Having raised three energetic sons, my husband and I have made many trips to the emergency room. We recounted some of them as we sat in the ER last night with our son Jon who had been injured playing indoor flag football. Jon went deep for a long pass, got tangled up with a defender, and fell headfirst into the wall surrounding the field. Much of the wall is plexiglass so spectators can watch the game; however, this particular corner section was wooden. Jon had a mild concussion, a sprained wrist, and a gash in his head requiring seven staples.
I should add that Jon is 25, married, and the father of a nearly 2-year old son. Jon first decided to join the adult flag football league a year and a half ago. He tore his ACL in the first game and had to sit out an entire year. He played his first full season earlier this year relatively injury free. This second ten-week season has been a different story. He fractured his left thumb in a game three weeks ago but continued to play. His team was playing for the division championship last night, so Steve and I decided we should go to cheer him on. His wife Ashley stayed home with their little one. He played about 10 minutes before being injured. Hearing his head crash into the wall, my maternal instincts kicked in. I hurried down the sidelines to see him sitting up and alert, with blooding running down the side of his head behind his ear. I knew immediately that Steve and I would be making the trip to the ER with him.
Since our sons are all in the mid-twenties, it would be logical for this to have been our first ER visit with an injured son in many years, but that is not the case. We hurried to the ER in the early hours of a cold morning in January of this year after our oldest son Chris scalded his hand with hot oil. (See Jan. 7 blog for details.)
When our sons were at home, we made numerous visits to the doctor’s office or the ER for stitches and occasionally to set a broken bone. We had particularly a scary visit when Matt at age 6 got a twig in his eye; the eye quickly swelled and Matt screamed in pain. After it was removed, he could not read even the largest letter on the eye chart. He had to wear a patch for two weeks and, thankfully, his vision was fine when th patch was removed. The bloodiest injury was when Chris gashed his foot on an oyster shell. Blood poured from his foot. Because oyster shells are full of bacteria, the doctor could not stitch his foot. The gash had to be left open and the foot soaked for several days to prevent infection. It continued to bleed for hours.
Jon and Ashley are expecting their second son in October. Their first son is as busy and active as his father was at that age and I sure the new one will be as well. Although I wish it weren’t so, I have no doubt that these little boys will have their fair share of injuries and that Jon and Ashley have many trips to the ER ahead of them. It’s simply unavoidable when you’re raising sons.
Susan's Reflections 