VBS and SunRise and SunMaker Camps

The last 2 weeks of July were once again busy for the kids and Jennifer.

The week of the 18th through 22nd the kids were in a Vacation Bible School (VBS) at a local Church that our Church had partnered with.  After the Tour For Kids Jennifer and her friend Vivianna headed over the Peace Lutheran Church to set up for PandaMania.  They were going to teach the kindergarten kids from 9-noon each day for the next week. 

Each morning for all 3 of them were out of the house just after 8am and didn’t get home until almost 1 each day.  The kids has a great time learning about Jesus and the Bible and coming home and sharing their lessons with us.  Ryley seems to be starting to understand; he is remembering the stories and maybe even starting to apply some of the lessons he is learning.  Karlee is still at the stage where she enjoys meeting other people and making new friends, but she is understanding some of the lessons too.

Jennifer realized that limiting Karlee’s exposure to sick kids is a lot harder when she is volunteering.  When she is leading the class it is very hard to pull Karlee out when she gets to stay.  She also found out the people will send their sick kids to just about anything and don’t have any regard for the other kids and teachers.  This is going to impact some of Jennifer’s ability to volunteer with some of the activities Karlee is in this coming year.  Fortunately Karlee didn’t catch anything during the week.

Thursday night they had a bring your parents night when we all went and watched each group do a little presentation.  After that they showed us around the Church and showed us some of the stuff they had done.  The kids really enjoyed VBS and I think we will send them back again next year.

The next week was camp week for both kids.  Monday morning we headed to the Glamorgan community association to be there just before 9am.  When we got there we took Karlee into the community centre and she disappeared very quickly.  She knew a couple of other kids there and at least one of the volunteers so she didn’t have any issues leaving us.  Ryley had to wait until 10am for his bus to leave to take him to Camp Kindle.  He quickly found a few other guys his age to go and play with on the playground while we got him registered and checked in.  It was a very enjoyable morning chatting with all the other parents while we waited.  There really is a special bond between all the parents that have gone through cancer.  It is also very uplifting to hear about all the kids that have beat cancer and are now happy, normal kids.  This time I knew how Ryley would react to the bus getting ready to leave so we called him over before they started to line up and said goodbye to him.  Again he had no issues leaving us and heading out to Camp Kindle.  Jennifer went back at 3pm to pick up Karlee after her first day and she just loved it.  They had a busy and fun program set up for them the entire week.  She had such exciting days that she fell asleep in the car on the way home every day!  She made a pair of little friends and they were inseparable all week!

Thursday morning when we dropped Karlee off we dropped her off with all her stuff to stay overnight at Camp Kindle.  After lunch they brought in the bus and loaded all the little kids up and headed out to camp.  This was kind of weird as it was the first time ever that both kids were out of the house overnight and we were both home.  We went out for a drink and some munchies and then went and saw Transformers 3 in 3D.  Thankfully we had a coupon for the movie so only paid the extra for 3D because we both would have been disappointed if we had paid full price to see that movie.

Friday morning we were out of the house fairly early and heading out to Camp Kindle to pick up Karlee.  We arrived about 10:30 and headed up to the main lodge even though we knew Karlee was at the music hall.  We didn’t want to interrupt anything they were doing so we thought we would go hang out with the other parents.  Of course Sharlene had other plans.  As soon as she saw us walking up the road she told Karlee we were coming so they waited and waited.  Due to the way the building is located you can watch us walk up, but when the road Ys you can not see it.  Finally they hopped in a golf cart and came up to see us.  Karlee was very happy to see us, where as Ryley was too busy playing to notice we were there.

We went down to the music hall with Karlee and found out she had a good, if little late, night.  They had a camp fire and she even managed to have supper, wait 2 hours, have chemo, wait another hour and then have snack.  Sharlene and the volunteers did an incredible job of making sure she was able to enjoy snack.  After the fire Ryley gave her a big hug before he headed up to bed and Karlee got to watch a movie.  She liked being with the big kids out at camp.  We joined everyone for lunch and then we said goodbye to Ryley and headed for Bergen. 

We spent the night in Bergen with Frances and Roland at their chalet and had a great night.  Karlee played with their dog (technically Amy’s dog) Jazz, got to drive Roland’s golf cart and went for a big walk around the estates.  We sat around the fire, drank some beer and had a great big dinner.  We were up early the next morning to go and get Ryley from Camp Kindle.

He had a great time and even got an award for the motivation he provided to another camper on the climbing wall.  Several of the volunteers and Ryley himself said he really enjoyed the dance this year and loved seeing DJ Fish again.  He made more new friends again and reconnected with some of the campers from last year.  Next year camp is going to be a new experience again with them undertaking $4 million in renovations.  The old dorm that is starting to fall down is being removed and they are building a new main lodge and another dorm.  There is going to be some very exciting changes including a new pool if everything works out correctly.

Tour For Kids

On Wednesday July 13th Kids Cancer Care put out an urgent request for volunteers to help with the Tour For Kids the upcoming weekend.  They had a miscommunication and were short 2 truck drivers and 2 riders for the 3 day bike ride through the Rockies.  Without really knowing what I was getting into I phoned Sharlene and got a few of the details and was assured I would have a great time.  After checking with Jennifer I agreed to give them a hand and spend a 3 day weekend driving.

Friday morning Candice picked me up just before 6am and we headed to Rock Point Church.  There were a bunch of people from KCC and several organizers from Coast to Coast Against Cancer from Toronto.  I was given a few t-shirts and then shown to my truck.  Sharon & Kristen from Toronto were the ones in the know and would be making sure we knew what we were doing all weekend.  We would be travelling in a 3 vehicle convoy all weekend with them leading the way in a car and then me driving the dry goods truck and Jay driving the refer with all the refrigerated goods.

We were on the road by 7:30 headed to the mountains.  We missed the starting point due to a missed turn, but headed to get gas and then off to the first rest stop to set up.  The long riders started just outside Banff on the 1A highway and headed to Lake Louise.  Basically we spent all weekend driving to the rest stops and unloading tables, chairs, huge signs, bike racks, food, water, Power Bars and everything else the volunteers and riders would need.  Unfortunately the day before when they loaded and prepped the trucks Sharon was not around and my truck was not set up correctly so we fought trying to get the correct stuff out at each stop.  We got to meet the volunteer teams at the rest stops and got to snack each time.  The riders went from Lake Louise to Saskatchewan River Crossing and then headed towards Nordegg.

After the last rest stop we saw a bear on the side of the road using the washroom.  We drove to David Thompson Resort and started setting up for the night.  They had several massage therapists come in to look after the riders as well as a first aid tent, concierge tent, pub tent and shop.  Once we got everything parked and all the tents setup and the snacks, beer, wine and ice unloaded we had a few minutes to setup our tents and look around before the riders started arriving.  It was a beautiful camp site with an incredible view of the valley.  The first day’s drive was some of the best scenery in Alberta.  The views were phenomenal and the hills were insane.  When the trucks have issues getting up the mountain I have no idea how the bikers could do it.

When the riders started showing up it was great to get to meet them and talk with them about the ride and why they were doing it.  There was at least one KCC survivor riding in the Tour For Kids.  It was great to talk to the volunteers (including a survivor), the organizers and the riders.  David Thompson Resort did a great job of putting on a steak dinner with all the trimmings and Mill Street Brewery did a great job providing the beverages.  After supper the final trucks had all arrived and we reorganized my truck for the next day.  We did a much better job organizing everything so Saturday would be a much smoother day.

After everything was ready we went over a enjoyed some of the entertainment.  Steven shared some of his story from the ride last year.  He is a survivor and a camp alumni.  He was also featured in the KCC video from last year:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIZzw6ofBvI.  It was a very moving moment and there were very few dry eyes.  We then had the Truckstop Superfriends entertain us for a while.  They were great and it was a great big party.

The next morning we were again up early and were treated to a great big breakfast by David Thompson Resort.  We hit the road around 7:30 again and were off to Rocky Mountain House.  We set up a bunch of rest stops and went through Nordegg, Rock Mountain House and Caroline.  In Caroline we set up the lunch stop for most of the riders.  The long riders were doing 215km this day.  We spent a little extra time there making sure everything was ready to go and visiting with the volunteers.  We then headed up several really, really big hills to Sundre.  We stopped and set up another rest stop and then headed to Sundre Aquatic Centre to set up the finish.  We set everything up and then we waited… and waited.  Finally the truck that was supposed to setup the finish arrived and then everyone left to go set up at Camp Kindle except, myself, Dana and the finish volunteers.

It was nice to get to see all the riders arrive and get to cheer them into the finish.  Once again they had a couple of massage therapists setup here, but the majority were at Camp waiting for them.  They got a quick snack, some water or Gatorade and a bag lunch.  As soon as enough riders showed up they loaded a bus and transferred everyone to Camp.  We had to wait for the 2 clean up trucks to arrive as they had everything for my truck for the final day.  We had to do the transfer in Sundre so they could load all the bikes into the 2 clean up trucks for the trip to camp and the trip to the start in the morning.

Finally once the trucks were transferred over we headed to Camp Kindle.  Everyone with Kids Cancer Care (and many of the volunteers) were very excited to show the riders and organizers where their money was going.  Once we arrived everyone was having a great time… the giant swing was going, tents were being set up, people were checking the camp out and they had the lemonade stand serving organic beer and lemon tea beer.  Once everyone showed up we all had a great meal and small presentation about the camp.  Everyone had a great night with the zip line, the big swing and lots of good conversations.  It was also nice to have a long hot shower and sleep in a bunk for the night.
 
Sunday morning we were again served a great breakfast and were off again early to set up the rest stops.  This was the shortest day for the riders as they had a choice between 100km and 120kms.  We set up one rest stop and then headed to a small community hall to set up the lunch stop.  Since this was a short day there was a lot of setup at lunch and lots of volunteers showed up to get lunch ready for the riders.  After one more quick rest stop we were back at the Rock Pointe Church to get ready for the finish, the BBQ and to clean up and organize the trucks.  Jennifer and the kids came to welcome the riders and there was a fun party atmosphere to the finish.  It was great cheering the riders as they finished this great tour.
 
During the BBQ Sharon asked me if we would be interested in having Karlee featured on the signs and website as one of the kids they are riding for.  Of course we agreed as anything we can do to assist Coast to Coast Against Cancer and Kids Cancer Care is worth our efforts.  I have already let them know I will be back next year and am working on convincing Jennifer that she should join me.

We were also talking through the entire ride about The Inside Ride.  They take a bunch of stationary bikes from Coast to Coast and have teams of 6 ride for 10 minutes each.  It is another fundraiser for Kids Cancer Care and promises to be a great event.  I have put together a team and we will be riding at Bankers Hall on September 26th from 12:00 – 1:30.  If you would like to make a donation you can do so at: http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=3070385&Lang=en-CA.  Please pledge our team if you can as this is a very worthy charity and 100% of the money raised comes back to Kids Cancer Care.

Great Long Weekend and Clinic Day

The Canada Day long weekend was a very busy one around our house.  Canada Day started out a little rough.  We went down to the bank and were heading over to Chapters when the car just stopped.  I thought I might have stalled the car, but looked down and the clutch was still in.  I tried to restart the car, but nothing happened.  We pushed the car over to the side of the road and called Grandma to ask her to come pick us up.  We had a few people stop and offer their advice and then a great guy in a truck stopped.  He offered to hook up a tow rope and pull us over to Canadian Tire.  We hooked up the car and dropped it off.  Thankfully they could take a look at it that day.  We headed home to wait for a phone call.

Around 2 we headed over to Grandma’s for her block’s annual Canada Day party.  Their block puts on an incredible potluck party.  They got 2 huge (the biggest I had ever seen) bouncers and provide all the burgers, hot dogs and Spolumbo’s sausages you can eat. The kids had a great time spending almost 5 solid hours in the bouncers!  We had a good time sitting around on the green visiting, drinking a few beers (and wine and coolers) and enjoying the food and great weather. During the middle of this party Canadian Tire called a couple of times to let me know both the battery and the alternator needed to be replaced.  Thankfully they got everything done and the car up and running on Canada Day!  Ryley was very upset when we left at 7pm.  Last year they had fireworks and Grandma told him about them so he wanted to stay and watch them.  Unfortunately the kids were too tired and would have never made it.  Thankfully we didn’t stay as they didn’t let off any fireworks this year.
 
Saturday we went to a pool party at Willie’s house.  It was a party for Ryley’s hockey team (The Lightening Bolts).  The kids had a wonderful time playing in the pool, throwing water balloons, shooting water guns and eating food.  There were only a few kids from the team there, but everyone had a good time.  Thank you to the Rennie’s for hosting all of us.

 
Saturday evening we went to a BBQ and potluck at Steve and Shelly’s place.  The kids had fun playing with the other kids and jumping on the trampoline.  Travis brought his guitar and played for all of us and there was even a poker game going on, which Jennifer was eliminated from and I had the sense not to join.

Sunday afternoon was Cousin Oliver’s 3rd birthday party.  It was a great celebration with lots of family there to ensure his birthday was a special day.  It was nice to have all of us there as Karlee and Jennifer have missed a couple of get togethers at Randy and Catherine’s due to Karlee being sick or in hospital.

Tuesday was Karlee’s monthly clinic day at the Alberta Children’s Hospital.  It was a fairly routine clinic day with a procedure.  She is down to having procedure days every 3 months now, which is a nice change.  One thing of potential concern is her liver enzyme levels.  They are currently 8% above normal.  If they reach 20% above normal we will have to pause treatment and determine if the treatment is doing more harm than good.  Karlee has been complaining a little more about stomach pain lately so we are hoping this is what is causing it and that the levels return to normal next month.

Wednesday night was our first night of church at the new location.  Our church has rented space from another Church to save some money to allow us to realize the dream of building a community centre (and Church space).  It is a nice cozy location that will hopefully fit New Hope’s needs for the next few years.  The one downfall is the lack of air conditioning.  During the summer we meet on Wednesday nights as most people want their weekends to do family events or go camping.  Meeting in the evening after a warm day makes for a very, very warm service.  Once winter rolls around and we start meeting on Saturday evenings it should get a lot better.
 
Thursday was Ryley’s first day at Skillz.  We had a year membership donated to Ryley at the Skate-A-Thon last year.  He had a great time working his butt off.  It is great to see him coming home dripping in sweat and enjoying it.

Media Everywhere and Summer Finally Arrives

Wow!  It has only been a week since I last posted, but it sure feels like a lot has happened.

Karlee had her last 2 days of preschool on Tuesday June 21st and Wednesday June 22nd.  Last week on Thursday The Herald was at Gymnastics to do a story on Mrs. Mackie.  That story ran on the front page of The Herald on Tuesday June 21st.  Karlee wasn’t on the front page, but was in the online version of that story.  You can still find the story here: http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Preschool+serves+kids+with+cancer/4979173/story.html.  They reran the picture with Karlee and a little description on Thursday.  It was pretty exciting seeing Karlee’s picture and her teacher in the paper.  Wednesday was the last day of school and they did a big party for Mrs. Mackie.  Everyone brought in food and there was a lot of alumni there including one of Mrs. Mackie’s first students who is now 23 and married.  Global TV was there to capture her last day.  The story is available here: http://www.globaltvcalgary.com/video/index.html?releasePID=B4PHo60RhtZ_LWOU_j4u_u__wKOgJz9Y.  The story starts just after the 11:30 minute commercial.

Thursday afternoon was Sports Day at Ryley’s school and I was volunteering to help.  The weather was beautiful all morning, but as we rode back after lunch there were a few dark clouds giving chase.  We set everything up for the kids and then it started spitting a little.  Mr. Gibb came out to see how the weather was and almost as soon as he stepped out there was a flash of lightening and that put everything on hold pretty quick.  We waited about 20 minutes and the rain stopped and the clouds looked a little better so they decided to go ahead.  I helped run the soccer games and had a great time.  Ryley really enjoyed everything about sports day and I was glad to volunteer at it!

Earlier in the week we had been asked if the kids would be starters for the Kids Cancer Care Ride for a Lifetime.  We quickly agreed to help out and started looking for a leather or denim jacket for Ryley to wear.  We had several offers and finally found a great leather jacket that fit.  Friday morning we were up very early and headed to Bearspaw (the other end of the city) to see the riders off.  Mom had to work so Grandma came with us.  As always the KCCFA staff was great to us, but this time there were a bunch of great bikers to look after us.  We had a quick breakfast and the kids helped Christine with a draw and helped with the safety demonstration.  We were then off to take a bunch of pictures with Mike from Phoenix Photography and Mike Drew from The Calgary Sun.  Both Ryley and Karlee loved the bikes and the bikers.  Several of the riders made a special effort to chat with the kids.  Very quickly the ride was off and the kids were waving the flags to start each group and send the bikers off.  Both Global and City TV were there and interview me and the kids.  Global TV’s story is available here: http://www.globaltvcalgary.com/video/index.html?releasePID=BkuB3MDzqH7E1zgV9KaXVbixpvfJpJ4S. The story starts at just after the 16:00 minute mark.  If you want to see more pictures you can see them on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.221669601198562.59315.171729949525861.  You may have to become friends with the Kida Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta.

Saturday was another crazy day for us.  Karlee had her final soccer game of the year in the morning and I was coaching again.  Herding cats is exactly like teaching 3 and 4 year olds to play soccer.  At least all the kids had a great time  and enjoyed the year.  They all got their medals at the end of the game and that made it worth while.  Right after that game we had to run to get lunch and get over the Ryley’s year end tournament.  Ryley’s team had 2 games with teams from all over the city (and outside the city) to wrap up his year.  After the first game Mom and Karlee took off to go to Donnie’s finance Eva’s bridal shower with cousin Michelle and Jenna.  The year ended for Ryley with a bit of a fizzle as they didn’t play their best and lost the final game.  After the game and the bridle shower Michelle and Jenna came over for supper and smores around the fire.

Sunday morning despite the weather not being great we went to Calaway park with Grandma, Uncle Randy, Aunt Catherine and cousins Everett and Oliver.  We all had a great time and went on a bunch of rides.  Ryley was very excited because he was finally tall enough to go on Cosmic Spin; I wasn’t so excited about having to go on that ride with him, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought.  Thankfully Uncle Randy didn’t have to go on the one as some of the kids rides that went in a circle made him feel a little nauseous. 

Tuesday was Ryley’s last day of school and they had a big party in the afternoon.  Ryley had a great year and was very fortunate to have Miss Foster as a teacher.  She was excellent and he really enjoyed his time with her.  Finally summer appeared to arrive after the school year and we now have better weather.

Random Musings

School
On Friday we went in and met with the principal and the kindergarten team at Somerset School.  We had contacted the school to discuss some of the challenges and opportunities the teachers would have with Karlee next year.  We had also contacted our social worker and our primary care nurse to ask what we should be talking about.  The school did a great job working out a time that was convenient for us and would allow us to meet with all the people we would need to.

The principal and the teachers were both great; they listened to our concerns and discussed ways they ware already dealing with some of these issues.  We talked through all the concerns we had and all the concerns they had.  They were incredible and are willing to work with us and with the social worked and our primary nurse.  It sounds like we should have very little to worry about next year which is a huge relief to us.


Jamie’s Preschool
Tomorrow Liz Mackie is going to be featured in the Calgary Herald.  Mrs. Mackie is Karlee’s teacher this year and has been the teacher at Jamie’s Preschool for the past 19 years.  She has done so much for the kids and the families and it is great to see her getting the recognition that she deserves. 

Next year Jamie’s Preschool might be down to one full-time student, which is good and bad.  In one way it says that there aren’t as many kids who need a preschool for immune supressed kids, but more than likely it shows the word isn’t getting out.  If you know anyone who could benefit from Jamie’s preschool let me know and I can make sure you get in touch with the correct people.


KCCFA Summer Camps
This year the Kids Cancer Care Foundation is offering a free week at camp for kids whose parents have cancer.  It is exciting to think about these kids having the opportunity to get away for a week and forget about all the stress at home.  I think it is great that the KCCFA now has a camp where they can offer programs like this.  If you know someone who would benefit from this let me know and I will put you in touch with the correct people.


Head Shave for the KCCFA
As a way to give back to the KCCFA we would like to organize a head shave next June.  We are still in the very early stages of figuring out what we will do, but we have several people and kids who are willing to shave their heads.  I like to dream big, and I see a big party with bouncers for the kids, live music, bucket draws, auctions and lots of fun.  Of course somewhere in the middle of this there would be people getting their head shaves while raising money for the KCCFA.  We think this group offers the best balance between the different facets of cancer care.  They give money to research, clinical care, camp and community and scholarships.

We are looking for people who are willing to shave their head (and collect pledges) to raise money.  We are also going to be looking for donations of prizes and auction items as well as supplies (big bouncers, BBQ and food, etc) and finally volunteers to help with everything and anything.  We are hoping by starting early we can ensure we have lots of great stuff and fun activities.

I am even going to grow my hair for a year to raise money.  I know there are lots of people who would like to make fun of me in a skullette and to see what colour my hair comes in.

If you are interested in doing anything e-mail me at ronlewis@telusplanet.net.  Also if you would like to be added to our distribution list for next blog updates please drop me an e-mail!

Calaway Park with Jamie’s Preschool

We have been trying to get to Calaway Park with Jamie’s Preschool since June 3rd, but have been rescheduled several times due to weather or other circumstances.  Finally on Monday we got an e-mail saying we are going Tuesday instead of Wednesday as the forecast on Wednesday wasn’t very good.  We quickly made some arrangements to switch vacation days and change days off and were ready to go.
 
Grandma joined us and we were out there at 10am.  There we a fair number of alumni there as well as 3 of the current 4 students.  Some of the older alumni was there to help out with the younger kids.  It is incredible to think that Jamie’s has been around for 26 years and Mrs. Mackie has been the teacher for 19 of those years!

Once everyone was there we went into the park and met “Awesome Austin” who would be taking us around to the rides.  It was strange being in the part with 20 or 30 other people and no one else.  Everything was closed until we got to the ride and then Austin turned it on, we went and he locked it up again.  We went on the cars the kids pretend to drive, the carts that go up and around, the little ship, the bouncy cars, the train and then the carousel.

After that there were enough helpers to look after the kids while all the parents got to go on the rollercoaster.  It was nice for all the parents to get to go on a ride too.

We went on a couple more rides and then headed over to the BBQ they had prepared for us.  They had some of the biggest hot dogs we had ever seen, veggie burgers, chips, juice, salads and ice cream for dessert.

When we were done eating we participated in Noah’s rebirthday ceremony.  June 3rd (our original Calaway Park day) was the anniversary of the day he received his new heart from an anonymous donor.  They release balloons with message of thanks to their donor and this year they invited everyone to take part.  We all wrote messages of thanks or of hope or just drew a picture and tied them to the balloons.  We then released all the balloons as a group and it was a very special ceremony.

We need to say a huge thank you to Calaway Park and Jamie’s Preschool for a fun filled day and an experience that the kids will not soon forget!

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.