Getting roughed up at tennis

My partner and I had a good tennis match today, but still, I left feeling beat up, and not because we ended up losing.

In the first set, one of the other players hit me really hard in the throat. Perhaps years ago in my more nimble days I might have been able to dodge it, but it came at me so fast I don't think I could have done anything.

We all went off the court and I eventually caught my breath. I applied a cold water bottle and felt better. She apologized, and I know she didn't mean it, but still, it's hard not to feel miffed.

"It's not hockey," I was thinking. "You are not supposed to hit the other player."

Plus, after getting hit like that, an alarm sounds in my brain: "Platelets, platelets, platelets!" They are not dangerously low, but they are low enough that I did worry.

We went back out and during the changeover, I noticed that my finger was bleeding. I don't know how that happened, but my partner, Wendy, found me a bandaid and we went back out. We played well and had fun, getting to 6-6 from a 4-1 deficit but losing in a tie-breaker.

In the second set, the same player hit me really hard again, this time in the groin. I think that if I were a guy, a would have been rolling around on the ground.

"I'm not going to ice this one!" I shouted over the net, trying to make light of it.

But actually I was not very happy and not feeling very well. I should have taken a break, but I just wanted to keep playing, which we did, going ahead to lose.

Afterwards, Wendy and I had to laugh about it. I was sitting on a chair court-side while we gathered our stuff, and while laughing, I leaned back so hard I hit my head against the wall. We laughed some more, and I hobbled off the court.

More than anything, my head hurt. I am not allowed to take Advil, so I popped some Tylenol, which don't work as well. The things that did help were the brownies and chocolate-covered pretzels that the other team, which was hosting, had brought. After the hard-hitter with the bad aim had left, the other captain said she definitely hits some wild shots. So I also felt better in knowing it wasn't my dodging skills that were to blame for getting hit.

After tennis, I went to Meryl's for dinner, where good conversation, good lasagna and good wine helped.

Still, I have to say I am smarting.

Tomorrow I have my Dana-Farber checkup. I hope that by then, it will have just turned into a funny story.