WOW! What a Weekend! (i'm glad it's over)

This past weekend I hosted a National Scrapbook Day Retreat at my house. I love this annual event because I get to spend time with some of my best clients, who just so happen to be some of my closest friends and favorite people. I cherish their company and we spend the entire weekend working on our album projects, sharing photos and stories, enjoying some serious girl-talk and feasting!

Michael volunteered to keep the kids all weekend and we had multiple soccer games scheduled on Saturday and Sunday. Well, all was going splendidly when I got a frantic call from him late Saturday afternoon asking me to meet him at the hospital.

My heart stopped.

Sawyer was playing in the Bluegrass Invitational Tournament and was injured during the game. From all accounts, he and an opposing player were running full-speed, side-by-side when they got tangled up. Sawyer went flying through the air and came down on his shoulder, arm tucked beneath him, where he proceeded to do somewhat of a somersault. He bounced back up, recovered the ball and completed the play.

Then he asked to be taken out of the game.

Which he never does.

The game was almost over at this point and at the conclusion (we won!), the coach sent him over to Michael. He had a lot of stomach pain, was having trouble breathing, and at the urging of some of the other parents, Michael took him to the hospital.

Thank God!

I left my scrapbooking buddies to fend for themselves and met Michael at the hospital to pick up Oakley and Sullivan. Michael said it would be several hours before they had the results of the tests and that he'd call as soon as he knew more. I took the kids home, got them settled and ready for bed, and joined my ever-supportive friends while I awaited more news.

After a CAT-scan and a lot of blood work, Sawyer was diagnosed with a lacerated spleen and some internal bleeding. The doctors say that his spleen was twice the size of a normal spleen in a "child" Sawyer's age, but not having a baseline to which they could compare it, they weren't sure how much of that was caused by the injury.

He was transported by ambulance to the UK Medical Center for further testing and monitoring. They wanted him to have access to the trauma unit in case his spleen ruptured. He endured more tests, and thankfully, the bleeding eventually subsided on its own. He spent the next 72 hours in the hospital and Michael and I took turns staying with him. He had lots of visitors, including some of his soccer teammates. His team won the final game of the BIT on Sunday and his buddies came to visit and brought along the team trophy! They are a great group of kids.

He was discharged from the hospital yesterday afternoon and is now at home. He's on the mend, although he's still in a lot of pain. He's been restricted from any physical activity until at least June 10, when he returns to the doctor for another CAT-scan and an evaluation. He's so disappointed about missing the rest of the soccer season. The State Cup Tournament begins this weekend and he'll be cheering on his teammates from the sidelines.

However, I am just thankful that time will heal him and that his spleen did not rupture. I know we're lucky that his injury wasn't worse. Despite how strong and fit are children may be, they are fragile.

He's 16-years-old, he stands a full-head taller than me, but he's still my baby boy.

He always will be.