A Scary Night

Oh.What.A.Night

We are off to a slow start this morning because Jacob and I are just exhausted. As a little background, on Monday, Jacob went with a friend's family to their cabin and had a wild day of water activities. While there, he tried to life a tube (the big huge kind that gets pulled behind a boat) and pulled a muscle in his neck. He was sore when he got home so I iced it and gave him Motrin. Tuesday was fine, he didn't complain a bit and I thought he was good to go. Tuesday evening, we went to football practice and after about 15 minutes of warm ups, he came off the field in tears unable to stand the weight of his helmet on his neck.

Jacob.Doesn't.Cry. He just doesn't. I know my kid and he lives and breathes to play football, injury or not. If he is in pain enough to cry, it is serious. The medic iced him up and we kept him out of practice for the night. Wednesday went by, no football practice, so he was able to rest up. We kept the Motrin in him and kept him moving his neck. By Thursday he was pain free and ready to return to football.

Last night, about half way through practice, I said to the medic "someone is not getting up". She went out on the field and as the coaches were lifting the "someone" I realized it was Jacob. He came off the field in extreme pain, worse than it had been before. Every step he was taking shot pain through him, and when we took his helmet off he was holding his whole head in pain. We iced him for about 30mins and then tried to take his shoulder pads off. Not. Good. The medic (we have two team medics that are registered nurses) said he was in too much pain for a regular pulled muscle. She said we needed to go to Urgent Care.

Once at Urgent Care, I got lectured about how Jacob should have never attempted to walk off the field, he should have been put in a collar, and an ambulance should have been called. So that is what they did. They got Jacob's weight and vitals, then got him on a bed and called the ambulance. He was immobilized on a board and put in a stiff neck brace. Where he stayed for the next two hours as we went to the emergency room and he had a cat scan. The initial review of the ct is that there isn't a "serious" injury. No slipped disc, no hernias. They are calling it a "sever sprain/strain" of the muscles in his neck. It is high, near his hairline. We are icing it lots, and keeping the Motrin flowing. He is home from school today, and he is out of football for at least a week.

Keep him in your thoughts for a speedy recovery and your fingers crossed that when he is able to play again that he doesn't re-injure himself!