About Me

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Bakersfield, CA, United States
Hans was a busy, happy, sweet and fearless three year old when he was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma. He fought his disease like a "gladiator" for nearly 6 years. Hans was an animal lover to his core. He was 'guarded' at home by his three cats, Black, Orange and Cotton. He also had his Golden Retriever, Honey, to keep him company. Hans enjoyed swimming, biking, gardening, grilling (he had his very own grill!), horseback riding, playing video games, building Legos, and flipping between Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Animal Planet. Hans loved all members of his family and he was a loyal friend. He had to go through a lot of treatment in his life. But Hans powered through it. His attitude was let's get this done! His motivation was always to get back home, to his family, pets, favorite foods and pool.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Back into the Swing

Hi Again,
I had to take a minute to post a little more good news. I have mentioned that we've had some trouble with the transition from home to school. When it first popped up (the week Hans was on round 10 of ABT 751), I admit I was confused, because Hans had been doing so well. Hans actually missed several days of school that week, mostly because we didn't have an action plan in place. With Hans' side effect of the Adrenal Insufficiency, nobody, including us, usually lets him get too upset. This has cost us a little in terms of normal parenting - but we are working on that! I guess we have our work cut out for us there. But, the school wasn't wanting Hans to get too upset either. Anyway, after missing those days, and then being out for our trip, I pretty much talked to everyone I saw about Separation Anxiety. We finally realized, that despite Hans' situation, with this issue we pretty much have to treat him like any other little kid. It has taken me a couple of weeks to wrap my mind around this and toughen up about it mentally.

So, Friday, I woke up determined to get my kid back to school. We had to do the old teacher-peel-the-kid-off-the-mom trick. Thankfully, Ms. Loosmore was willing to detach him from me. We had to do the same thing Monday morning, but it wasn't quite as dramatic. The funny thing about it is - I had a call BY THE TIME I GOT BACK TO MY CAR that Hans was okay, and sitting at his table, doing his work! And then today, we made it all the way to the school with out a single tear. Hans had an apple in hand for his class project, and as I was helping him get out of the back seat he said, "Mom, what do you think of me?" I just kind of looked at him and said "What?" because I wasn't sure what he was referring to. He pointed at his eyes and said "Without all those tears!" I told him I really liked it and we marched into the school and he went and did his thing. The funny thing about the separation anxiety is that he does great when he is at school - just gets hung up on the transition. I don't suspect this is the last we'll see of it, but I'm glad it was better today.

Oh, by the way, thanks to our Girl Scout Troop 11251. Last night we beaded lanyards as a group! There were some very pretty ones and some wild ones. My friend Laurie is taking them to her work to sell today. Thanks also to Jen and Tony, who are selling a cache of lanyards to teachers and friends in Arizona for the cause.

Lara

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great job Lara and Hans! Sounds like you're on your way to getting it figured out. Hugs to all of you!

Love, Kathy

Anonymous said...

Both our boys had a lot of separation anxiety last year. Especially Nolan, who had already gone through Kindergarten without any problems. This year, no problem. It's just part of normal development. Keep up the good work. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

The Burgharts

Anonymous said...

What do we think of you?
Wow! we are all very proud of all of you! You Hans for working hard to be at school. And you Lara for persisting in helping Hans to experience all the normal things in life.
Everyday is an experience!
Love to all,
G'ma Stephanie