adventures in hockey

The last three Thursdays Timmy has reported on how his roller hockey game went the night before. Today, I will do the reporting since he is unable to type. Below is his account of the first part of the night, as dictated to me:

"We were playing a game against a bunch of 20 year old morons who thought their crap didn't stink and were trying to show off all night. The third period had just begun and something happened that I don't really remember but it ticked me off. So, I did the only reasonable thing and chased the guy down. I skated into him. He jumped in to me which made my arm hurt and I fell down onto my knees. I tried to get back up but fell down on my butt instead. I heard the 20 year olds' trailer trash girlfriends were laughing from the stands. So, I mustered my last bit of energy and.... let them know I was okay. After that I went back over to the bench and threw my stick and gloves into the corner and proceeded to take the next five minute to get my jersey off. Sometime in there, apparently, Nim took it upon himself to repay the act of kindness from the guy who hit me. I hear there was something about tackling and punching in the head. Whatever it was, it got him kicked out of the game. But I'm okay with it. It is hockey after all. I sat on the bench for about 10 more minutes and my teammates kept asking me 'are you okay.' I kept saying, 'no, I don't think so.' Finally George took my jersey and fashioned it into a sling and I skated off of the rink into the locker room. A coworker, Doug, who had come to watch the game, came in and said, 'you'll probably need at least an x-ray.' I was going to try to drive home myself since my right arm is fine but it kinda started to hurt more so I decided that might be bad. Luckily my boy Eric's wife was there so he was able to drive my car and me home while she followed behind. When I got home, Missy took over driving and took me to Crozer"

Enter me. When I got home from kinship at 11pm, I called Timmy to see where he was. He asked if I wanted to go for a ride to Crozer becauser he thought he might have dislocated his shoulder. Joy. That news didn't entirely surprise me since he had told me before that he might try to make the "no checking" league more fun. I just didn't expect him to get seriously hurt. We drove over to Crozer. I'm not entirely sure why we went to Crozer instead of Taylor, but I just followed orders. Timmy called into the emergency room ahead of time and spoke to the nurse on duty to reserve a room before we got there. We walked right in, bypassed the triage, and went straight into one of the trauma rooms that was waiting for him. Nice to know the nurses, doctors, and medics in the emergency room.

After the nurses did their thing, the doctor came in, looked at his shoulder, and grimaced. Not a good sign. He sent for x-rays which showed that Timmy had a broken collar bone. The doctor was concerned about his shoulder blade, so he ordered a CATscan. Those results confirmed that he also had a fracture in his shoulder plade. Dito, my Timmy is broken. After a few hours, they sent Timmy home with a shoulder immobilizer and pumped up with percocet. We have an appointment at 3:15 with the orthopedic doctor to determine the next course of action: whether he just needs to not use his shoulder for a while or if he needs to get surgery. Either way, he's looking at about 6-8 weeks of recovery.

In related news, a few of Timmy's fellow medics were at the ER working and they kept checking in on him. They were all very sweet to show so much concern for him. Porter, especially, was sweet. However, he was mostly upset that he was scheduled to be at the game, but he had to work instead. Porter told us that the Crozer hockey team is in full agreement that they won't make it through the first period next time they meet this team in the rink. They have a whole plan for how to rough them up. I thought there might be a hint of seriousness to them because Nim already got kicked out of last night's game for defending my boy. When I asked Timmy if they would actually do something, he nodded and said yes. Guess we will only see. I think it's sweet that they have his back. I just don't want anyone to get hurt or arrested. Even though, apparently, the medics called their police friends and asked them to come too - uh oh.

In related, silly Melissa news, I got all warm and fuzzy when the registration nurse asked me how I was related to him. When I said I was his wife, she proceeded to ask me all the required questions to get him checked in and I got to sign all his papers. Que emocion - I'm authorized to act in this way - I'm his wife :) Of course, in classic Melissa fashion where she stubbles with her words and says the wrong words, Timmy sent me to give the medics an update. Instead of saying "scapula" I stumbled and said "spatula" Thankfully, I was fumbling with my words because I knew it was the wrong word. So, it wasn't as bad as just saying the wrong word and thinking it was right. However, this little moment happened in front of four parademics who all smiled and laughed - it was a nice laugh, though, not a mean one.

I think that's all the update we have for you. Just for clarification, Timmy is doing well. He is uncomfortable and it will be nice when we get his prescription filled. But overall, I think he is doing really well.