Why does God make it so hot?

This is one of the many questions that get thrown at me from the back of the car and as per usual I didn't have an adequate response - It was a perfectly reasonable question given that we were entering our fourth day of 42 plus degrees and I would dearly love to know the answer myself!
We have been more or less house bound this week as the indoor play centres and shopping centre's air con systems can't cope with the heat. We managed to cool off a bit before 9am by throwing ourselves down the slip n' slide in the garden but after that it hits the high 30s.

 The kids have been 'naked bummies' all week (a turn of phrase coined by cousin Sam aged 3!) and I've not been looking that presentable myself - I am soo not cut out for hot weather.

On Sunday after a couple of days of pure hell with Max, I decided to make a conscious effort to keep my cool (pardon the pun) with Max and for a few days I was seeing positive results but being holed up in a boiling house for 4 days has not exactly been conducive to good behaviour and by yesterday the screaming matches were worse than ever.

I really shouldn't complain as I know plenty of people who don't have air conditioning and I also have quite a few friends who've experienced power blackouts as the energy companies struggle to cope with the power surge but the cool change cannot come quick enough for me.
As for the poor people upstate, I cannot imagine what they are going through right now as bushfires sweep through their towns - as Celia rightly says, why does God make it so hot?....

 

Getting back to normality

The Thorns headed back to Glasgow last Friday after another fun-filled week that included Melbourne Zoo, a family photo shoot on beautiful Chelsea beach (Ruth's 40th birthday present) and a trip to the enchanted Maze on the Mornington peninsula. They also managed to cram in the penguins and fireworks on New Year's Eve down at St Kilda but the Kerrs missed all the New Years Eve celebrations as we were tucked up in bed by about 9pm (Andy and myself included as we were recovering from our previous night away which was heaven - thanks Ruth and Gary!)

  



Celia, Max, Mabel and Ellie at the Zoo

Sam 'fishing' in the sand pit!

Andy and Max tree surfing at the Enchanted Maze

Ellie, Talia, Celia and Max on their last day together

Working out how the timer on the camera works

Ellie and Talia - photo shoot stars!

 

Fortunately we had the offer of a house in the Yarra Valley while the owner (one of Andy's colleagues) was away on holiday. It was a great way to get over the post holiday blues which descended once the Thorns left. I must admit to feeling more than a little jealous waving them off for two reasons. Firstly, it made me question where exactly is home for us and secondly it highlighted the fact that we can't go 'home' for about another 2 years. Celia and Max have also been asking when they will see their cousins again and when can they visit their house which of course triggers pangs of guilt and homesickness because I truthfully don't know the answer.
 Anyway, Healsville was the perfect tonic and we had 2 very relaxing days doing very little. 

Sarah's beautiful house in Healsville

We managed one day trip to a local orchard that did tractor rides and fruit picking - Max enjoyed it but Princess Celia was very grumpy as it rained the whole time and apparently she doesn't like fruit anymore!  


Raynors Fruit orchard with farmer Ian (who is originally from NI !)

Picking plums, nectarines and peaches

To be fair, Celia has been struggling to shift a persistent cough so I took her up to the cancer centre this morning and they have given her some antibiotics for mycoplasma pneumonia. That was the first time in a while that I've taken all 3 children up to the hospital and boy, am I not looking forward to future visits as we no longer have the Wednesday nanny.  Mabel was into everything and constantly wandering off, while Max was throwing tantrums left, right and centre.
Doctor Eva confirmed that her treatment will end in October 2015 which feels like a long way away right now but I know the time will probably fly in.  

Celia rocking the pixie hair style

Christmas with the cousins

 I will let the photos do the talking but suffice to say the children are having a ball with their cousins so it has been a wonderful Christmas so far. The only low point was the wet weather on our holiday to Wye River last weekend and I'm afraid to say that by Monday morning we admitted defeat and came home a day early but looking on the bright side, I think we needed the extra time to get prepped for Christmas day which was a sunny 31 degrees.

Max and Sam dinosaur hunting near Wye River

Uncle Gary the human packhorse - Max not happy about being on last!

Waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve

Andy and Gary prepare the ham

Christmas Morning carnage

Christmas day Aussie Style

Celia and Talia

The leftovers tasting better than the Christmas dinner

Celia's bloods have been holding up so she had her monthly visit to hospital for intravenous chemo on Friday. This also means she is on steroids for the next 5 days which is never easy especially when Andy and I plan to have one precious night away together tomorrow. I broke the news to Celia tonight and as expected her reaction was pretty extreme. There will be lots of tears tomorrow before we leave but I need to remember it is the steroids that cause these mood swings and we will get sweet, good natured Celia back in a few days time. Happy New Year!

Sticks and stones.....

Unfortunately Celia has received more  insensitive comments at kinder from a different girl this week ("we're all going to the cinema for X's birthday but you can't come as girls with no hair aren't allowed in", "don't touch my doll as she doesn't like girls with no hair" etc). She even had a boy at school orientation day come up to her and say "I don't like you" when he'd never even spoken to her before. To make matters worse the oral chemo has resulted in a horrible rash on her face so I can only imagine the teasing will get worse. My fear that this would scare Celia away from kinder/school has however been unfounded and she is actually in great spirits. When I asked her what her reaction was to all these comments she just shrugged and said "I told them to stop being silly and walked away" - she is so wise beyond her years and I don't doubt it is because of what she has endured these past 9 months.

 The weekend we just spent on cancer camp in Anglesea probably contributed to this boost of confidence and good humour. I will let the pictures do the talking but they do not do justice to the wonderful Camp Quality volunteers that gave up their free time (they all have full time day jobs) to make the most amazing weekend happen for children with cancer and their families.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am not sure when the next update will be as Andy's sister and family arrive with us next week and then we are all off on holiday for 4 days followed by the main event so busy busy but wouldn't have it any other way. This will most definitely be one to enjoy and remember - Merry Christmas!  

First big milestone reached - Maintenance!

We breathed a big sigh of relief on Tuesday as Celia's blood results were good enough to proceed with the lumbar puncture and chemo on Wednesday which marked the start of the maintenance phase.
We had the usual problems coming round from the general anaesthetic so they are going to try a different drug next time as something is clearly not agreeing with Celia. She was is bad form for the rest of the day as she was so exhausted after the anaesthetic tantrum plus her neutrophils were quite low so they delayed the start of the oral chemo.
 I didn't actually realise how many new drugs she was going to be taking in this phase - I was just focusing on the fact that we only need to go to Monash once a month for intravenous chemo. In addition to her mouthwashes and antibiotics, she has to take steroids for 5 days every month and two forms of oral chemo, one daily and one weekly (if her neutrophils are high enough for her to withstand this so she still needs to have regular blood tests at the local hospital).
Within 24 hours of taking the first steroid dose Celia was a lethargic, teary mess so now the reality of maintenance is sinking in and I'm thinking that sigh of relief was perhaps a bit premature as we have 2 more years of this.

She was in particularly bad form on Friday and refused to go to kinder yet again. This has been going on for a over a week so I knew it wasn't just the steroids or low neutrophils. After a lot of coaxing she eventually opened up and admitted it was because she's scared of one of the other girls at kinder who has been teasing her about her hair. I feel a bit torn as it would be easy to say 'there are only 3 weeks left so you don't need to go back' but that is not really dealing with the issue and what if someone at school teases her next term, she can't just choose not to go to school so I will try and take her again next week but I imagine there will be lots tears.

Despite all the moodiness we have been getting into the Christmas spirit and to celebrate Celia starting maintenance we put the tree up and made some decorations. We also attended the Challenge Christmas party yesterday which was a fantastic funfair at Sanddown Race Course. Amy's son Dominic was there but he was Celia's only 'cancer pal' as Charlie and Seth were admitted to hospital last week which serves as another reminder that we are nowhere near home and dry as they have both been in maintenance for months.

  

Fundraising past the $20,000 mark!

On my last post I talked about Anita raising over $1,000 for our chosen charity but after I published that post I realised how slack I've been about updating you on the amazing efforts of other friends and colleagues.
Our friend Alistair back in Scotland for example ran the Glasgow half marathon last month with his 3 year old son (I'm sure the toddler dash wasn't 13 miles long but still a good effort on Euan's part!) and together they raised over  $1,300, so check out our fundraising page for more info as we have now past the $20,000 mark which is unbelievable.(The page says $16,000 raised but we also had nearly $5,000 donated in cheques which went direct to the charity).   Which reminds me - I need to send a thank you note to the CEO of the Children's Cancer Centre Foundation because she posted me a voucher for $300 worth of group training sessions. She won it in the raffle at the charity luncheon I was at 2 weeks ago and as she doesn't live locally and knows that I do, she sent it to me which was so thoughtful of her. Now all I need to do is mentally prepare myself for a few 6 a.m. boot camps on the beach!

We've had a house guest over the past week in the form of Ed the kindergarten elephant. We have to make a photo diary of everything we do with Ed during the week so Ed got to have a finger prick at hospital, a trip to the toy library and an outing to the Melbourne museum.


The most important event however, was on Thursday when Celia had her first school orientation day. I was a bit apprehensive as this was the first time I'd dropped her off  but as you can see she was fine and I didn't get a second glance leaving the classroom. She talked nonstop on the way home about the new friends that she'd met so no worries about her starting next year.

I also used the time that Celia was at school to do something nice with Max for a change so we went to this new café that is also a dog grooming parlour - sounds weird but it was great as the back wall is glass so the kids can watch the dogs being clipped and groomed as they drink their baby chino!

   

Maintenance (Remission) within touching distance

Celia has had her last intensive chemo session before we enter the final phase which is called maintenance (remission). We are not out of the woods however as this phase lasts 2 years and involves monthly chemo and lumbar punctures every 3rd month but it will be so much more manageable. Her hair is really noticeable now and she hardly ever wears headscarves any more so her confidence is growing daily. Unfortunately so is her stroppiness and now she is overtaking Max in the tantrum stakes.

I picked up the dreaded Gastro bug last week and then I passed it to Max so he has been sick for the past 3 days and Celia is not happy about someone else getting attention and sympathy!

We did manage to have a family outing to Santa's Magic Kingdom however as Challenge Cancer Charity gave us free tickets and the kids loved it as it was their first time at the circus. The giant penguin seemed to be their favourite bit though!





  I was on the receiving end of Challenge's generosity on Saturday as well as they held a cancer mums Christmas lunch at one of most beautiful vineyards I have been to here (Yering Station in the Yarra Valley).

Amy and I at Beautiful Yering Station

I got to talk to a lot of mums that I hadn't meet before as there were only 3 of us from Monash cancer centre, all the rest were from the Royal children's hospital, and once again I realised just how lucky we were and how unbelievably well Celia is progressing with her treatment. Some day I will tell some of the other children's stories but right now it would feel like tempting fate so I will hold off.



The Monash Mums - Amy, Me and Niki

The weather, food, wine and company were all wonderful so a heartfelt thank you to Challenge and to Ann who owns Yering Station as she makes this lunch possible every year as she was a cancer mum herself (and thanks for the beautiful table flower arrangement which I also won!)

Finally I wanted to tell you about a lovely lady that we bumped into for the first time a few weeks back at the local farmers market. Anita is pregnant with her third and we got chatting as she will soon have 3 kids with a similar age gap to mine. When she found out that Celia had leukaemia she insisted that she wanted to fundraise for our chosen charity and true to her word that is exactly what she has done - she ran 14kms in the City to Sea run on Sunday and raised $1000 for the Childrens Cancer Centre Foundation. I have yet to meet with Anita and say thank you in person even though she lives just a few streets away but Anita, if you are reading this I promise I will arrange something soon!


Anita at the finishline - well done you and bump!