A moment is it all it takes. A moment and your life will never be the same ...

That moment happened to me several weeks ago on the soccer field during a pickup game. A long high ball was hit toward me, and even though I was behind the defender, I figured I could come around and still get a head on it. I came around and jumped, and then there was a flash, a snapping sound, and my world went black. The defender had thrown out his arms while jumping and I caught the point of his elbow in the left eye. When I came to I was face down. I had only been out for a few seconds. There was someone screaming ... and it turned out to be me. I screamed again as the pain overwhelmed me. It felt like I had lost my left eye. I put my hands to the face, and felt the blood pouring over my fingers. Not good, not good at all. I said calmly "I'm bleeding" to the people huddled around me. They helped me to my feet and I heard "oh yeah he is." I was dazed and staggered around. They held my arms and led me into the fitness facility.

One of my first thoughts was "man my wife is going to kill me." They sat me down, and Brian (director of the fitness center and medically trained) came over. He cleaned up the blood as best he could, and tried to put ice over my eye but any pressure caused more pain. People stood around me and watched - I can only imagine I was quite the sight. At this point everyone was more concerned about the gash under my eye. Brian told me that I probably would need stitches. After a brief discussion, we decided that Sequoia emergency room was probably the best bet. Bev, a coworker, was there and offered to call my wife to tell her what was going on. I reluctantly agreed. My wife took the news calmy enough - she had been through this before a couple of times now. A soccer buddy volunteered to drive me, and with that it was off to emergency room.