And so it goes on

The waiting game continues as we are still without a bed.I dropped into camperdown ward to have a chat with the nurses and they said they could have as many as four discharges tomorrow so he should definitely get a bed at some stage.The extra days wait actually allowed Shaylie to stay with me down here so I'm pretty stoked about that.Shaylie came down this morning with nanny T and Netty and we got the chance to have a lovely lunch up the road at the Pancake place.They have a variety of meals there not just pancakes and it was very nice indeed.Shaylie found herself to be very popular and was in demand from all angles.A few young girls from various families that shaylie has met along the way were asking where she was and if she wasn't close by when she'd be coming back.Even the captains in the starlight room missed her and were excited to see her return.She too was overwhelmed by the number of posters up around the hospital.At one point she said "wow i didn't expect this many to be up around the place".Kallan is very much looking forward to some more visitors tomorrow with quite a few family members coming down to see him and as always he can't wait for his mum to come down and nor can I just quietly.Looking forward to a good day tomorrow and lots of family around in these circumstances is always appreciated

Waiting,waiting,waiting.

The waiting game continues with Kal still unable to get on ward.With others kids i know also waiting for beds,they can't make any promises for tomorrow either.Who knows how many other kids are waiting.The unfortunate part is i don't see how anything is going to change anytime soon.I have heard that there are plans for a new,much bigger oncology unit sometime in the future.We'll be long gone before that happens.

We had a meeting with Dr Stalley this morning and while he was very happy with his progress he did explain to Kallan that it's going to take him a long time and a lot of effort to get movement back in his arm and also that he'll never get full movement back.It wasn't anything Kal was unaware of but he went into little more detail as to why.He also said that they'll look at doing an extension of his prosthesis just after his chemo is finished.What they do is find the correct spot on his arm,make an incision and then get what Dr Stalley described as "a long allen key type of device" and give it a few turns to what ever length they need.When they first said "growing prosthesis" i always wondered how on earth it all worked.At our meeting with him last month he explained how it all works and i was pretty amazed actually.

Kal's getting a few visitors over the weekend so i almost hope he goes another day without a bed.Typical though,one minute I'm having a whinge about no beds and now I'm hoping for another day.Anyway whatever happens,happens and i certainly won't be knocking a bed back if it comes up.

Still no bed

We went up to clinic today and,as i half expected,got told they were still unsure about beds.Donna from clinic rang later and said to try again tomorrow.Doesn't fill me with much confidence.We're booked in for an appointment tomorrow to do the admission paper work regardless of whether there are beds or not.Even Kal wants to get in and get started despite earlier not minding the delay.

We bumped into the man who looks after the birds and Kal asked if he'd seen the dead bird in the cage.He had but he also told kal that he's had 3 quails disappear as well as a young rosella who was ground dwelling because of deformed feet.He told kal that he was worried about a snake hiding in the Avery somewhere.He asked if Kal could keep an eye out for him.I don't think he realised how serious Kallan would take him but i can assure all of you that he's taken this role very seriously and has spent a lot of time at the Avery since.Even after tea he'd coerced another young fella to get his mums torch to check on the birds.He also did a fair bit of school work today which is good.

Just wanted to send out a "get well soon" to young Eliza Woods who is having an absolutely torrid time of it right now.She's having a bone marrow transplant tomorrow and from what her dad Rowen was saying they expect her to get worse before she gets better.She's a great kid and i can't wait to see her smiling again and starring at quiz time

More tests than Warnie

The day didn't start to well with Kal and I sleeping in and Pop feeling ill and having to leave so as not to infect any of the kids.We had a fully booked day ahead of us starting with the normal pre chemo blood test.Straight after that he had a test called GFR or Nuclear Medicine.They inject a special dye into a vein then he has blood tests on the 2nd,3rd and 4th hour following.In between all that we had to fit in two other tests(hearing and heart) and a clinic appointment for admission after all that.All the results were good with the only possible negative being a slight drop in the extremely high pitch range.One of the levels dropped slightly but is still within what they deem normal range.The other was is the highest pitch range where it dropped slightly lower.But as the specialists said all the other levels were very good and there the ones we most commonly use in our normal everyday lives.
The clinic appointment turned into a non event as it just a simple "come back tomorrow,no beds".Kallan actually busted out into a little jig when Donna told us.

I'm pleased to say that kallan spent a lot time doing homework for the rest of the day.He got through quite a lot of work and was pretty pleased himself I think.We were watching a movie tonight with another family and Kal's at the coffee table doing handwriting exercises.Good on him.

So as of now we just have to hope for a bed tomorrow so chemo can get started and he can get over with.This round is tough one but he wants it over with so he can possibly come home for a short spell.He also wants to spend some time at school while he's home.That will be a big day for all of us i think.

School today

This morning was pretty quiet for us with not a lot happening.We watched a movie then it was off to do some school work.He stayed for about an hour and was given some homework.Now I've just got to get him to do it.We had a lovely dinner put on for us by a local public relations firm and as usual there was heaps left over.I'm pretty sure everyone at the house loves the dinner nights cause there's always heaps of food left over.As well as that the food is almost always top notch.Later in the evening Kal sat down and did some homework while he waited for Nan and Pop to arrive.He's also writing a letter to his classmates,letting them know how he's been going.We've got a busy day tomorrow with a few tests to be done as well as bloods taken and hopefully admission in between all that somewhere.

Trip to the movies........not quite.

This morning Kal had a quick visit from Pop and his mate Tom.They went to Hong Kong(cabramatta)early in the morning to get meat and called in on there way back.He was pretty stoked with the visit.Pop told him that he and Nan are coming down for a couple of days.He said they'll be here tomorrow night sometime.I know he'll really enjoy having Nan&Pop around for a few days.Just after breakfast,while waiting for some washing to dry,we decided to look up what was on at the movies.We picked out what we wanted to see and at what time and off we went.We thought we'd get there a bit early and grab a bite for lunch before the movie.Sounds like a good plan i know but plans mean nothing when the movie you get yourself all excited for doesn't start for another 10 days.Stupid thing is i did the same thing the week before when Karina and i thought we were going to see Watchmen.That still hasn't started so who knows where I've been looking.Today we wanted to see confessions of a shopaholic but as we walked through westfields we saw a big advertisement of the movie with a big "March 12" written on it.Sure enough when we got to the cinema it was a no go and with not a lot else on that kal would enjoy we decided against the movies.Instead Karina,Kal and I had a fantastic day walking through Westfields looking in shops.Maybe I'm exaggerating a little when i say fantastic but in all honesty it was actually really nice just to be out with Karina & Kal.It didn't matter to us where we went it was just nice to be out and about together.Being that Kal and i love shopping so much made it so much better.

Karina left to come home tonight and although it still upsets him to see her go he seems a lot more understanding as to why she needs to.The last couple of times he's really dealt with it much better.The impending visit from Nan and Pop should take his mind off it also.

Weekend update

Thankfully over the weekend kallan was discharged from hospital.I woke on Saturday morning and the nurse looking after him overnight had told me that he had several moderate temperature readings throughout the night.They consider 38 degrees to be high and kal had a few temps of between 37.3 and 37.7.At first i was worried but she said it's nothing to worry about and his temp had already started dropping and as long as it stayed that way he could be discharged as planned.He still feels really good and emotionally he's as good as he 's been in a long time.We are certainly looking forward spending some time out of the hospital especially with Karina here.He's been hogging the cuddles something fierce.Can't say i blame him.