Life is strange. Back in early September of 2008 (so like almost 5 months ago), Jesper was night riding and hit a branch with his face. Hit it hard. His face bled a lot, but the guys he was with bandaged it up good enough for him to finish the ride and enjoy dinner and a beer at Oskar's Blues. Clearly, boys do not go to the emergency room if the injured rider can walk. I awoke the next morning to a shock; Jesper had a large hole in his cheek!
Over the course of the next few days, the left side of Jesper's face swelled up, like he'd had his wisdom tooth out. This picture is from when the swelling had just begun; you can see it pushing his mouth down funny on his left side. His face got MUCH MUCHbigger, all the way down his neck. I felt so bad for him, I couldn't even take a picture of him in that state.
The facial swelling finally went down after more than a week. The wound would seem to get better, and then it would get all nasty again. It would ooze pus. Then it would get all blocked up and form a giant pustule (come on - how often have you wanted to use the word pustule for real in a sentence?!?!?!). Once again, I refrained from taking pictures because I felt so bad for Jesper.
Jesper even found a small piece of what looked like wood in the wound one day when he was cleaning it. We began to think there might be more foreign material in there, so Jesper went to see the doctor. I think he went to the doctor twice. The doc palpated it, poked sharp objects in the cavernous hole and even took an x-ray. He proclaimed that there was nothing in there and that it would just take time to heal.
Time passed and the wound would get better and then get infected again, over and over. Something was not right and I can vouch that Jesper kept the wound very clean.
We went off to Denmark for Christmas, almost 4 months after the incident and the wound was still not healed. Jesper had to explain to everybody what he'd done, which I'm sure got old. Although you can clearly see the wound, the hole in his cheek did not stop us from having a great time and enjoying some good Danish beers!
Jesper even found a small piece of what looked like wood in the wound one day when he was cleaning it. We began to think there might be more foreign material in there, so Jesper went to see the doctor. I think he went to the doctor twice. The doc palpated it, poked sharp objects in the cavernous hole and even took an x-ray. He proclaimed that there was nothing in there and that it would just take time to heal.
Time passed and the wound would get better and then get infected again, over and over. Something was not right and I can vouch that Jesper kept the wound very clean.
We went off to Denmark for Christmas, almost 4 months after the incident and the wound was still not healed. Jesper had to explain to everybody what he'd done, which I'm sure got old. Although you can clearly see the wound, the hole in his cheek did not stop us from having a great time and enjoying some good Danish beers!
After Christmas, Jesper went back to the doctor. This time, the doctor poked around inside the hole and pulled out some tissue for testing. He gave Jesper new cleaning instructions; alcohol and polysporin (ouch on the alcohol!). The lab tests came back with nothing (good news), so Jesper kept cleaning what was now an even bigger cavern in his cheek.
Then what appeared to be a hard scab began to form in the hole. It rose out at an angle, like one of the flatirons. Jesper could see it just by looking down. Sorry - once again no pictures. We went skiing and the poor guy suffered through wearing his goggles that pressed right on the new protuberance (once again, a word I've been dying to use in a sentence!). Not comfortable!
Then what appeared to be a hard scab began to form in the hole. It rose out at an angle, like one of the flatirons. Jesper could see it just by looking down. Sorry - once again no pictures. We went skiing and the poor guy suffered through wearing his goggles that pressed right on the new protuberance (once again, a word I've been dying to use in a sentence!). Not comfortable!
Jesper was hesitant to try to remove what we thought was a scab. What if new, healthy tissue would be ripped out with it? But this morning, when cleaning the wound, the protruding object became loose and he gently pulled on it. It started to move and then just kept coming and coming! Imagine his complete surprise when he realized that he had removed a large chuck of WOOD from his face!!!!
This thing had been in his cheek for almost half a year! No wonder the wound would not heal!!
We are somewhat disappointed that his doctor could not figure this out. But we are finally optimistic that this never-ending injury will soon heal and be a thing of the past.
Like I said, life is strange.
We are somewhat disappointed that his doctor could not figure this out. But we are finally optimistic that this never-ending injury will soon heal and be a thing of the past.
Like I said, life is strange.
2 comments:
Holy frijole, Batman, I can't believe the size of the chunk that came out of his face!!!! And, I hate to say it, but it's not surprising that the Dr. didn't find this. I mean, it was a giant hole and you told him the hole was made by a tree branch, sooooo.... yeah. Anyway, REALLY glad the wood worked its way to the surface. Yikes.
what's that hurling sound Tracy makes (insert sound here) totally gross! I can't believe that was still lodged in his face!!!!!!
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