Hey Susan!

I was cleaning up my email "mailboxes" in preparation for being off work for
a while and came across this link from three years back.  It's an interview
Laura did with a radio talk show host from Seattle.  The show aired live out
there on a program called "HealthTalk", but they also have a web page they
put the interviews on (this link).  She did this before she started chemo,
but the pictures and video were taken after she started steroid treatment
and her face was all puffy (breaks my heart to see these pix again.  It's
ironic that Laura's talking about discussing her own cancer with our
daughter, Anna (now 10) who was the same age as Alex is now.  Sounds like
you might have hit the nail on the head:

http://www.healthtalk.com/cllen/moms/laura/01.html

(I don't know if the audio or video links still work--I can't open them from
here--but the dialogue transcription is still there.)

-Kyle

-----Original Message-----
From: Susan Moskowitz [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2003 4:57 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Hey all


Kyle,
    Young children often sense and react to family tensions even if they
don't know exactly what's wrong. Or Alex may have overheard some discussion
of your illness. Another possibility to consider given the nature of your
diagnosis and Laura's medical history, is that he overheard the word cancer
or breast cancer and thinks that Mom is developing a new or worse illness.
Thus, he may be clinging to you when she is out of sight and relaxing once
she returns because he fears she won't be coming back.
    Keep in mind that I'm just speculating and he could be reacting to some
entirely different change in his environment.
Susan