When to tell them, how much to tell them..... and what will help them to understand breast cancer and not be afraid. The when turned out to be easy. Elizabeth had to come to school with me on the same day that I was planning to tell my students. Since I had both Jake and Elizabeth that morning, I told them in the car. I don't remember the exact words, but it was something along the lines of I have a special kind of sick inside me that is going to take a lot of medicine to heal. Elizabeth asked some questions and wanted to know if I was going to cry all the time. She assured me that she would rub my back and tell everything is is ok just like I do when she cries. (Coincidentally, I have been more attentive to making sure that when I lose control and have to cry it out I try to make sure that she is not nearby.) Since then we have talked about all the changes that my body will undergo, her favorite thing to ask when I say I have a doctor's appointment is, "Are you going to get bald?" Soon, but not today.....
The other day Elizabeth hopped in to the shower with me, she was asking questions and wanted to know more. I asked if she wanted to feel the lump so she knew it was there and then she tell when it was shrinking after the medicine started working. She did, so I let her feel the lump (making her grope #12) and she asked if it hurt. Its tender, but it doesn't hurt if you are gentle.
Jake is just a little too young to really have much of a reaction. But he is a great echo and follows his big sister's lead very well.
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