Doing my bit for the animals

The past few months I have been helping out as volunteer at the local SPCA. I only go on Tuesday mornings and usually help out with whatever needs to be done. The group of volunteers that arrive early i.e. 8am as well as the ones who arrive late afternoon usually do routine jobs like changing cat litter boxes, washing food bowls, cleaning out animal cages / areas and so on. Volunteers like me who arrive after they dropped off kids at school (around 9:30 or so) do whatever is required. So I usually help with doing laundry like the blankets and towels they use, re-filling cat litter boxes after they have dried and putting them on the shelf ready for the next morning, sometimes I spend time with some of the animals because socialisation is a really important part as well. And when animals are brought in / adopted during the day I would help with getting cages ready or clearing it out. Little jobs like that that makes a difference.

Last week there were the cutest, tiniest kittens I have ever seen. They must have been around 2 weeks old (I think their mum was killed by a car) and they still needed to be bottle-fed every 3 - 4 hours. And when they drink from the tiny little bottle, their little ears would move forwards and backwards. So cute! I wish I had my camera there on the day, but unfortunately I did not.

The week before somebody brought in 3 little kittens around 5 or 6 weeks old. They were born under a house or something and their mum was nowhere to be seen. So usually kittens like these would be trapped, brought to the SPCA and they would then spend time with them to socialise them to get them used to people, they would desex them as soon as they are big enough and they microchip them. If the kittens are too old to get tame enough, then they would be released again where they were found, but at least won't be able to have kittens of their own and so prevent any further problems. These 3 kittens are currently at a foster home. Basically somebody keeps them at their house, they feed them, spend lots of time with them and when they are happy to be around people, then they go back to the SPCA for adoption. Bianca and I have been visiting these 3 kittens and they are so cute. Meet Mindy, Mandy and Monty -

Bianca had a great time playing with the kittens. Especially Mindy who is by far the most playful of the 3:


Mandy is so beautiful, but she is still a bit shy and not quite sure about people. Hopefully soon she will be just as playful as Mindy:


And Monty is the smallest of the 3. He is quite happy to sit on your lap and purr loudly.

Hopefully on Thursday we'll be able to go and see them again.

Today I got to meet the cutest, tiniest little birds. I'm not sure where they were found, but maybe their nest fell out of a tree or something, I don't know. They are so small that they don't have any feathers yet and each time you open the box (with air holes) where they were kept they would open their little beaks really wide begging for food. It was so cool to feed them - basically they are currently being fed on some wet cat food with bits of small meat - 2 pieces every 20 - 30 minutes (from early morning when the sun comes up to around 7:30pm). All I know is that I'm sure glad I'm not a Mommy bird, to feed your babies every 20 minutes the WHOLE day, wow!


"Food, food, food... starving, starving, starving!!!!"


Helping out at the SPCA is a really rewarding job. It feels great to help make a difference!

FAQ

How is Bianca's eating now?

When she was on treatment it was a huge point of frustration. Especially when she went on steroids. She was extremely fussy and very particular about what she would and would not eat. The one thing we did manage to get her to eat was ProNutro and we felt okay about that because at least it had some good nutrients. And I'm pretty sure by now we must have quite a few shares in McDonalds ;-). I tried a few times at the time to give her normal, ordinary, we'll-all-eat-the-same-food-for-supper-meals, but that resulted more often than not in frustration. And if it is something she really didn't want she would easily sit there for an hour or sometimes even 2 hours picking at her plate until you finally give up and send her off to bed (sigh!).

Since Bianca finished treatment, it has definitely been better (even though it took a little while). I think Bianca will always be pretty fussy and there are some definite things she won't be asking for. Potatoes, tomatoes, and so on . I was surprised though when one day she actually asked for broccoli and cauliflower, so this is definitely something she is really happy to eat. It took a little while, but I find now that I can get her to eat most things. Some nights I will make what I know is her favourite and others it might not be her favourite, but I simply remind her that "last night you had something you really liked, tonight we have something I really like". Perhaps it is also better because I started putting my foot down and I just simply don't give in anymore. Or maybe it is just that her taste buds have now recovered after chemo and food starts tasting good again. Or perhaps because she is starting to be interested in learning how to prepare meals, she is more interested in eating. I don't really know. But I'm sure glad that those steroids days are a thing of the past!!!

Sometimes you just can't keep a straight face!

I'm really enjoying the stage where Caitlyn is at. She is a really cute 3 year old. Well behaved too - no temper tantrums or anything. And she is at the age where she'll say some of the funniest and cutest little things. Things like "that is quite special" or "when I grow up I'm going to be a super hero" or ask questions like "why did they choose red for stop and green for go?"

Today when we went to Warehouse we walked past the garden section and they had these cute little garden ornaments, gnomes and so on. She found a few that she really liked (mostly resembling butterflies) and came to show them to me and then we walked past these rocks with faces on them and Caitlyn suddenly said "look Mommy, real live rocks!" Well, it was a bit hard keeping a straight face after that comment!

A little ballerina

One of the activities Caitlyn is doing this term is ballet. Caitlyn has always liked the concept of dancing / twirling and often she'll get up and "twirl like a Barbie". So finally this term we managed to book her into a Saturday morning beginner ballet class. At first she was a bit shy and didn't really like the concept of being in the class with her dad waiting in the reception area behind the viewing glass. They don't allow parents to be inside the class because it is too distracting for the kids. The first 2 sessions Caitlyn wasn't too happy, but then suddenly she realised how much fun she was having (especially getting some jelly beans from her teacher after the class) and now she is so excited she can't wait for each Saturday morning to arrive. We haven't managed to take any really nice photos from behind the glass, but we did managed to take these two photos before her class started last week Saturday:



The outfit is one that we bought from Farmers. They don't actually have a "uniform" as such for her class, but we wanted Caitlyn to feel like a ballerina.

On the 11th of December Caitlyn will be a ladybug in her very first ballet show. The whole ballet school will take part. I'm not quite sure if Caitlyn will be happy to be on stage in front of all the people or if she'll get all nervous and shy. We'll just have to wait and see. And this coming Saturday I'll be sewing her costume... which will be tricky... because I don't have a sewing machine... so will probably have to do hand sewing. Anybody have a spare sewing machine lying around?

Here I go again...

but this time with Blogger. I guess it is just that you (or I in this situation) find comfort in what I know.

I took a break from blogging for a while. For one I just really struggled to get back into it. For so long blogging was all about life with leukemia and child cancer and hospital visits and neutrophils and blood test results and not much else that when we reached the point where Bianca's port was removed, life felt a bit too ordinary, almost boring and certainly not newsworthy. Not that we're complaining. Most definitely not. But when you experience intense and "on the go" for such a long time, it is hard to find yourself again afterwards. It is challenging finding the normal again and we are certainly getting there especially now that hospital visits are less frequent.

I didn't really think about blogging at this stage to be honest. Life here is pretty busy and I find now with December and the Christmas season right around the corner it feels pretty hectic. But then my one online friend Sharon recently asked if I stopped blogging and so I started thinking about it again. "Maybe it is not such a bad idea". So here I am, trying it out again :-).

I thought I would start with just a bit of an update on where we are at at the moment and I'll answer some of the questions we've been getting to date:

How is Bianca? Is she all better now?

Bianca is doing really well at the moment. She reached one year off treatment in September (and in fact is 14 months off treatment now). There is still a risk of relapse and in all honesty we don't know 100% if she is "cured" as yet, but the first year off treatment is the most critical with about 10% chance of relapse and we've passed that milestone. So that is a huge relief for us. She recently had to get her MMR immunisations again because after the treatment Bianca didn't retain immunity against measles and mumps and at this stage I think we have reached the point where we feel she is protected enough against things like chickenpox and measles that it doesn't become a panic situation each time we become aware of somebody who gets the illnesses.

How often does Bianca still visit her doctor?

Bianca is currently on 2-monthly visits. During these visits Bianca gets a blood test and she sees her doctor for a check-up. She will be on 2-monthly visits until around September 2011 when she has reached the 2 year off treatment mark. Next year (sometime in 2011) Bianca will also get another ultrasound of her kidneys. During her treatment Bianca had kidney stones and this resulted in a slight abnormality with something to do with her kidneys and it is not something we are overly worried about at this stage so will just do another check next year. Once Bianca reaches September 2011, she should (if all go well) go onto 3-monthly visits for the following year.

Wow, the kids look like they have grown so much!

Yes they certainly have :-). Caitlyn is now 3 and will be 4 in February. I can hardly believe it. That means in 1 year and 3 months my little girl will be going to big school and because her birthday is at the beginning of the school year pretty much I expect she'll probably start in Year 1 as opposed to Year zero. And for those of you not from New Zealand, here kids start school typically around the time they turn 5. Depending on when their birthday is in the year, they will either start in Year 1 or if it is later on in the year might be in a Year zero / new entrant class to start off with. Of course legally you could wait until your child's 6th birthday, but I expect Caitlyn will be ready and wanting to start big school when she turns 5.

Bianca is now nearly 7.5. I can hardly believe that she is nearly done with Year 2 at school and will start Year 3 next year. It sometimes feels just like yesterday when she started as a 5 year old. Bianca absolutely loves reading. It certainly is one of her strong points and she reads more or less at a 13 year old level. Her favourite books at the moment are the books from the Goosebumps series and she is so proud that she read a 123 page book in 3 days. I was quite stunned because I don't think I read books like these (or even as fast as this) when I was 7. And best of all - Bianca is finally able to make real ponytails. She is so happy about this :-). But I'll certainly write more about the kids later on in this blog.

Have you settled in the Wellington area?

It is hard to believe we have been back in the Wellington area for nearly 6 months (I think). We are certainly enjoying being back and more specifically enjoying living on the Kapiti Coast. Waikanae is really peaceful and quiet. It is small, but certainly has everything we need close enough around us. I have been playing around with trying to do a bit of vegetable gardening and it has been quite relaxing discovering this. I believe the Kapiti Coast has a great climate for growing things and so far so good. But I'll write about my gardening adventures a little bit later on.

Anyway, this is just a little bit about where we are at. Feel free to ask whatever questions you might have in the comments section :-)

And with this I'm closing off this first post and we'll see how we go along!