Hi all,

After two years of reading I finally have some questions all of you might be able yo help me with.

Does anyone have any experience of major, life changing surgery and how it affects small children? My wife (aged 31 and after two years of living with TC and surgery and RT) is having a total glossectomy and we are very worried about how our 19 month old son will be affected. I know that everyone's experience will be different but any stories about how littlies cope with seeing these big changes in their parents (or any good books or sites about it) would be read with interest.

Thanks

Dominic

Dominic:


As a mother, I know children have an amazing ability to bounce back and roll with the punches. With your son being so young, he wont remember any of this later in life. My daughter was 22 months old and had a kidney operation, she remembers none of it.
Sorry that Im not able to better guide you with this, best of luck.

Dominic,
My mother had a major stroke the day after I was 7. There were three younger children at home, 5, 2 1/2, and 18 months. At that time there was no therapy or medication to help. She had to learn to walk, use her hand and speak on her own. For a while she was bedridden and had aphasia (could not get the right words out). I can remember when she began to sit up, the almost 3 yr old asked her which was her good leg as she climbed on her lap. I am the only one who really had any bad thoughts because she had walked me to school in the morning and the teacher was very unkind to her. Then as I came home, I saw the ambulance leaving with her.
As Eileen said, little ones adapt very well. The smiles and hugs of a child are natural and very potent medicine.