A shoulder to cry on.....or about.... or something

Ahhhhh, when my boys finally graduated from high school and were not going to play college sports I thought, YAYYYYY no more injuries....but, I was wrong, soooo wrong.
I had not considered intramural sports....the most dangerous of all games.  Webster defines it as:

in·tra·mu·ral adj \-ˈmyu̇r-əl\

1a : being or occurring within the limits usually of a community, organization, or institution <intramural squabbles> b : competed only within the student body <intramural sports>

 

I define it as (at least in the case of boys)- young males putting forth extreme effort to present themselves as great warriors and to ultimately become victorious at and to prove themselves as containing the most testosterone on campus.

Sigh.

We got by with Aaron only receiving a few minor scrapes and bruises since he had been screwed together, stitched and broken enough in high school. Brett on the other hand seemed to have a very distant memory of the broken arm in 3rd grade and plays with reckless abandon. The first two years were the typical bruises, twists and sore muscles. This year however we stepped up the game just a bit, probably just coincidental that he is getting on in college years and becoming the old man on campus - after all he IS 21 now.

First it was a severely twisted ankle playing basketball, just a few xrays and braced up, and crutches for a week or so. Not bad, but certainly enough to get some freshly baked treats from some pretty coeds. All in all......not completely equal to the national debt in cost for the parents but I did hear the faint  ca- ching in the background.

This week however he upped the ante......a broken clavicle. Generally (under 5% the research says) have to have surgery for this type of injury........but my son has always been an overachiever and yep, you got it, surgery was necessary. We agonized over whether he should have the surgery in Lawrence (KS) or come home to Hutchinson. The specialist he saw in Lawrence (Dr. Doug Stull at Lawrence Surgery Center) had excellent reviews and seemed very progressive so we opted to just have him do it and then bring Brett home for a couple of days to recuperate. So one 4inch plate and 6 screws later, bionic boy is home resting with just some minor discomfort (thanks percoset!) and a bit of queasiness.

OH, what happened? oh you know, the run-of-the-mill Quidditch injury. WHAT? you don't know what Quidditch is.........

Quidditch is a fictional sport created by British author J. K. Rowling for the Harry Potter series of novels. It is described as an extremely rough but very popular semi-contact sport, played by wizards and witches around the world. Matches are played between two teams of seven players riding flying broomsticks, using four balls and six elevated ring-shaped goals three on each side of the Quidditch pitch (field). In the Harry Potter universe, Quidditch holds a fervent following similar to the position that association football holds as a globally popular sport.

The sport is featured in every Harry Potter book except for the seventh because they do not speak much of the events happening at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry plays an important position for his house team at Hogwarts as the seeker and becomes the captain in the sixth book. Regional and international competitions are mentioned throughout the series. In Goblet of Fire, Quidditch at Hogwarts is cancelled for the Tri-Wizard Tournament, but Harry and the Weasleys attend the Quidditch World Cup. In addition, Harry uses his Quidditch skills to capture a golden egg from a dragon called the Hungarian Horntail (in the first task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament), to capture a flying key in Socerer’s Stone, and on two key occasions in Deathly Hallows — getting hold of Ravenclaw’s Diadem, and during the final fight with Voldemort — the “unerring skill of the Seeker” is vitally useful to him in snatching an object out of the air. Harry Potter has owned two broomsticks, the Nimbus 2000 and the Firebolt, both of which are destroyed by series end.

The sport has been adapted under the name of “Muggle Quidditch” (or simply “Quidditch”) to the real world. Since at least 2003, Harry Potter fans have played ball games resembling the Harry Potter sport. In the United States, teams from more than 200 colleges are affiliated with the International Quidditch Association and play tournaments. Quidditch tournaments are a mainstay of Harry Potter Conventions, such as Nimbus 2003, The Witching Hour, and, most recently, Infinitus 2010 and Corbin Fowler’s Potterfest, hosted at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania during the autumn of 2011.

Yep, it (Quidditch) is an intramural sport at KU, who knew, right?

Here is the conversation in a nut shell:

Brett: (in a text) Hi mom, I'm in the hospital, but I'm ok.
Mom: What happened?
Brett: I'll call when I get the chance.
Mom: Oh, ok but you are sure you are ok?
Brett: Yes, I hurt my shoulder, I think it's broken. I'll call in a little while.
(TWO HOURS LATER)
Brett: (this time an actual voice call) Hi Mom, yah, looks like it's broken, I have to see a specialist on Monday.
Mom: Oh wow, that sucks, how did you do that?
Brett: Playing......er......um......Quidditch.
Mom: What is Quiddig?
Brett: Quidditch, it's like water polo on land.........
Mom: I'm confused.
Brett: It's the game they played in Harry Potter only we don't use flying brooms.
Mom: I'm still confused.......
Brett: But the good news is I made the point. AND we won the tournament. OH, AND I got a free tshirt.
Mom: (calculating the cost of the "free" tshirt in my head) well, winning is fun. Do you have pain meds?
Brett: Yes, and I'm going to go to sleep, I'll let you know what the Dr. says.
Mom: ok, good night rest well.

So, he had the surgery and is now home resting, oh and we are getting ready to cut the sleeves off that free tshirt to be able to fit over all the gauze and various apparatus he is now sporting.

And yes, I'm still confused.......