Hi all-
I am heading to the hospital to get a PICC line insterted on Monday because I am sick. A PICC is kind of like a portable IV inserted in your upper arm, that I can attach medicine to when I need to. Otherwise I wrap it up in an Ace bandage.
I don't know whether I should tell my students I have it in or not. They know I have a lung disease because we learn about genetics in Science and I told them all about my genetic disease and we went over how I got it and what it does to me. Overall they are great about it and I try to reassure them that I am not dying and am ok. They know that I can get sick.
Because I live with it I don't really know how much kids should know. Would them knowing about the IV be too much for them? Or would it be good for them to know. I can hide it at school but I have limited clothes to wear that will really hide it and 5th graders always notice when you wear the same three things Also, I can't have anyone jostle it. But it could be done. So should I hide it or should I tell them? Need outsider advice. Thank you
In my opinion you could tell them. I would just say you know how observant they are and they would notice it, so you are going to explain what it is and why you have it. Maybe explain that by having it you wouldn't have to get as many injections - they could appreciate that. Keep it simple and reassure them you are okay because by this time in the year they already care about you and would worry. Good luck and good health. Also, if you don't tell them and they notice it, they may worry even more and think it is more serious, so I think telling them is a better way to go.
Definitely tell them. There's a chance a student could accidentally bump you in the arm in the wrong way and pull on the PICC. Better they know to be careful. It's the same reason my mother told her students about her epilepsy (so they wouldn't get stupid and play with the lights).
Since you have already mentioned it to them,I see no reason not to tell them.Be sure they know it is to keep you well and they should not be overly concerned about it. I think fifth graders will handle it very well.
I would tell them. You just need to say that you have an PICC line in your arm, they should take care not to bump it, and you will keep it covered with a bandage. Then move on with your lessons for the day. You don't have to divulge too much information, yet you've at least satisfied their curiosity.
You could take it a step further and tell them that if they have any questions about it that they would like to have answered, they can write you a note. But I don't necessarily think that you need to have a major class discussion about it.
I would tell them. It's better to be honest and open than to make it into a taboo subject. Then health issues also don't become something to stare at and notice but not talk about.
I agree with other posters that you don't have to go into details but I think you could also make an interesting science lesson on how IV's work or something like that.
I definitely don't want them to think it is a bad thing. I know someone else with CF who teaches and she walks around with her oxygen tank and no one thinks twice. I don't wear oxygen yet but that is my dream, for it to be no big deal. They have already gotten used to my cough. But I know there are some kids that get worried.
Maybe I will try and compare how antibiotics work for them but I need something stronger, while still assuring them I am fine. I know the boys will just want to see what it looks like
On a side note, one of my boys asked what I would do if it was raining money. I told him something silly that I would buy a ton of pugs and be a crazy pug woman. He then asked me, "Wouldn't you buy new lungs?" I didn't know what to say to that. Couldn't tell if he was being rude or curious.
One of the finest human beings I've ever known was a man named Bill who happened to have Type I diabetes. A huge group of us would go camping every summer in the mountains near where most of us lived; Bill would engineer running water and a variety of other comforts at the campsite for all of us, and he'd just generally make sure things worked for everyone. When it came time to check his insulin, he'd just casually sit down and break out his blood-test equipment and his injector (he was at some risk of running out of blood vessels to inject into, so he had the kind that blows the insulin through the skin), and when any of the several dozen children at the campsite wondered what he was up to, he'd explain what his equipment was for and show them how it worked. They were particularly fascinated by the pshhht! of the injection device - and, from oldest to youngest, they adored him. They also, I think, learned from Bill that having something wrong with your body isn't at all the same thing as being somehow wrong. It strikes me that that's an incredibly valuable lesson.
In later years he mentored one of the children when she attended a college half a continent away from her parents; at his funeral, years earlier than we'd hoped but years later than many people in his position then had, she spoke movingly of him and the effect he'd had on her life.
For a variety of reasons I'm not as good at telling people in my life when things are not well with me - but Bill had it right, it seems to me.
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Also, I can't have anyone jostle it. But it could be done. So should I hide it or should I tell them? Need outsider advice. Thank you
