Broken But Not Beaten

July 8th, Carey and Bryant went to the baseball park for some batting practice. Carey was throwing balls to B. B squared around to bunt and somehow missed the ball. Instead, the ball hit him in the face. They both knew instantly that the nose was broken. He dropped to his knees and said take me home. Carey was really flipped out, but the doctors didn't even want to see him immediately. That Friday, July 10, we went to see the ENT. She confirmed it was broken and that Bryant would need some surgery to repair it. The tricky part, as is always the case for the Sassers, is that we were leaving town on Sunday for a world series baseball tournament. It is really the biggest event of the travel ball team. Long story short, we decided to let B play in the tournament. His nose was already broken. If he got hit in the nose again, it would hurt, but they would just fix it when we do the surgery the following week. By waiting until we returned, it also meant one of Betsy's, our ENT, partners would have to do the surgery. We all decided that was OK. Bryant had to wear the face mask on his batting helmet, and he hated it, but he didn't have a choice. And, you know what? He had a great tournament. He made some great plays, slid into many bases head first, hit the ball and had a really good time with his team.

The picture at the top of the post is right after he came home. He was diligent about keeping ice on his nose. If you look very carefully, you can see that on HIS right, the bone is sticking out a bit at the top. You can also see on his left that the swelling or something was pushing right up into his left eye. The left side of his nose was also indented? It felt and still feels like it was flattened a little. I'm writing most of this so I remember later. Sorry.

Just so you can see the black eye and swelling. A lot of people asked him about it.

Mini golf in Myrtle Beach. This was a cool course. Some of the holes were in these huts. It also kept us a little drier than the group that played another course! Dylan, Hunter, Bryant and Duane. Every time we go to MB, Bryant wants to play putt putt, but we rarely have the chance. It was nice to be able to indulge this request!

Back home after surgery, with the "cast." He did really well with the surgery and anesthesia. He was really itching and not happy that he could not scratch his nose, but that was about all. The anesthesiologist gave him a benadryl, and the nurse warned that with the anesthesia and the adult dosage of benadryl that he would be very sleepy all day. He wasn't. He did not even take a nap until very late afternoon.

Finally, just so you know he's back to normal, this is what I found on my camera after driving to GA. Apparently B was entertaining himself with taking pics on my camera. This one made me smile. Surgery to make sure his nose is fixed so he can contort his nose like this!