4:48 PM, Jun 9, 2006
Playoffs and Cancellations
We had our first playoff game last night, in kickball. We managed the best defense and offense we ever have, scoring 13 runs, and allowing only four, all but one of which were scored in the last inning when, I may say, I was out of the game. The team played admirably in the second game, against the first-place team, but fell 4-1, ending the season. We stayed around after the second game, and cooperatively drank over thirty beers between us. It didn't even seem like a great effort, but it was a lot of beer drinking. After the game, the group went to Grinders for tasty beers and the loud singing of Bruce Springsteen songs. Below is an assortment of pictures from the evening.
Toward the end of the first game, I was running to second base, trying to outrun a force throw, when the second baseman fielded the ball within about ten feet of where I was running, and rather than risking a bumbled throw and catch at the base, just threw the ball at me. I leapt into the air, so at the apex, my feet were perhaps three feet off the ground, and the ball bounced off me. Perhaps it was the grief of the moment that made me forget, but when I landed on the other side of second base, I stomped back to the earth with all my weight on my right foot, and my knee was locked. I didn't break anything, but it took some doing to hobble off the field. I was done playing, for the night.
I woke up, this morning, startled awake by the acute pain of trying to put some weight on my right foot, in my sleep, presumably, to push myself into another sleeping position. I stood up, and the pain was real and immediate. The walk around the bed and into the bathroom was excruciating. I decided if it was that difficult to walk to the bathroom, eight feet from my bed, negotiating the walk to the bus stop, the walk across the expansive floor of Union Station, and the walk from the ticket window to the platform would be downright impossible. I called Amy and said that I wouldn't be coming to Peoria after all, after explaining the details of the accident.
I made a number of phone calls to friends and medical supply companies about getting some crutches, and none were able to help. It was suggested that I see a doctor about my heel, and upon diagnosis, crutches would be furnished, at the very least. I called several podiatrists' offices, only to find that nobody could see me today. I took a shower, and got an idea. Devotees will remember that I had another kickball accident in the
Fall, but I did not say, in that account, that the doctor prescribed some
Naproxen for the pain and inflammation. By the time I saw the doctor, however, the pain was pretty much gone, and I never took any of the medicine, until today.
I took a single large pill from the cannister, and I feel great! I can put some weight on the foot, and walk comfortably, even though there's a small limp. But anyway, my weekend is wide open now.