Hi Everyone!
We have talked many times about kids and surgery and how they take everything - about how they are much more resilient than we think that they are going to be. I agree and think that they can handle a LOT more than we think; however, something has come up that I want to share - especially with those of you with facial paralysis. As most of you know, I have 3 daughters (11, 7 and 6). Our 7 year old is far beyond her years, intellectually, but we have always worried about her "outbursts." She is the sweetest girl you will ever meet, but when she gets upset - man, she really blows. We have dealt with this - with her and her teachers since pre-school and I just keep a VERY close line of comunication with them. When I was going to Houston for a week to care for my MIL, I told her teacher that the conditions would be right for something to happen since her routine would be topsy-turvy. Her teacher informed me that she had been doing really, really well and wondered if maybe we had turned a corner because she had not had an "episode" most of the year. Well, she did have a little meltdown that Friday but everyone attributed it to me having been gone all week. The next week, she had another MAJOR meltdown after PE. All of this caused us to seek out couseling for her. At first, I felt like a HORRIBLE parent, but my sweet hubby (& Lori) convinced me that I was a GOOD one because instead of just passing it off as nothing, I was trying to help her. All that so you would know a little background...She has been going for a few weeks now and Dave & I met with her couselor (he had met with her 3 times at that point) and to our shock, he thinks that one of the main contributors is MY HEALTH. She has a lot of aniexty over me and my health. Out of the 3 times that she had been with him, TWICE (out of the blue) she mentioned that I had had a brain tumor - & so they talked about it. Sweet girl, I was just in tears - & I hardly EVER cry anymore! Even though we don't think about it anymore, to her since she sees my face all the time (& is old enough now to know what it is from), she worries that something else is going to happen. Something happening to a parent is one of a child's biggest fears the Dr. said and I remember thinking that when I was a kid! We were blindsided - I would have NEVER thought of that, but I just thought that I would pass it on. It might not ever be applicable to anyone else, but I thought that others might want to be aware!
K