Well Aly was very excited for her first day of school, but before that day could come we had to pay a special visit to the school to meet her teacher, and principal. We were joined by the community liason nurse from the Cancer Centre, along with myself, Aly and Granny ( Daddy was working in Labrador). We were invited into the Principals office and asked to sit around a large circular table. Aly was very well behaved and amused herself with drawing and looking at books while we chatted. I think Aly must have been the first student with cancer that the teacher and principal has had at school, because as I told them about all that we have gone through over the past year, the look on their faces was as though they had seen ghosts. I have told the story so many times that it just rolls off my tongue now and I almost forget that those I tell have never heard of the struggles that these kids in treatment go through. To most people, the thought that children get cancer is not something that never crosses their minds, and when it does, they do not have a true understanding of the impact it can have on their lives and the lives of those that love and care for them. Anyway, we went over what to expect in terms of missed days due to lack of immune system and we provided them with a copy of memo which had to be distributed to all students advising that we must be notified if a child has chicken pox, or has come into contact with chicken pox. Aly was able to visit her classroom and was very excited - she loved that the toilet was just her size and no need to use a stool to get up on the seat!
Aly had some challenges adjusting to school and the high number of students in her class seemed to intimidate her. She spent so much time alone over the past year and even when she returned to daycare there were only 4 other kids for her to interact with. In order to ensure that she gets the social exposure she needs, we also enrolled her in a pre-school program so that she would have exposure to other kids on the days that her JK class was not happening. I am happy to say that almost 2 months later and the tears at drop off have stopped.
It was hard to watch her enter the classroom, and although all the kids were playing on one side of the room, Aly would go to the opposite side and find something to play with. She was hesitant to jump right in and often asked the teacher for quiet time. I would bet the noise levels would get pretty high and she seems to be sensitive to loud noises. Then when the teacher told me that she appeared quite anxious at recess time, it really upset me. The interesting thing is that apparently the kids are quite drawn to her, so when she goes off on her own, many of them will join her. Every day seems to get better. She now comes home and tells me that she made new friends and tells me their names. It seemed like a coincidence early on when she would say that all her new friends at school had the same names as kids from daycare - - so I knew she was telling "stories". Now she comes home with names I have never heard of, so I know it's real. I am sure that much of her adjustment is pretty typical for all kids starting school, but it's hard not to worry about how other kids will treat her. She used to talk so openly about cancer but when they were learning about Terry Fox at school I asked if she told her friends about her experience with Cancer .... her response was "no mommy, that is my little secret". That totally broke my heart.
