Clinic Day

It still seems strange only having clinic day once a month, but I think we are starting to get used to not being at the hospital all the time.  Monday June 6th Karlee went for a CBC (Complete Blood Count) at the South Calgary Lab.  They once again got one of the techs who wouldn’t listen so they got help in there to get the blood sample which of course wasn’t needed.  Karlee just sits down and flops her arm out and waits; she really is a dream patient for them.  We got the call Monday afternoon that her counts were all good and she was a “Go” for Tuesday.

Each phase of maintenance is broken into 3 – 4 week blocks.  The first block is a procedure day, but the start of the 2nd and 3rd block are just supposed to be quick in and out days for chemo.  Mom and Karlee don’t have to be at the hospital until 1pm which is a really nice change.  They saw Dr. Singh and he was happy with the way everything was going and then the waiting game started.  You have to see the doctor before they will order the chemotherapy.  Chemo can take a while to show up.  They were thrown in an isolation room because Karlee coughed once when they first walked in.  Isolation rooms aren’t much fun as there is no one to talk to and sometimes there isn’t a TV depending on the room you get.  Of course they were in a room with no TV and chemo didn’t get there until almost 4pm.

Mom had forgotten freezy cream so Karlee had to be really brave and get her port accessed with nothing to numb the pain.  It was kind of funny since the next day at school Karlee met the new teacher for next year.  Karlee told her all about Mom forgetting the cream and how very brave she had to be.  Mrs. Howe seems like a really nice person and that she will do a great job.  She does have a very, very big set of shoes to fill since Mrs. Mackie has been there for 19 years and is incredible with the kids and with the families.

Friday June 10th was kindergarten orientation day for Karlee.  She was excited to get to go to Ryley’s school.  She met both the kindergarten teachers for next year.  She liked them both and had fun playing at the various stations.  She did comment that the puzzles were too easy.  It sounds like she is going to enjoy herself.  We have set up a meeting for Friday the 17th with the principal and her teacher for next year.  We would like to give them a head’s up about Karlee’s leukemia and discuss some of the concerns we have about everything.  Or course one of the issues we are running into is we don’t know what we are supposed to be concerned about.  We have asked Jo, our primary nurse, and Laura, our social worker to give us a hand with what to talk about.  They have both given us some great information and have offered to come out to the school and talk to Karlee’s class at a level that is appropriate for them.  It is great that the school is willing to meet with us and that the health care workers are willing to do whatever we need.