Saturday Ryley had his first hockey game. It looks a lot like the coach was right and we are seeded in the wrong division. We were defeated 18-0, but the kids had fun. Our coach is very upbeat and manages to keep the kids motivated and enjoying themselves. In the new year we will hopefully be in a more appropriate division.
Sunday was a great day for slippers. There was a craft show in Canyon Meadows and Jennifer had a very busy day selling 10 pairs of slippers in a very busy hour or so in the morning. We are hoping the Lake Bonavista Craft Fair on November 20th and 21st will be even busier. Sunday evening we went over the Keith and Sherry's for some excellent curry and some fellowship. It was nice to see them again and spend some time with visiting. Ron had to run off early and go to a Scout Group Committee meeting that evening.
Monday was family fun night for Ryley's class at school. Both Karlee and Ryley had a wonderful time playing with the toys in the gym. Karlee's energy level is excellent right now. She managed to run and play for the full hour without once complaining of being tired. Tuesday Ryley got to stay at school over lunch to take part in Spanish Club. By the time the end of the day rolled around Ryley had managed to forget everything he learned over lunch hour except how to count.
Wednesday night Ryley's hockey team had a full 90 minutes at the Hockey Skillz training centre. They have a small indoor ice rink, a shooting station and 2 skating treadmills. The kids all had a great time and hopefully learned something. Ryley came off the "ice" literally dripping in sweat; it may have been his best workout ever.
Thursday was Remembrance Day and our Scout Group put on our first, hopefully annual, ceremony. We met at the Burnside Cemetery and had a very nice ceremony at the cenotaph. The Scouts did several reading and the Beavers and Cubs placed wreaths and a cross on the cenotaph. Ryley got to be a sentry and stood holding the Beaver flag for the entire ceremony. Karlee even stayed still and quiet for most of the time. She did want to be held a little as she was having a hard time standing because her legs were getting sore. That is one of the side effects of the chemotherapy that Karlee seems to be very susceptible to.Friday was a busy day for all of us. Just before 8am Jennifer and Karlee headed up to the Alberta Children's Hospital for another clinic day. This was one of the busiest clinic days Karlee has been to yet; they had 22 kids in there for treatment. Fortunately Karlee was getting a procedure so she got a bed. They only have 8 beds and they normally leave one of them for recovery so there were a lot of kids without beds. Karlee's counts are on the upswing with her ANC now being up to 2400 and her hemoglobin having risen to 116. 2400 is a great number as it shows that her immune system is working properly and she should be able to fight off some infections and viruses. 116 is the highest her hemoglobin has been since she was diagnosed. Both these numbers mean treatment should be able to continue without and interruption and she shouldn't need a blood transfussion any time soon. Karlee ended up being the 3rd and final procedure of the day as she was the oldest. Karlee met a new friend (Chloe) who has the same type of Leukemia and the same risk level as Karlee. Chloe is ahead of Karlee in treatment as she in now in maintenance and Karlee has another 3 months or so until she gets to that level. It was nice for Jennifer to get to talk to other parents who have gone though what we are going through. It also prepares us for the next phase which is going to be much harder on Karlee and the whole family. Chloe also has a blog for anyone who is interested in reading about her journey (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/chloedavidson). Karlee received her chemotherapy and they got home just after 4pm. This was one of Karlee's longest clinic days yet.
Friday morning Ryley, Dad and Grandma went to Chinook Centre to assist the Kids Cancer Care Foundation with a little fundraising. Kiehl's (http://www.kiehls.com/) is a Skin Care company that is new to Calgary. When they move into a new market they like to find a way to give back to the local community. Friday Kiehl's was donating 100% of the days sales (not profits, but actually sales) to the KCCFA. We started off the morning meeting Leslie from Global TV in Calgary. They were there to do a little story about Kiehl's and the KCCFA. We did a quick interview which aired on the noon news. You can see the video here http://www.globalnews.ca/video/index.html?releasePID=wiit9fjLsYtgZrzQfPwo_4vWQz0NaxMi and we are at about the 35:30 mark. We then walked through the mall handing out flyers and telling people about the great donation Kiehl's was making. We returned to the store to get some more flyers and got busted by the mall cops. We were only supposed to be handing out the flyers in the store. Ryley did a great job keeping one toe inside the store and managing to hand out a bunch of flyers. We had a great time and hopefully managed to raise some money for the KCCFA.
Friday night Grandma came over to babysit so we could go out to a parents hockey get together. We had a really good time eating and chatting with the other parents (and Dad maybe having a few beers). Mom was really tired after the long clinic day so she was ready to leave pretty early.
Both Dad and Ryley have been fighting a cold and cough all week long. Ryley did make it to school every day, but the cough just won't let go. We are keeping him home from hockey this weekend as he has a hard time with the coughing when he is skating hard. Hopefully they will both be able to shake this bug and we can all be healthy for a while.
Next week Karlee has the full week off and doesn't have to go back until Monday the 22nd. We are going to try and get her in for a dentist appointment next week. In order to go see the dentist her ANC need to be over 1500 and this is the first week in a while she has been there.
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