable to do anything useful. Seemed like an easy decision to me, since it's not like the swelling was getting any bigger. I was just a little more careful when I was in the general vicinity of her shot. She's actually quite possibly the best female player I've been up against. Quite agile, able to get to stuff most don't even bother with. My main concern was the physical the next day, but I was willing to sacrifice a few hours of sleep for the cause. That's what ended up happening, it took a good seven hours or so for the swelling to go down to the point it was only visible if you were looking for it. The only annoying factor was trying to talk the front desk out of calling an ambulance, after making the mistake of going down there for an ice pack. Some ppl can't really handle seeing people's injuries, it just doesn't bother me all that much, I watch those Trauma shows on TLC occasionally, it's all quite interesting. I then got a good hour of sleep before I had to wake up at 5am and get on the road.

Complete report on the Flight Physical, tonight.