In praise of sisters...

This is Nella Mae, one of the "SuperSibs" in our family.  Aleah is the other SuperSib, but she doesn't really know it yet--she's a bit too young to understand the idea.  SuperSibs is an organization that recognizes and celebrates the role of a cancer patient's siblings.  Nella has endured, and continues to endure, quite a bit at the mercy of our family's situation.  Nella has been dropped off at friend's houses without notice, puts up with an emotionally unpredictable brother, vies for any attention with her brother's need for medical attention, and deals with disappointment when her brother's health concerns trump our family's activities.   Nella is truly a SuperSib.  I cried when we got her trophy in the mail.  Nella dances with her trophy, hugs her trophy, and sings about how she is a SuperSib.  She truly is. 

Nella recently experienced one of the best weeks of her life.  I say that with "dark humour," please take this in the way it is intended.  Nella truly did have a wonderful week, but the things that made it wonderful are not what might typically be called wonderful.  It most definitely made me reflect on what is going on in my little SuperSib's heart and head.

Monday: Nella presents with hives at 11 in the morning.  Dad makes a special trip with Nella and others in tow to visit Mom at work to investigate the hives and determine what to do next.  Nella requires special medicine (Benadryl) and Mom and Dad pay close attention to her.  Nella continues with hives throughout the day, becoming itchier each time the Benadryl wears off.  Nella needs medicine three times.  Nella talks extensively about how she needs special medicine.

Tuesday: Nella, still with minor hives, has an appointment (totally unrelated to the hives) with Mom all by herself at the McMaster Psychology Department to participate in a study.  The Psych Dept at Mac is right beside Caleb's hostibull.  Very Important.  Nella sorts some shapes, answers some questions, and then picks a treat out of the treat box.  Just like at Caleb's clinic.  Nella arrives home and dances around her siblings with her special treat.

Wednesday: A trip to the eye doctor.  Caleb and Aleah check out just fine, but Nella needs special attention: her eye sight is poor.  Nella needs to meet with the doctors several times to get an accurate prescription, and then has to sit with Mom while trying on new "sunglasses" (glasses).  Nella is praised for looking "just like Emily."  Caleb stomps his foot and clearly shows his frustration at the amount of time he has to wait for his sister; Mom and Dad tell him he has to be patient and wait for Nella's appointment to finish.  Nella dances around and sings about getting new sunglasses.

Thursday:  Nella receives a phone call from our dentist's office: Nella has one the "No Cavity Club" for July, and needs to come in for a picture and to receive a gift card to Toys R Us.  Nella dances around with her card, singing about what she will do with her card.  Caleb suggests that she buy a crane for him, to compliment the bulldozer he bought when he received a gift card.  Nella says she'd like to buy a "girl" (a barbie). 

What a week.  It is something special to take pride in Nella's joys, even if they are slightly unusual.  I don't know the long term effects of growing up as a sibling of a child with cancer, but am fascinated (and occasionally: sad, frustrated, worried, amused) by Nella's responses to medical attention of any kind.  She has been deeply affected, that is certain.  As a parent I weep inside for the loss and uncertainty she experiences.  Outwardly and inwardly, I am so deeply PROUD of her for all she has endured and achieved in this last year.  She truly is a SuperSib.

...And speaking of praising my sisters--I am celebrating along with mine as the Appeal for Wheels fundraising goal is smashed!  Check out the link.  It is a gift, and what a blessing.  Thank you everyone for your support for them. 

Transportation Day

This is me on my train ride, on my first train ride.  I had fun.  It was great because I could see two tracks.

It was fun at Union Station because we got to ride on the subway after we took pictures.  We got to go to the bathroom before we went on the subway. 

This is when I saw the bugs!  This is the "see-bigger" thing for the dog-bane beetles.

This is where we saw the plants, the Dog-Strangling Vine plants.  It was fun because we got to see three places in Aunt Rhoda's school: the greenhouse, the see-things bigger room, and outside waiting for the streetcar. 

This is me on the double-decker GO bus.  Aunt Sara took the picture outside and I was worried that the bus would leave on her and she'd have to go on a different bus.  It was fun because we could see the sights from the top.  It was a good day because we went on all different kinds of transportation.

This is the waterfall where we were playing.  

T.O.

We've been waiting for Caleb to blog about this, but he's just been too busy being a kid to sit at the computer and blog with me.  So... 

My little guy in Union Station

A few weeks ago, Caleb had the chance to go with my sister Sara and two of her girls to Toronto, to meet my sister Rhoda.  Rhoda is studying insects--beetles, actually--in a lab in the forestry department at the U of Toronto.  We dropped Caleb off with Aunt Rhoda and her beetles at the GO bus stop in Hamilton on Thursday, Aug 4.  Far from being nervous for a trip on a big bus, to a big city, without his mom, Caleb couldn't wait for us to leave him alone so he could wait for the bus with Aunt Rhoda! 

 



Caleb got to use a microscope for the first time to check out a dog-bane beetle up close.  Thrilling. 

And they investigated the greenhouses too.  It was a day of adventures, with a train ride, a streetcar ride, and a ride on the double-decker GO bus to St. Catharines.  What a day!  Hopefully he'll get a chance to give his version of the story soon.

We've been enjoying August.  Cooler evenings mixed with the warm days makes for good bike-riding weather.  We've had some smaller weekend camping trips, but otherwise we're hanging in at home.  We're just finishing another steroids week; we're all happy about that.  Steroids weeks haven't been like they used to be--week long cravings for bacon mixed with monotone conversation and grumpiness.  Caleb still struggles with his emotions during steroids weeks, but its not like it used to be.  He craves foods, usually potatoes and gravy, which we're more willing to oblige than when he craved bacon.  We continue to take things a day at a time, as much as we can. 

We recently found this picture from our camping trip--it was on Caleb's camera because it's waterproof and thus very helpful when swimming in waterfalls.  We are still revelling in the good times we had at Arrowhead. 

Arrowhead Provincial Park

We just came back from a family holiday to Arrowhead Provincial Park.  We had never been to this park, but it came recommended by friends (Thanks, Deb!) and we thought we'd give it a try.  We had a fabulous time and can't wait to go back! 

A highlight of our trip were being able to use our canoe.  This is the canoe that I learned to paddle in, and that my siblings and I used to tip, submerge, play teeter-totter in the water generally just mess around with in/under the water.  It was rewarding to enjoy time with our kids in the canoe.  Many memories for me, and many new ones in the making.  Thankfully, our kids seem to have picked up a love for canoeing too.  Aleah calls the canoe "my canoeing." 

A favourite thing to do in Arrowhead Park was a canoe trip down the Little East River to Stubbs Water Fall.  It took about an hour paddling slowly down the river, scraping bottom here and there and dodging many felled and submerged trees.  People passing by reported seeing beaver, but with 3 noisy children and 1 very interested dog, we didn't see much wildlife beyond damsel flies and water striders! 

It was refreshing to be in the Canadian Shield again.  The kids are old enough to do some climbing on rocks and they appreciate the enormous-ness (enormousity?) of the rock formations.  They had a lot of fun scrambling up and down and figuring out what they could climb themselves and what they needed help with.  I had a lot of fun doing that too.

We all loved bobbing in the lake.  We love our puddle-jumpers (swim floaty things)!  The water at Arrowhead is a coppery colour because of the tannins in decomposing material there, which made us feel a little like we were swimming in tea, but in the heat, that didn't matter!  

We got good use out of our camping trailer this trip.  The kids really enjoy helping to set it up.  They take their job of winding down the stabilizer jacks very seriously.  We had two campsites on this trip, because we couldn't find a site that would be continuously available.  We booked one site for the week, and a different site for the weekend.  Initially I wasn't so happy to have to move, but in the end it was fun to have two sites--almost like two different camping trips.  The kids said that both sites were their favourite.

It was refreshing to have time away together as a family.  We did a lot each day, between hiking, biking, exporing, swimming, and canoeing.  Relaxing in a different way--good for the soul.  We can't wait until we can go again.