and all went pretty well.  It was somewhat of a big deal for us to let him play football but we decided after a thread here and discussions with the endo to let him play.  We have never held him back and we decided we wouldn’t start.  He wanted to play and we would let him try.  I had talked myself through it all and said I was fine with it.  Then I surprised myself last night with the first night of practice.  I was so nervous.  I never let him know but my husband sure did : ) .  I think I was more nervous about discussing it with the coach.  I truly believe that it’s important to give necessary information to keep him safe but I also feel that the coaches take their lead from how we approach and handle the situation.  If we appear calm they they will be relaxed about it.  I did stay calm with him but my heart was pounding inside and I was so afraid that he would not be supportive.  I do think he was surprised that we were letting him play and he pointed out how much more strenuous football is to all the other sports my son does but we explained that we didn’t want to put him in a bubble and that his endo too felt it was okay for him to play.  We explained that Ryan is tuned into himself and that he will speak up if he is not okay, that we would always be present and that we just needed the coach to raise his hand and look at us if Ryan wasn’t okay.  He seemed concerned that he wouldn’t know what to look for.  He has a very valid point because these boys have their helmets on the entire practice.  They don’t even take them off to drink.  He explained to all the parents that we should make sure the boys are hydrated before they even arrive at practice, they work out for 45 min and then get a drink break, another 45 minutes with another drink break and then 30 min and it’s over and they can obviously drink again.  It seemed to work well for him last night and believe me it was extremely hot and very humid.  The true test will be next week when the begin working out with all their pads. 

I guess I’m just glad we got the first night behind us and that it went well.  Just thought I would share.

Thanks for listening.

Judy