2nd round of Delayed Intensification

Friday was another bad day for Karlee.  She again vomited in the morning, but it was a lot pinker as opposed to the dark purple so she is still getting the Doxorubicin out of her system.  When Mom got home from the bus run her and Karlee got ready to head up to the clinic for Karlee's PEG shot. On the drive to the hospital Karlee again vomited.  (Note to self: make sure we always have extra clothes in the car!!).


When they got to the unit Dr. Singh wanted to check Karlee over and monitor her before they decided if they could proceed with the treatment.  It ended up being a long day for them, but she did get the shot in the leg. Karlee's weekend wasn't too bad, but she really wasn't back to 100% until Monday.


Saturday Ryley went to Alex's birthday party for a movie party.  The kids all had a great time and then Ryley was on his way to his last hockey game of this round.  In the new year they are moving down a division.  With the improvements the team has made so far this year they should see a lot of success in the new division.


Sunday was an iffy day for Karlee.  She wasn't feeling her best, but was still improving.  We decided to stay home from Church in order to allow Karlee to rest a little more.  This allowed us to finally make it to a birthday party at Randy and Catherine's.  We have missed the last 2 parties due to Karlee having episodes or being in the hospital.  Everett had his 4th birthday party and everyone had a great time.  All 4 cousins had a great time playing downstairs.



Tuesday was another clinic day, but without a procedure.  The new nurse Karlee had missed the fact that she needed to have hydration prior to getting her chemo.  Thankfully one of our regular nurses noticed and made sure she got fluids.  Since the chemotherapy was late coming up she wasn't delayed.  Jennifer took in some Nuts and Bolts and some Carmel Chex that Grandma made.  All the nurses and doctors loved it and polished it off in record time.


Tuesday night was the final Beaver meeting of the year.  We did a little Christmas party and had a couple of guest speakers talk about different holiday traditions.  I think all the kids had a good time and I know all the leaders are looking forward to a few weeks off and then an easier schedule to start January.


Wednesday was a good day for Karlee.  We were concerned that with the reaction she had with the new chemo that she would again have a rough night.  Thankfully it seems to be a one time reaction or it could have been the dose of MTX in the spine.  Wednesday night we had out lifegroup potluck Christmas dinner.  We had a good meal with great friends.  About half way though (right before the kids gift exchange), Dad had to run off and be a Santa helper for the cubs.  The kids loved seeing Santa and sitting on his lap and getting a gift.  The leaders all got to spend a little time with Santa and then they all piled on followed closely by the kids.  When I was done there I figured it might we fun to show up at the lifegroup in the costume.  The kids didn't know what to think; they all quickly figured out who Santa was, but still enjoyed it.  The parents enjoyed it too and everyone got a picture or two.


Friday night was the scout leader's party.  Grandma came over and babysat and we all had a great night relaxing with the other leaders.


Saturday was a little bit of a crazy day.  Ryley started his Okotoks hockey tournament with an 8:30am game.  Right after the game we headed back to Calgary for the Mason's Christmas party.  The kids always have a great time there with the clowns and their balloons.  We had a nice, kid friendly meal, and then Santa came.  Unfortunately the charity we were sponsoring this year had a lot of people who didn't show up.  The kids all had a great time and loved the gifts.  Since the lodge was going to donate all the extra gifts to charity anyway I asked if I could have a few for the family we were sponsoring (more on that later).  After the party it was a quick drive down to Okotoks for another hockey game.  We got to play in the new arena in town.  It was a beautiful facility and I think the kids really enjoyed playing there.


On the way home we made a few phone calls about the Gift of Hope that the Scouts were doing in conjunction with the Church.  We managed to get everyone organized to drop off all their stuff and for Lisa, Jared and kids to come over and help assemble everything.  The night before we got a call from the person at the Church organizing everything.  There was a family close by who had just lost everything they owned (including pets) in a house fire this past week.  They had been in a hotel, but were getting a rental house.  They had 3 young boys aged 3, 7 and 9.  We made sure they had lots of non-perishable food, enough fresh food for several meals, lots and lots of gifts for both the kids and the parents, some gift cards and some cash.  I then again pulled out the Santa suit and off we went to drop off everything to the family.  The kids were shocked to see Santa at the door and the 3 year old had a ton of questions about where I left the reindeer and why Santa was early and why I was in a car instead of a sleigh.  We kept bringing stuff in and I think Dad was a little shocked about what we could do to help them out.  It was a great experience for them as well as for us and our kids.

Sunday we were going to go to Church, but Ryley started with his "I'm not feeling good" and Karlee said she didn't want to go.  We did a little shopping and then came home and made some reindeer food for Ryley to give to his hockey team.  At 3pm we were down in Okotoks to have a team supper / pre-Christmas get together.  We had planned on doing a Christmas party on Sunday, but with the tournament and an extra game added it wasn't practical so we all went to BPs instead.  Afterwards we headed over to the arena for the team's last game of the year.  The kids all played incredible and were all hustling.  Ryley had his best game of the year by far... he was aggressive and played the puck several times each shift.  Afterwards they all got their medals from the tournament.  It was a really good time and the kids kept playing better each game.


Monday morning we figured it was time for Mom and Dad to do some Christmas shopping for each other.  We hit Mark's and then Chinook Centre.  The mall wasn't too busy yet and we managed to get most of our shopping done.


Tomorrow (almost today) is another clinic day for Karlee and Mom wants Dad and Ryley to do a bunch of running around and dropping stuff off to various people in the other end of the city.  Hopefully Karlee was a good day and we get everything done without getting too lost.