The first day of school: New clothes, new books and new kids to play with. You’ll also meet new teachers and school staff who can help you when you get hurt on the playground. One of these helpful adults is the school nurse.
You know the nurses at your hemophilia treatment center (HTC): They find out what’s hurting and help make it go away. They teach you how to be the boss of your bleeding disorder and get better fast.
The school nurse is like that, too. He or she might not know as much about hemophilia and other bleeding disorders as the nurses at your HTC. But your school nurse will know who to call or what to do to make sure your bump or bruise doesn’t turn into a big pain. Some kids even keep factor at school so they can get treated fast and zoom back to their friends and classes.
Learn Who to Tell About Your Bleeds
Ask your mom and dad to tell you who to go to when you’ve fallen on the playground or feel a bleed starting. Some schools don’t have school nurses, but there will always be someone at your school who’s your super bleeding-blaster buddy. It could be a teacher or a secretary in the school office. Whoever it is, there’s a good chance your parents and your HTC nurses have already talked to the people at your school and made sure they know what to do when you have a bleed.
That way, when you get hurt, you’ll know whom to tell. You know that feeling—when your ankle, knee or another part of your body feels funny. It may be warm and feel bubbly inside. It may be hard to move, or it may hurt to touch it. When that happens, you can get permission to go to the nurse’s office or the main office—the adults there will take care of the rest.
This is good news, because the chance of you having a big, bad bleed are pretty low if you take care of it as soon as it starts. That means less time waiting to get better and more time playing with your friends. So as soon as you fall, get hit by a ball or start feeling like you have a bleed, go tell the teacher so you can see the nurse.
And who knows? You could have the best school year yet.