First week at school - By Naomi Russell
Ethan was very excited to start at Heritage College Sydney – BIG SCHOOL. Ethan had been to pre-school one day a week for the past two years and was no different in his excitement on Monday morning from any other five year old. The only difference is he was now, for the first time in his life, responsible for taking his enzymes in his lunchbox.
Ethan has Cystic Fibrosis and is pancreatic insufficient, therefore needs enzymes with his food and at other times extra care needed. For the weeks leading up to starting school, we tried to get him to take the enzymes without prompting, but he often forgot. At pre-school, his teachers preferred to give him the enzymes at each meal. So would he be ready? Many of the teachers at Heritage College had read up on CF before Ethan commenced and Sharon Hunt from Westmead Children’s Hospital came out to the school to answer any questions and go through it with all the teachers.
The staff were very willing to help in any way possible which made the transition for all of us, Mum in particular, that much easier. The headmaster even has a boarder living with him from NZ who has CF so we knew that he would be well looked after if he didn’t take on the responsibility so quickly – after all, he is only five years old.
We decided to tape the enzymes to each item of food that needed them, and leave extra at the office in case he needed more or lost any. The first week went very well. He took all the enzymes given to him with no prompting needed. On the second day, one of his capsules got crushed, so he took himself to the office and asked for another explaining the reason. The next day, one of his friends gave him a lolly, and Ethan, not sure whether he needed another enzyme went to the office to ask. They rang home and were reassured that he didn’t. Ethan has to do a Pep Mask each day and at times can be quite challenging to get him enthused to do it, but when the idea of being able to travel on the school bus entices him to do it, we find he does it quickly and effectively. We prefer to do it in the morning, as he does it well because he is extremely keen on travelling to school on the bus with his friends and he is less tired than in the afternoons. We have always been honest with him and matter-of-fact which I think has worked, as he now knows what he has to do and just does it at school without any fuss.
First week over and we all survived it very nicely. We are confident that he will be fine with school, and deal with each obstacle when and if it arises.
We are very grateful to our Heavenly Father and to Heritage College for the care that they have give Ethan so far.
