Monday, May 23, 2011

Great Day with Jamie’s Preschool

Today was a wonderful day in the mountains with an incredible group of volunteer and an even more incredible group of kids and parents.  All of us except Jennifer went on a field trip with Karlee’s preschool out to Kananaskis Country.

We arrived at the Church where the preschool is held at 9am and boarded the Tim Horton’s Children’s Foundation bus which turned out to be a pleasant surprise.  We were expecting a school bus, but arrived to find a nice coach with a DVD player and bathroom.  There were a few people we knew, but lots of Alumni we had not met yet.  It was a nice drive out to Kananaski after making a stop on the west side of the city to pick up some more people.  The kids had fun playing around in the seats and going to the bathroom repeatedly.  I enjoyed visiting with the other parents and hearing about their journey's and sharing a little of our journey so far.

Once we arrived there we went to Boundary Ranch and were met by Captain Ron from the K-Country Fire Department.  He was great with the kids and they all seemed to bond with him right away.  We went on a wagon ride through the trees and the kids loved riding together.  At the turn around point of the trip they had a paddock with Buffalo in it and there was a baby.  It was a very cute little baby that looked a lot like a baby calf, but was standing beside a big Buffalo.  We then returned to the ranch by a slightly different route that let the horses run a little which the kids enjoyed.  Once we got back the other half of the group went on the wagon ride and we went and played games with Captain Ron.  He played Duck, Duck, Goose and freeze tag with all the kids, making sure to get everyone involved from ages 2 to 12 and of all different skill levels.  We then boarded the bus again and went over to the Fire Station.
 
When we arrived the Fire Fighters had everything set up for a hot dog lunch.  We had a great lunch and the kids ate lots and lots of food.  After lunch the firefighters split the kids into 3 groups and 2 groups got to tour the trucks and the 3rd group got to use the fire hose to “knock down fires".  This involved them holding the hose, turning the water on and knocking over 2 pylons.  The kids absolutely loved using the fire hose and Ryley is so proud that he was the 2nd kid to knock down both pylons from one spot.  While to firefighters were entertaining the kids the parents got to chat a little more.  To me spending time with the other parents and learning about what they have gone through is the best therapy.  The firefighters let the kids play with many of their tools and equipment.  They were all very good with the kids and gave them a special experience.
 
When the tour there was over we walked over to the police station with Officer Yee for a tour there.  He went through all the equipment he carried and even showed them the noise that the Taser makes when fired.  He then took us into the back and let the kids see the jail cells.  The kids definitely realized that jail was not a nice place when they saw the mattress sitting on a concrete bench and the ugly toilet/sink combo.  After the hold cell tour we went outside and the kids played in the police car and trunk.  Ryley convinced Officer Yee to handcuff him… unfortunately he had the keys so Ryley was free for the ride home.
 
We all boarded the bus again and headed back to Calgary.  You would think the kids would have been tuckered out and slept, but that was not to be.  They played all the way back to Calgary while the parents visited again.  We pulled into Calgary about 4pm and all said our goodbyes and headed for the cars.  It was a great trip put on by an incredible organization and we are all looking forward to the school trip to Calaway Park in 2 weeks!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

A Little Bit of Everything

I can’t believe it has been another 2 weeks since I wrote a blog, but we have been so busy and everything has been going really well.  Oral chemo every night has been going really well.  Karlee knows she isn’t allowed to eat after 6pm and if someone offers her food Ryley will quickly let them know that Karlee can’t have anything.

On Saturday April 30th, Mom, Tanya and Chris told me we were going to Muse for supper.  When we went to drop the kids off at Grandma’s to look after them there were a bunch of people there yelling Surprise!  Everyone managed to pull off a surprise party for my 40th birthday.  There were lots of friends there and we had a great night.  I was definitely surprised and had a great party visiting with everyone.  Rumour has it that Karlee might have had some knowledge of the party, but Ryley knew as much as I did.  Karlee was a little scared when everyone yelled surprise, but recovered and both kids had a good party!

Sunday night we went to see Travis’s band, But We Digress, play in the Axe Music Weekend Warrior gig at the King’s Head.  There were 4 bands playing and Travis was up first.  Their band was excellent playing a bunch of great 70s songs.  Who knew Travis could actually sing?  Travis had a great showing of support from the scout group and from his work.  The second band wasn’t that great, but the 3rd band was excellent too.  I used to work with the guitar player at EDS and they did a great selection of 80s songs.  It was really nice to get out an listen to some live music.
 
The first week of May was the start of the soccer season.  Ryley is playing on Tuesday and Thursday nights with a core group of players from last season.  They have managed to not have any games not rained (or snowed) out yet this year.  Ryley is enjoying himself this year more than last year I think.  Karlee has started her first season of soccer and plays Saturday mornings.  She has already had one game rained out.  It really cuts the season short when you only have 9 games and you miss a few due to weather.  Karlee is enjoying herself, but is still a little timid around the ball.  I’m sure she will get over that pretty quick and she will be fine.


Thursday was the Astral Day of Caring Radiothon.  I took the day off and we all went up to Market Mall to see people and support the KCCFA.  Grandma came with us.  We had a fun time visiting with other families and the KCCFA staff.  The radiothon raised $225,000 for the Kids Cancer Care Foundation.  Thank you to everyone who came out to support us or pledged money!

The Saturday before Mother’s Day I got to see Travis’s band play again, this time way up in the northeast.  They were playing in a pretty small little pub, but once again they did a great job and had the place rockin’.  They added a couple of new songs which they performed very well.

Mother’s Day we did something completely different this year.  The Kids Cancer Care Foundation put on a Rock and Roll Mother’s Day at Camp Kindle, because “Our Mother’s Rock!”  Grandma came out to camp with us and we had a nice drive out taking in some beautiful scenery.  We had a nice brunch and then the kids went off to do a craft for their Mom’s while the adults mingled and worked on our air band routines.  We all headed down to the music room where they had a band playing rock and roll.  We then went up one group at a time and did a little air band routine.  We did You Really Got Me by Van Halen.  It was fun and everyone had a good time up there with the band playing.  On the way home we stopped in Cochrane for some ice cream.  It was a really nice Mother’s Day.

Tuesday was Karlee’s first clinic day during the maintenance phase.  She did her blood work on Monday and her counts came back great so we were good to go on Tuesday.  Karlee didn’t have to be up there until 1pm which was a nice change.  She was supposed to go in, get accessed, see a doctor, get the chemo and be on her way home within an hour.  Of course, as always, nothing goes according to plan.  It took longer to see a doctor than normal and then the chemo was late.  They didn’t get out of there until 4 in the afternoon.  It was nurses week this week so Jennifer took up a bunch of slippers for the girls.  It is nice to be able to recognize the nurses for all the incredible stuff they do for Karlee and for us all year long!  They are really an incredible group of people who are the most caring, competent and loving people out there.  They have made this journey so much more bearable by looking after us and Karlee.

Karlee is again on the steroids for 5 days after clinic day.  The first 2 days after chemo she seems to wake up regularly at night crying.  We are not sure what is causing it, but is appears to be a side effect she suffers with Vincristine.  She has also started eating more due to the steroids.  With all the extra eating she did last month she only managed to gain 1 pound.  Hopefully she puts on a few pounds so we can get her into a booster seat for the car.

Friday night the A Cappella Fellas did a fund raiser for the Kids Cancer Care Foundation at MacEwan Hall at the University of Calgary.  They donated 30 tickets to the KCCFA and we were fortunate enough to get 4.  When we got there the kids favourite volunteer, Ashley, was there so they were both happy.  They had 3 local artists opening for them and they were all great.  It was the first time I have ever seen an electric ukulele.  After intermission where Ashley put our kids to work handing out flyers the A Cappella Fellas took the stage.  They were excellent and did a wonderful job entertaining everyone.  They did a very eclectic set spanning the 60s up to now.  If you ever have a chance to catch these guys live (or buy their CD) do it as they are worth it!

We are getting pretty excited about some upcoming events.  We are going to Kanaskis this Wednesday with Jamie’s Preschool.  We are going to take Ryley out of school that day so he can join Karlee.  Mom is going to stay back and work and paint the bathroom.  Dad is taking a vacation day and gets to spend a little alone time with the kids.  The long weekend is the KCCFA family camp so everyone is excited about that!