HockeyFamilies

Recently I had reason to sit and wait in an Emergency Room. Thankfully it was not for anything life threatening and most importantly it was for me and not my children. I have a recurring knee injury that reared its head this week and as a hockey family we are all too familiar with the process of seeing doctors and physiotherapists.

Like so many hockey families our children have had their share of sports related bumps and bruises. This is in addition of course to the injuries that happen to children who are active to normal levels. We have learned our way our around the basics of icing, compression, elevation, and other such sports first aid elements but the thing that we have found that is the toughest to learn is the emotional side of the injury.

Last night as I sat waiting my turn to be seen a good friend came through the lobby on his way up to visit his son. His boy was recovering from surgery on a very badly broken leg which had occurred the day prior in a sports situation. My friend is actually trained as a sports therapist and he has extensive experience in the health care field but the part he was struggling with last night was the emotional side of the injury.

As parents we have to walk that fine line of protecting our children yet encouraging them to take healthy risks. It is not an easy line to walk as we want our children to be involved in sports and other activities where they will be challenged but we do not want them to be hurt. Hockey is particularly hard to walk through because it is a contact sport.

How we handle the emotional side of the game will determine how our children handle it.

As my friend’s son was wheeled into surgery late Friday the anesthetist was placing the mask on my friend’s son. The young man reached up and grabbed the anesthetist’s hand who was taken aback by this action.

“Hold on!” he said.

He smiled and wheezed out the line we all know from Star Wars….

“Luke…. I’m your father.”

The operating room staff and surgeon cracked right up.  The surgery went well and this young man is on the way to recovery.

The family is learning how to manage the physical pain by also dealing through the emotional pain.

How do you deal with injury as a hockey family?