Lucy's Illness: A Case Study

In this paper, I am going to discuss Lucy’s development throughout the years of having Ewings Sarcoma and how her illness impacted her through both school age and adolescence.
School age
During the school age years, school is a big concern for this age group, they also have a fear of death, fears loss of body control, they also fear body changes such as mutilation or any type of deformities. Lucy missed out on most of her fourth grade year due to her cancer treatments. By the time that she was in sixth grade, Lucy was able to attend some of school. The sixth grade boys would tease her by telling her to take off the mask she was wearing, and she’d reply calling them stupid dildos. Children this age really tormented Lucy. At this time, Lucy …show more content…
This was something that Lucy had never experienced prior to this moment, she wasn’t even sure what it meant or what it was. After the doctors told her and her parents that this needed to be done, Lucy’s dad announced quite quickly after that they were going to leave the hospital, so they weren’t going to be there for Lucy during this ordeal to support her. Lucy asked them if they were going to stay with her for the test, and her dad said “you’re not scared are you?” And Lucy felt some embarrassment for even asking such a question. During these school age years, a lot of children have a secure base partly built by their friends. Their friends give them confidence, they also provide a sense of security when their parents aren’t there. But unfortunately, Lucy doesn’t have this type of support in her life due to the fact that she misses so much school, which increases the need for family support and encouragement especially during a crisis like this in her life. But her parents have not shown Lucy this type of support.
Also, a hospital stressor at this age is loss of competence, she may have been feeling this way when the doctor came in announcing that this test had to be done. At this time, Lucy was playing with her friend Jan who was becoming very interested in boys. Which Lucy was developing her first crush on a boy at this time, but she felt like she didn’t …show more content…
She absolutely loved horses, so she was absolutely thrilled that she was able to get a job at Diamond D Stables! But at the time of her getting this job, half of her jaw was missing from the cancer. When she told her mother that she got the job at Diamond D Stables, the first thing that her mother asked her is if she told her new job that she was sick. Now at this time, Lucy is in Erik Erickson’s stage of identity vs. confusion, in this stage, children are striving for a sense of competence and purpose in their life, they strive for self-worth based on what they can accomplish. So when Lucy’s mother was asking if Lucy told her employers that she was sick may make her feel a sense of self-doubt, it may make her feel like she isn’t as competent as other people her age because of her illness. While Lucy really enjoyed working at these horse parties she said: “My pleasure of the children didn’t last long, however. I knew what was coming. As soon as they got over the thrill of being near the ponie, they’d notice me. Half my jaw was missing which gave my face a strange triangular shape, accentuated by the fact I was unable to keep my mouth completely closed.” With half of Lucy’s jaw missing, at this age and along with all of her health problems, as well as how people in her life was reacting her health problems, it would be very hard to feel