Oh Well

Saturday, at long sword class, we were doing a drill were we allowed the student to hit us in the mask lightly with a two handed lunge. My partner didn't have much control or ability to judge distance and when he lunged he hit me full force right between they eyes. (Note: This was not malicious. And even a fencer with some skills can screw up. Also, this is a martial arts class. If you think you can do martial arts and have no risk of injury, you really didn't think it through well.)

If I had not had on a good mask, the blow would have knocked me out. As it was, it staggered me. I sat down for a few minutes and then continued the class.

Later that evening, I started seeing tiny specs of light out of the corner of my eye when I would turn my head. Went to the eye doctor on Monday. Long story short: If I don't want to risk loosing sight in the eye, I should not fence or take blows to the head for month. I probably have a mild concussion to go with the damaged goo in my eye. I will see how I am in a month.

I don't have anything to base it on other than my gut instinct, but I feel like I will eventually be okay and can fence again. Hope I am right.

So, I will miss the December North American Cup. Not the end of the world there. I was no where close to being a contender. It was mostly just to test myself in a couple of ways.

I think I am okay with taking some time off from fencing. I will just try and hit the gym more. I am going to miss the hell out of the social aspects.