Give Patients Can'ts but Also Can Do's

On his last shift in the last hockey game of the regular season, our 14-year-old grandson broke his arm. Although this was his first fracture, the rest of the nuclear family has had ample experience with orthopedic trauma over the last year, both planned and unplanned.

As I drove Peter and my daughter-in-law to his first postsetting and casting appointment I told him how sorry I was that he had been told "no contact sports for the next 3 months." This was a tough pill for a kid eager to begin his first high school lacrosse season. Then I asked him what the doctor had told him he could do in the way of activity.

Based on personal and professional experience I was not surprised when he told me that no one had suggested things he could be doing. In fact, being a cautious and thoughtful kid, he was concerned about what he should be doing around the house let alone any athletic activities. It turns out he wasn't even lifting his laptop computer with two hands because some nurse had told him not to lift anything over 2 pounds.

I told him "Peter, even some of the most experienced doctors focus on the 'can'ts' and forget to tell you the 'cans' and 'shoulds.' While you're in the waiting room make up a mental list of what you would like to be doing that you aren't."