Bend it Like Beckham!

First of all, Congrats to Spain! And to my good friend David Villa, for winning the World Cup!!



I think I will maybe get this shirt to help celebrate =]



I really never used to get into soccer so much. In fact, I really didn't like all that much 4 years ago when Dan would make us watch the World Cup when we would visit each other. I remember I would bring big stacks of magazines and read through them, or sleep a lot when games were on. I never played a whole lot of soccer until I moved to Columbus. Dan would get together with people from the SPPO department and play, then he told me I should go along. Then we started to play FIFA on PlayStation...So I learned the game, and I learned to appreciate it.

I joined a league with a co-worker in the fall of 2008 and had a pretty good time. It was fun to go out and play. WE never did win a game. Now, Dan and I are playing soccer in my work's rec league. This is a co-ed C league.

Anyway, with that said, I am normally not a super competitive person. I am pretty timid when I play, because I am not super skilled at soccer. I like defense because I like to take the ball away rather than control the ball. I am not super aggressive when I play. However, if you try to push me around, that gives me the green light to push you back.
Most of the time I will throw an elbow or knock into someone to throw them of course from getting to the ball.

Now, as I mentioned before this is a C league, meaning the bottom league. But there are some super competitive teams in this league. Just a little over 2 weeks ago, we were playing one of these teams. There was a man, bigger than me, who was pushy! I was trying to stay between him and the ball and I was pushing all of my weight onto him. I am not sure if he tripped, or just moved, or fell but all of the sudden he was not there anymore. Next thing you know I am on the ground trying to get up off the ground so no ref or anyone would come over. The only thing I remember was hitting my right elbow really, really hard. It is almost the same memory I had when I broke my foot. I remember landing wrong and how bad it was, and that is the only thing I remember. Dan said it also looked like I was in shock a little bit.

It felt like I hit my funny bone really hard. My fingers went numb and it HURT! But this is soccer and you don't need your arms, so I kept playing. Towards the end of the game I just held my arm up close to my chest, and I couldn't bend or extend my arm fully.

On the way home, I was in the car trying to use my hands when talking and I had a shooting pain in my arm. Of course, Dan and I planned a cookout for that night and saved the cleaning for after the game...I discovered I am pretty good at one armed cleaning.
I was in the shower when I realized how bad it was, because I couldn't reach my hair or face to wash. I couldn't squeeze the shampoo bottle.

The next day we went to urgent care. The X-rays were probably the most painful part of the whole injury...
We found it was probably fractured, but I had to go back to the sports clinic and make sure.

The gave me the sling. This helped a lot! Plus I had a lot of help from Dan! Who has become a master at dressing me! I was able to type and use the computer mouse at work. I could also ice it throughout the day. It was really swollen for about 5 days or so, then the bruise started to show! I had most of my range back, but I couldn't fully extend my elbow.

I went to the sports clinic and the showed me the X-ray, and this is what it looked like:




The arrows are pointing to Fat Pads. Which, according to the doctor, you should not be able to see both. this means I have a radial head fracture.

The also told me most of the soreness I was experiencing was from my arm being in the sling, which was causing tennis elbow.
They forced my arm to extend, and thought it wasn't excruciating pain. There was a lot of pressure and it was uncomfortable.

Since I have a good range of motion and the sling as starting to hurt my the said I didn't have to wear it anymore. I guess you don't need a cast for elbow fractures!

I still can't fully extend my arm and I feel like Quasimodo. I try to work on it at night when I am at home. Last night, I tried to to do a work out video (which you can stream on Netflix), and realized my arm is not quite at 100% yet.

It is still a little sore and weak. But hopefully I will be good to go in 2 weeks!
We still have a few games to play =]