Here's Sonny with the Surf Report

Just thought you guys would be interested in knowing what happened during my first week of being unemployed....

Date: 12/10/07 (yesterday)
Place: El Porto
Incident: On a wave, wave closed out, smacked me right in the face, fin hits my nose

I was on the wave, it smacked me on the face. Instantly, about half a pint of blood was lost. Saw another surfer and was like, "Shit, I broke my nose." However broken, I noticed that it felt all flappy (like a stingray) so I was a little concerned. Waved down the lifeguard and coincidentally he was the same
lifeguard that helped me when I got stung by a stingray (unlike a nose)!

Him: I remember your name. Didn't I help you with the stingray?
Me: Yes
Him: Let's hope this doesn't become a pattern
Me: I hope I never see you again. Tell you what though, if I do, next time I'm bringing you a fruitcake.

With no cashflow, I decided to drive myself to the ER rather than taking an ambulance, or a cab, or a rickshaw. There I am, in my truck and there's construction going on in the parking lot -- cement mixers and everything. Went out of my car, yelled at the foreman and ten minutes later I was on the road towards the hospital; clutching onto Noseagra Falls with my left hand and clutching onto the clutch with my left foot.

At the hospital, I waited three hours, in my wetsuit, full of sand and blood and water and bad hair and then the ER doc finally cleans up my nose (requiring 10 shots of local anesthesia). It was then that he deemed the injury to be a partial amputation and concludes that he can't handle the procedure. Therefore, I have to drive, in traffic, to Brentwood to go see a specialist.

The doctor sewed on over 25 stitches to my nose and now it's in a cast. Believe me when I tell you, SHIT HURT. They also took pictures of it (attached). I had about 16 more injections at this office (mouth, eye socket, about 10 more on the nose alone).

Cast is coming off tomorrow and I'll be able to go back into the water after a month. However, I'm done with surfing until I get full insurance again. What
else...uhhhh...oh yeah, ok, what's the bright side? (I'm praying for some pity lays).

Sexy scar? Nope, hideous. I was kind of hoping that the injury would mess up my tastebuds so that bacon would start to taste like vomit and brusselsprouts would begin to taste like Jessica Alba. Not that either. I'm still trying to unmask the blessing, but for now I will say that the best treatment for any ailment is the company and support of good friends.


That, my friends, comes with no copay