That Time James Broke His Face...
I know it isn't Thursday so it's weird to have a "Throwback Thursday post" go up today. But it's been two years since my husband broke his face riding a bull. (Yes, you read that correctly!) Instead of retelling the story in honor of this weird anniversary, I'm just going to leave this old post here for those of you who don't know the story. This post was originally published back in February 2013, so I call James my boyfriend in it. This old school post will also give you an idea of my experience and viewpoint on rodeo in preparation for my recap of the IFR rodeo I attended last weekend that will be going up tomorrow! Enjoy. And I'm sorry for the pictures!
It’s been a crazy couple weeks. Lots happening, but one of the biggest distractions lately has been my boyfriend. A week ago this past Friday, we went to Cowboys and he rode in two rounds. The first round went great – he covered and scored 59 points. The second round, however, was won by the bull. My boyfriend took a horn to the face a few seconds in, and his face immediately started swelling. I rushed him to the nearest ER.
That picture was taken less than an hour after the incident
The nurses were AMAZING at the emergency room. Super nice and helpful, much more so than the doctor who came in and started poking on his face with no warning! We (including his mom who we called on the way to the hospital) spent several hours waiting while he underwent a CT scan and was seen by another doctor (a much nicer one). Around four am we were finally sent home with three prescriptions and the number of an orthofacial surgeon.
The picture above was taken two days after the incident. The day after that I took him to see the surgeon. His face was already looking better – at least, the swelling around the eye had gone down immensely! The surgeon was wonderful, reassuring us that it looked like there was no serious damage. Unfortunately, their offices had different software from the hospital we went to, so he couldn’t look at the CT scans. So we left with the recommendation of a soft diet and light work, and an appointment to come back in a week.
This one was taken three days after the incident at the surgeon's office.
As the week went by, the swelling in his face went down quickly and he could open his eye all the way by Wednesday. The colors around his eye changed beautifully and his pain decreased as well. He didn’t so much follow the soft diet recommendation, unless you mean choosing soft tacos instead of crunchy ones, but he did take things a little slower than normal.
Today we went back to the surgeon. The color around his eye is almost gone (at least compared to what it was last week) but his eye is super red. The swelling is about 80% gone, and he seems to only experience pain when he really pushes himself too hard (or chews gum!). We were at the doctor for less than twenty minutes – long enough to be told that the surgeon looked at the CT scan and it looks like he should heal completely on his own! It will take time, and he might have a permanent little dent in his cheek (I have one above my left eyebrow, so who cares, right?) but definitely no need for surgery.
This was taken a week later when he was feeling much better.
As I said, it's been two years since this happened. He still has some pain in his cheek when it is really cold, but overall he has completely recovered. I am still so thankful that this wasn't nearly as bad as it could've been. If you're wondering, he did ride bulls again after this incident, but he wore a helmet. He gave up riding entirely last February, a few months before our wedding.
