‘Real-life stuff’ takes its toll on Flaxeys at trials
Caleb Flaxey is completely OTTAWA gutted.
It has been an awful week for the two teams he is coaching in the Canadian Olympic curling trials and he somehow feels responsible.
“I understand it was out of my control, it was a health thing, but for it to happen during this week, I’m truly devastated, heartbroken to have put both teams in that situation.”
Flaxey arrived at the Olympic trials Nov. 30 to work as coach for both his wife Allison’s team and the Brad Jacobs team.
The 34-year-old was feeling good despite being just a few weeks removed from hipreplacement surgery. He has had Legg-Calve-Perthes disease, a degenerative hip disorder, since he was a child. His hip became so arthritic he needed surgery.
On Friday, he noticed his incision, which had been completely sealed, was opening up again. He called his surgeon, who suspected a possible infection and told Flaxey to get back to the North York General Hospital in Toronto as quickly as possible.
He flew out Sunday and later that day was in surgery again, having the parts from the original hip replacement replaced. He’s now on an IV for the next six weeks to clear out any remaining infection.
He’s dealing with pain, walking at about 60 per cent and carrying a heavy load. He is terribly upset about the timing of the situation, which left his wife with more on her mind than she needed during the biggest event of her curling life.
Allison’s team is 0-7, while things haven’t been much better with the Jacobs foursome, which was 2-4 heading into an evening draw game against Mike McEwen.
“I love both teams and for an event that happens once every four years, for it to happen right now, is so unfortunate,” Flaxey said. “Again, completely gutted. I want to wear a lot of responsibility for what’s going on this week.”
Amazingly, Flaxey made it back to Ottawa by Wednesday and resumed his role as coach of both teams.
He even coached them both at the exact same time, as they were playing on adjoining sheets Thursday morning. Allison said on Tuesday that her husband would not be back, but he somehow made it the very next day.
“I wanted to get back here as soon as I could and help both teams out for the last few days,” he said.
“I was hoping to come back, more or less trying to get back for her, trying to surprise her. She’s had a tough week because of this. She had to play a game Sunday night against (Jennifer) Jones, her second game, and I went into surgery at 5:30, six o’clock. She didn’t really know what was going on, how extensive it was.
“She’s had a few moments this week where she’s been carrying some heavy weight. She’s a tough girl, but it’s real-life stuff.”
Flaxey’s clearly pretty tough, too. He’s not using a walker or crutches or even a cane to get around the rink.
The one good piece of news is it now seems like he’s going to finally be free of the pain that had dogged him since childhood.
“The pain before was so excruciating,” he said.
“The pain that I’m in now is actually less than what I was in.”
Now, if he can just stop being so hard on himself.