Note from Faith's Teacher

I got the greatest note from Faith's teacher, Mrs. Frank, who we actually knew from 5-10 years ago as her son, Ryan Frank, and our Ryan played baseball together!  Anyway, Faith has really been enjoying 1st grade with Mrs. Frank and she has been getting over her shyness from last year.  With her upcoming surgery, Faith has been talking about it quite openly at school.  Here' the note from Nancy...

Robin,

Thanks for checking in with Mike regarding your visit to explain Faith's surgery. Let me know what day works for you to come in to visit with first grade. I think he mentioned Thursday was a possibility. Let me know what works best for you and we will make it work.

Yesterday Faith was sitting with a small group of classmates and her surgery came up. She was very chatty about it, which I thought was great. This morning a student asked a question about her surgery and I said, "Well let's ask Faith if she would like to answer your question with all of us." She immediately said, "yes", which was great. So after our morning message this morning Faith stood before her classmates and said she was going to Cincinnati for surgery, that she would have bars on her face and that dad would be turning her pins. She told them it was to help her jaw grow so she could get rid of her trach and she would be able to eat more. She also mentioned knowing a friend that already had the surgery. She said she needed to stay home for awhile because she would be sore and tired. We talked about being able to Skype her when she was up for it, as well as what we could do, say when, and if we see Faith with her "bars" on her face.

It was wonderful and Faith was a champ! Her classmates asked very appropriate questions and were truly interested in what she was telling them. I think she did a great job laying the groundwork for your visit. It was so spontaneous and natural.

Let me know what works for you. It seemed like surgery was so far away last time we talked and now it is just around the corner. I am doing my best to keep our room healthy. We have had some coughs and runny noses the last few days. I will keep my fingers crossed, and hope that it is not passed on to Faith.

Take care,

 Nancy

Pretty cool, isn't it?  I'm planning on coming in to talk with the class this Thursday, but I almost feel like I don't need to as Faith is doing such a good job of it all by herself!  I asked Christy Holton, another mom with a kiddo (Harlie) going through the same kind of surgeries about ideas for how to present this to the kids.  She made a book for her daughter when she started Kindergarten so all the kids could get to know her and not just stare at her the first time they saw her.  She sent me the link to the book (http://lifesinceharlie.blogspot.com/2011/10/harlies-book.html) which is so sweet.  And she gave me some pointers about keeping everything really short so the kids could understand.  So, with that advice I created a couple slides to share with the kids and send home with them when I come in on Thursday.

I will try to post a copy here.

Robin