Marcus Gets Injured, Again

This summer will probably be remembered as Marcus’s worst summer ever. If I’m wrong then he’s in for it because it’s been pretty bad. 

It all started with another lacrosse tournament in California.  The day after Marcus and Ethan finished lacrosse camp I flew with them to San Jose for Marcus’s last tournament with his club team, The Seattle Starz. I brought Ethan and Randy flew down to meet us from WA so we could have a little mini vacation with just our big boys while April and Toby took care of the younger boys. Like all lacrosse tournament trips, we spent the first day killing time until we could check into our hotel.  

We spent the day at Great America Amusement Park and it was a flop. The lines were so long we barely went on any rides and Marcus and Ethan were so tired from lax camp they would’ve been happy to spend the day sleeping on a park bench. I was grumpy because the burn out of from lacrosse tournaments was severe and Randy was over-the-top happy and chipper because he was on vacation. 

Can’t you just see their enthusiasm as they wait for randy to buy his weight in junk food?

Ethan’s shirt got him a ton of attention that day.  It’s from a popular YouTuber.

This is the Top Gun ride from my youth. It was just as awesome as I remember it and since it was hidden away from the other rides it had no line so we rode it twice!

Our hotel was just a few blocks away from the stadium

We finally left the park and checked into our hotel which was super nice with a great pool. Marcus and Ethan slept so I went to the pool by myself. So lame but relaxing though. 

The next day we drove to the Redwoods! I was excited to show the boys where I’d spent so many of my summer vacations growing up.  Randy was in awe and the teenagers were unimpressed for the most part but that was to be expected.  After wandering through trees that have been around since before the birth of Christ, we found a little cafe in town for lunch and then drove back to Silicon Valley to our hotel for Marcus’s games.

“We have tall trees in Washington too, Mom”

Randy was loving it

 Marcus’s team played really well but the other teams weren’t any good.  Thankfully the fields were right by the bay so we had a nice sea breeze to keep us from melting in the heat.  At the end of his third game, Marcus caught his foot on someone’s leg as they went down and rolled his ankle.  He heard three pops in his ankle and hobbled off the field.  We took him over to a trainer and she told us to get it x-rayed and this began the worst night of our lives.

I frantically tried to find an urgent care nearby that would take x-rays but they were all minutes away from closing so we drove to the nearest hospital.  When we pulled into the ER and saw the crowded waiting room we decided to try a different hospital.  The second hospital was huge and had an outdoor triage tent so we decided to go for it.  Little did we know it was a county hospital where all the ambulances take their patients so it gets crazy busy, and it was!  Marcus was out in a pink wheelchair and taken fro X-rays right away and then we sat in the waiting room for four hours.  Four hours!  It was torture!  I finally got one of the office ladies to take pity on us and and give Marcus some Tylenol.  They didn’t even give us ice for the swelling so I put his leg in my lap to keep it elevated while we watched all the crazies coming in and out of the hospital and there were a lot!  We even saw a prisoner dressed in an orange jumpsuit with her ankles and feet in shackles as she was escorted by a guard in full armor.   She’d been bitten by a prison dog and needed stitches.  Meanwhile ambulances kept pulling up with victims from a shooting on the freeway so radiology was too busy to check on a little ankle sprain. We finally got out of there after a nurse looked at the X-rays with me and we decided everything looked great.  Marcus was given a little splint and some crutches and back to the hotel we went.  

The next morning we checked out of the hotel and skipped his game since he couldn’t even play (and yes they played for the championship and won) and went to church.  After church we drove to Santa Cruz to see the beach because we had nothing better to do.

Marcus hobbled around on his crutches while we looked at a lighthouse and watched surfers.  We found a good burger place (eating out so much has taken its toll on my waistline) and then we went back to the airport where we split up.  I flew back to Utah to get the little boys and drive them back to WA in the van and Randy flew the big boys back to WA.

But Marcus’s injuries don’t end there.  I took him into an ankle doctor who told us to come back in a few weeks if it wasn’t better (it’s not and we knew it wouldn’t be). In the meantime, Marcus has been wearing an ankle brace and has continued teaching swim lessons and life guarding.  His arm has been bugging him too so he hasn’t been able to lift weights or play lacrosse so he’s been one grumpy and depressed kid.

He took off a week of work so he could attend Young Men’s camp, which he was really looking forward to. He was even chosen to be one of the group leaders. Don’t worry though, on the first day he was cliff jumping and sliced open his already-injured foot on a sharp rock when he hit bottom.  

Urgent Care again

The rock cut through his sock and his ankle brace and leaving a deep gash all the way to the bone. It was bleeding everywhere. Luckily our good doctor friend was there to clean and wrap it up so Marcus could drive the two hours home so I could take him to the ER.  

He got stitched up and was back on his crutches and was told no weight on his foot and no swimming (which means no work) for ten days.  So Marcus’s already lame summer came to a grinding halt while we spent the next ten days on the couch.  It was bad. He couldn’t even drive!  We’ve got an MRI scheduled for August 31st, the first day of school, and then I’m assuming we will schedule surgery after that. Luckily it’s the off-season for lacrosse but it’s still terrible.  The sliver lining is I’m done traveling to lacrosse tournaments. Yay!