Explaining to an 8 year old

[Lily0303]

My fiancé has an 8 year old daughter. He was talking with her yesterday and he told her I went to the emergency room with grandma (my mom). She asked why, and he told her it's because I was sick again, we have kind of explained wegeners to her so she has an idea. But when he told her I might have to take retuxin, she got confused. She wanted to know what she could do. Told him she wanted to be my nurse and make me all better. How do I explain to her what the medicine will do?

[Birdie]

My fiancé has an 8 year old daughter. He was talking with her yesterday and he told her I went to the emergency room with grandma (my mom). She asked why, and he told her it's because I was sick again, we have kind of explained wegeners to her so she has an idea. But when he told her I might have to take retuxin, she got confused. She wanted to know what she could do. Told him she wanted to be my nurse and make me all better. How do I explain to her what the medicine will do?

The medicine will make me much better, after a while.

Awww sweetie, thank you, I need a nurse sometimes to get me a Klondike bar.

[MaxD]

My fiancé has an 8 year old daughter. He was talking with her yesterday and he told her I went to the emergency room with grandma (my mom). She asked why, and he told her it's because I was sick again, we have kind of explained wegeners to her so she has an idea. But when he told her I might have to take retuxin, she got confused. She wanted to know what she could do. Told him she wanted to be my nurse and make me all better. How do I explain to her what the medicine will do?

The little one is obviously attached to you, and that's wonderful! Children sense confusion, worry, and contradictions instinctively. My wife had breast cancer when our older was 3 and we're glad we decided to be open and explained things as best we could in terms she could understand. 8 is pretty mature, you don't want her to feel you're talking down to her, so let her know how the medicine will work to make you better, but that it will take some time, and that you're going to be tired and exhausted from the side effects of other meds (prednisone, of course) and you're counting on her to be your best friend and nurse. She sounds like a wonderful little lady and tell her your new friends on the internet think so too!

[Pete]

Your fiancee's daughter sounds like a sweet girl. I agree with the above posts.

[Lily0303]

She is a sweet kid, when she got home I was passed out on the couch from the narco they gave me for my joint pain. She came in and did her homework. Waited quietly for me to wake up before asking if her answers were right.

[csjknits]

I have a 7 year old and a 9 year old, so I have done a lot of explaining to that demographic.
I have not taken Rituxan but I did take cytoxan and am now on azathioprine.
I explained that my cells are not behaving, and that the medicine helps them act the right way. They understand that sometimes I do not feel well and they have become really helpful at staying in bed with me and reading, or bringing me coffee if I need it.

My kids love to help me organize my pills and I explain to them what each one does. My 9 year old particularly enjoys the fact that I take I have to take certain medicines (Pepcid) to counteract the other medicines.
My 7 year old does not really understand, but my 9 year old does. They both like to ask a lot of questions.

[annekat]

All of the answers above sound great. Kids that age are ready to start learning about chronic illnesses, that some people just have them and they can be dealt with, and people just need lots of rest, and most will be fine with treatment. They will be able to observe you getting better from the treatment, which will be comforting to everyone. As they get older, they'll learn to understand that although you may feel fine a lot of the time, the disease is still there in the background and there will still be days when you need a little break and some help and cheering up.

[vdub]

And let her know that being a nurse is a great profession. Its not to early to get her started thinking about what she wants to do in life and it sounds like she has the right personality for nursing.

[txrepub4God]

My stepdaughter is 11 years old, and I undetstand you wanting to keep her informed and reassure her at the same time. We try to explain things to Grace in the simplest possible way, so that she doesn't worry all the time or get scared. I tell her she can ask me anything at all. I didn't go into detail about Wegs, just told her my body got some of its wires crossed & my immune system (explained that to her) got the wrong instructions about how to work, so now it's making Ter Ter's body sick instead of better like it's supposed to. I had to explain to her about chemo & why my hair fell out, and she could see how sick I was during her Thanksgiving trip here. I never want to hide anything from her, but I don't bring up my illness unless she asks or something's going on (like this last hospitalization). Her dad told her I was in the hospital and asked her what kind of updates she wanted. He said, "Do you want me to let you know everything that is going on with Teri in the hospital, or do you just want me to give you the good news when she goes home?" She chose the good news.

Grace has been very understanding, knowing I'm not able to join her & her dad on alot of activities when she's here. I try to do "nail salon" at home with her, watch a movie, bake cookies, etc. I just try to keep our relationship as normal as I can!