How do we tell children about laryngectomy and recovery?
School has begun and many of us will begin this semester by speaking to classes from Pre-School to Graduate School. Pre-School? Yes, I’ve been invited to do just that by friends who operate such schools and had little ones asking about “why Suz’s Mommy talks funny now”? My favorite grades are elementary and university levels. High school can be a very different game since some in that age bracket have already begun to smoke. They assume my mission is to tell them to stop smoking. Resistance sets in on the spot. Perhaps it is just the high schools I’ve talked to, or maybe I lose out when I truthfully tell them I never smoked. I share that the upside of my experience is that I have survived a very aggressive cancer for 30 years because I fought cancer with a healthy body. Smoking and drinking were not something I could afford, and certainly not good for me or the six babies I carried to normal birth. While visiting my daughter and her family in Kalamazoo, Michigan a few years ago, I atte
