Worried Little Soul

     Sometimes we forget about what goes on around us because we are too focused on that one thing that is “in our way”.

     I remember the time where my daughter was just being diagnosed. We had many medical appointments where the whole family was involved. My husband, my son, my girl and myself , we were all in this together. It was in the summer when this all took place.

     In September the kids went back to school, all excited about what the new year had to offer. With the annual Terry Fox run coming up, the kids started collecting pledges and in school discussing the life of Terry Fox.

     That’s when I noticed my bubbly, happy, positive son started to change. He was quiet, moody and had trouble sleeping. Many nights he came up from his room, in tears. I would ask him what was wrong but he couldn’t tell me.  He had always been a strange sleeper, sleepwalking and all, but he’d never done this before. It lasted a few weeks and I started to really worry about it.

     Finally we sat down one night and it all came out.

He told me he had seen a video about terry Fox at school a while ago. Terry Fox was a good guy, he had accomplished a lot. He also, like his sister, had a sick knee. He lost his leg and eventually he died.

All this time my boy had worried about his sister dying. To him it had all made sense. If you’re knee is sick you can die from it.

     My poor little man had carried this with him for all these weeks. We don’t always know what goes on in these little minds and sometimes we forget that what makes sense to us may need some further explanation to our little people.

     It taught me to always be very clear and open about what was going on and answer all questions my kids had to the best of my ability. It also taught me what a caring, understanding and loving character my son has. Still hurts my heart when I think about the big worries my little boy had. This once again showed me that My daughter’s Arthritis truly is a Family Affair.