it wasn't me. steve did it. i think it was foreshadowed at dinner when steve said: " i have been waiting all day for this..." steve was, of course, making reference to Rockband.
i got in first. Little Normie was back in the house. Normie greets us in classic rocker fashion by sticking out his tongue and raising his right arm. Steve and I taught it to him. After dinner we played a little air hockey but his eyes quickly rested on the X-box. He was heading home soon so we played for about 5 minutes. He is such a happy little boy!
The 'incident' occurred much later.
I wasn't there when it took place but I know that Steve was drumming and Lucas was singing. Before Jackie and I went upstairs the four of us were doing our darnedest to nail Weezer's song 'Say it ain't so'. Jackie and I were on guitar. He strummed and I did the fingers, Lucas sang, and Steve drummed. First we got 25%, than 27%...32%. We hit a magic 49%. Even though Lucas was the singer Steve and I both enjoy singing more so we were all singing at the top of our voices and when the program ended the song...it was all about the high fives. We were yelling and cheering and than we did it again. We did it about 7 or 8 times! Classic boy behaviour.
Jackie wanted to go upstairs. His gum was hurting him. We got upstairs and hung out on the kids floor. One of the doc's was around and he peeked in his mouth. There was not much to be seen. I think he had maybe a little sore on his gum and those really hurt. They sting. This was stinging him and he was getting really frustrated. Jackie kept saying how frustrated he was and all the things he wanted to do to this cut on his gum. He was not happy.
Then it got worse! He had to take meds before bed. He had to have a little snack. He had to have his glucose levels checked and he had to do his insulin shots. A lot to do when you are feeling frustrated about a sore gum and 50% of what you had to do involved passing stuff into your mouth and over the thing that is causing you frustration! We were at an impasse. He had to do these things but was so agitated that he could not wrap his head around getting them done.
His nurse sent us away to problem solve.
It took a while but Jackie came up with a solution: he would take his meds crushed up in chocolate milk and inject with a syrynge PAST his owie gums. When it came time...he bailed.
Back to the drawing board. We talked alot; about his gum, about how frustrated he felt, how good he was at always taking his meds, how the nurses couldn't put him to bed without giving him his meds, how bad it would be for his body if he didn't take them, back to how good he was at taking his own meds. Then he had a light go off: "what about this? If I take my meds can I show you how I do my insulin shots?". Sounded like a good plan to me. Back up to the nurses station and we get the choclate milk, a cup of yogurt, his crushed meds and mix the meds with the yogurt. Big spoonful followed by a chaser of choclate milk. More yogurt/med combo and another chaser. Finally we got it all in and down.
Next on the agenda were his insulin shots. He handled his injections like a pro going over each step telling me what he was doing and how he was being safe. He had 2 injections to do. I could tell he was pretty happy about getting himself through all of this.
So we got Jackie fixed and it was time to go home.
Steve broke the rockband.
Time to go home.
Steve. Rockband. Broke.
Sunday, 22 February 2009
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
TV and Zoo-reka! Friday Feb 13 2009
Whoa sorry, I did not post last friday...
now that it's so long ago I need to think deeply to recall what happened. Give me a few moments.
...
So I had a shift with Tony and Kim (Kim was subbing for Jen), and it was pretty cool. After dinner I spent most of my time with Stan on floor 2, where we just sat in his room and watched TV while ridiculing various american commercials and laughed watching the simpsons. One particular news that struck both of us was that a young British boy of 13 became a father with his girlfriend of 15. That was extremely shocking, and they boy looked like he hadn't hit puberty yet and was still a kid himself...I wonder how his family is going to work this out.
So anyways, after some choco milk and more TV, Stan was ready for his shower, and I went upstairs to join Kim and Sarah and Jimmy in a game of Zoo-reka! Jimmy was the best at it - he already got part of his Zoo while us girls still didnt have anything yet. That game was brand new! It was fun learning how to play it, and Sarah was so happy.
At the end of the night, as we boarded the elevator to head downstairs, Sarah told Kim and I, "I had so much fun with you guys today. Thanks!!" It was so sweet of her and it made me realize that there are few people in this world who rejoice in the smallest things that most others miss. Sarah is one of those few, and it reminded me of how our time spent with these kids can mean so much and be so meaningful.
now that it's so long ago I need to think deeply to recall what happened. Give me a few moments.
...
So I had a shift with Tony and Kim (Kim was subbing for Jen), and it was pretty cool. After dinner I spent most of my time with Stan on floor 2, where we just sat in his room and watched TV while ridiculing various american commercials and laughed watching the simpsons. One particular news that struck both of us was that a young British boy of 13 became a father with his girlfriend of 15. That was extremely shocking, and they boy looked like he hadn't hit puberty yet and was still a kid himself...I wonder how his family is going to work this out.
So anyways, after some choco milk and more TV, Stan was ready for his shower, and I went upstairs to join Kim and Sarah and Jimmy in a game of Zoo-reka! Jimmy was the best at it - he already got part of his Zoo while us girls still didnt have anything yet. That game was brand new! It was fun learning how to play it, and Sarah was so happy.
At the end of the night, as we boarded the elevator to head downstairs, Sarah told Kim and I, "I had so much fun with you guys today. Thanks!!" It was so sweet of her and it made me realize that there are few people in this world who rejoice in the smallest things that most others miss. Sarah is one of those few, and it reminded me of how our time spent with these kids can mean so much and be so meaningful.
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Aldo revisited
Aldo and I were sitting at the computer and I told him I had the blog. He goes "No way!". I then told him that he was in it, and he says "no way". I searched for a Star Wars reference in the blog and was directed to this one: Aldo House. Scroll down a paragraph and I start with the sentence 'Aldo is a favorite of mine'. Couldn't have asked for a better sentence to start with when the kid reading it is 'the Aldo'.
He laughed about his new name.
He laughed about his new name.
Friday, 6 February 2009
Friday with Aldo (aka Noodle)
Here I am with Aldo himself. We are up in the school room looking at the blog. Aldo would like to tell you all the story about him crashing in to a truck!
"Well, I was playing tag outside when I was looking back my nurse yelled 'STOP!!', and I wouldn't stop. Before I knew it I crashed into a truck. Luckily it was parked. I almost broke my leg, got a bruise about the size of a ruler, and I cried for about 10 to 15 minutes. My nose got bashed and bled like crazy, filling up my mum's hand in less than a second. The truck was dented by my chair pretty good. From that day forward I have never seen the owner of the truck. He must have felt really bad. I would like to end my story by saying, There is more than meets the eye...as the Autobots leader always says.
"Well, I was playing tag outside when I was looking back my nurse yelled 'STOP!!', and I wouldn't stop. Before I knew it I crashed into a truck. Luckily it was parked. I almost broke my leg, got a bruise about the size of a ruler, and I cried for about 10 to 15 minutes. My nose got bashed and bled like crazy, filling up my mum's hand in less than a second. The truck was dented by my chair pretty good. From that day forward I have never seen the owner of the truck. He must have felt really bad. I would like to end my story by saying, There is more than meets the eye...as the Autobots leader always says.
Sunday, 1 February 2009
Bomb It and Sesame Street - Friday Jan 30 2009
Hello,
I'm sorry this post is coming so late, but I've been so busy with schoolwork all weekend that I haven't had a chance to sit down and take a break until now! (First-year is way intense.)
So anyways, on Friday (Malcolm's anti-shift), other volunteers there were Tony, Mike, and Lindsey! Tony I haven't seen for a whole month because two weeks ago he felt wimpy and called in sick (:P). Mike and Lindsey used to be bi-weekly friday night volunteers, but because they live in Pitt Meadows (so far away!), they are currently on-call volunteers. It was great to see them again!
So we checked in upstairs with the nurses and went downstairs to have a delicious dinner with family, kids, and nurses. I sat beside Kaitlyn, who has this awesome set After dinner, I spent some computer time with 5-year-old Lucas, who is one of the most animated and humorous little boys I have ever met. He wanted to play some shooting game on miniclip.com, but I decided to expand his online game repertoire and introduced him to "Bomb It" on agame.com. This game involves moving a character using arrow keys in a 2-D area and setting bombs to blow up blocks and other players using another key. At first, Lucas had a bit of trouble coordinating his hands with what he wanted to do, but he got the hang of it very quickly and started to really enjoy it!
Then it was 7pm and his mum wanted him downstairs for a snack before bedtime, so I pried him off the computer and we met his mum in the kitchen. Have you ever tried eating apples with peanut butter? I've never tried it before, but Lucas and mum were gobbling it up and apparently is very delicious. I must try sometime.
Tony took off early because he was dead beat from waking up at 4:00am, and I went to find Mike and little 2.5 year old Matthew in the art room. The little boy has a heart defect and it was important that we kept him unagitated. Regardless, he was very hyper and full of energy, and later in the Snoezelen room he was crawling all over the place. We played a game(very repetitive) where we would cover Matthew with a blanket and exclaim, "Oh my gosh! Where has Matthew gone?" and Matthew would reply excitedly whilst quickly uncovering himself, "He's here!"
Soon enough it was time for Matthew take a bath, and then Mike and I spent some time with Eliza, who was watching "All Dogs go to Heaven." Quite an awesome movie.
After Matthew was clean and in his Canucks PJ's, I sat with him on his bed and we watched Sesame Street. His attention quickly got diverted to an interesting fleece blanket on the bed though, which had clocks and flags printed all over it. He took the blanket and covered me with it, and smacked various printed clocks to make the fleece wrinkle up and said "I broke it!" Then he stretched the fabric back to smoothness and exclaimed "I fixed it!" So so so cute. I loved spending time with him.
Sooo that's it for this week! I believe Malcolm will be posting next week. =)
PS Malcolm - I noticed that you changed the colour scheme of the blog, and it looks awesome! Some words don't show up though, because they're the same colour as the background (such as the description inside the box, underneath "canuck place adventure challenge", as well as other things and headers like the dates, "posted by", or "# comments" that sort of stuff. Maybe change the colour of those words to lighter or darker?
I'm sorry this post is coming so late, but I've been so busy with schoolwork all weekend that I haven't had a chance to sit down and take a break until now! (First-year is way intense.)
So anyways, on Friday (Malcolm's anti-shift), other volunteers there were Tony, Mike, and Lindsey! Tony I haven't seen for a whole month because two weeks ago he felt wimpy and called in sick (:P). Mike and Lindsey used to be bi-weekly friday night volunteers, but because they live in Pitt Meadows (so far away!), they are currently on-call volunteers. It was great to see them again!
So we checked in upstairs with the nurses and went downstairs to have a delicious dinner with family, kids, and nurses. I sat beside Kaitlyn, who has this awesome set After dinner, I spent some computer time with 5-year-old Lucas, who is one of the most animated and humorous little boys I have ever met. He wanted to play some shooting game on miniclip.com, but I decided to expand his online game repertoire and introduced him to "Bomb It" on agame.com. This game involves moving a character using arrow keys in a 2-D area and setting bombs to blow up blocks and other players using another key. At first, Lucas had a bit of trouble coordinating his hands with what he wanted to do, but he got the hang of it very quickly and started to really enjoy it!
Then it was 7pm and his mum wanted him downstairs for a snack before bedtime, so I pried him off the computer and we met his mum in the kitchen. Have you ever tried eating apples with peanut butter? I've never tried it before, but Lucas and mum were gobbling it up and apparently is very delicious. I must try sometime.
Tony took off early because he was dead beat from waking up at 4:00am, and I went to find Mike and little 2.5 year old Matthew in the art room. The little boy has a heart defect and it was important that we kept him unagitated. Regardless, he was very hyper and full of energy, and later in the Snoezelen room he was crawling all over the place. We played a game(very repetitive) where we would cover Matthew with a blanket and exclaim, "Oh my gosh! Where has Matthew gone?" and Matthew would reply excitedly whilst quickly uncovering himself, "He's here!"
Soon enough it was time for Matthew take a bath, and then Mike and I spent some time with Eliza, who was watching "All Dogs go to Heaven." Quite an awesome movie.
After Matthew was clean and in his Canucks PJ's, I sat with him on his bed and we watched Sesame Street. His attention quickly got diverted to an interesting fleece blanket on the bed though, which had clocks and flags printed all over it. He took the blanket and covered me with it, and smacked various printed clocks to make the fleece wrinkle up and said "I broke it!" Then he stretched the fabric back to smoothness and exclaimed "I fixed it!" So so so cute. I loved spending time with him.
Sooo that's it for this week! I believe Malcolm will be posting next week. =)
PS Malcolm - I noticed that you changed the colour scheme of the blog, and it looks awesome! Some words don't show up though, because they're the same colour as the background (such as the description inside the box, underneath "canuck place adventure challenge", as well as other things and headers like the dates, "posted by", or "# comments" that sort of stuff. Maybe change the colour of those words to lighter or darker?
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Blogging Group
If you look to the right margin you will notice that I have established a 'blogging group' which is representing the different areas of expertise within the house. Joan is a peer volunteer and she works every Friday night. The other bloggers are not real people...yet. It is my hope that we can get regular contributions that will share different perspectives from the people who work at the house. I have thought about it before but it was an email from Meyrick Jones (http://meyrickjones.blogspot.com/ ) that provided the impetus to actually do something about it. Thank you Meyrick!
I am hopeful that we will get a good response to the idea!
I am hopeful that we will get a good response to the idea!
Monday, 26 January 2009
Hello!
Hey everyone,
I'm Joan and I'm a peer volunteer at Canuck Place every Friday night; I get to spend every other shift with Malcolm, who has invited me to become a contributor to this blog! I am honoured.
Look forward to awesome posts by me - I will try to post after every shift. Actually, it might be a good plan that Malcolm and I post on alternate fridays - Malcolm after his shifts, and I after the shifts that Malcolm wasn't there for. yay!
I'm Joan and I'm a peer volunteer at Canuck Place every Friday night; I get to spend every other shift with Malcolm, who has invited me to become a contributor to this blog! I am honoured.
Look forward to awesome posts by me - I will try to post after every shift. Actually, it might be a good plan that Malcolm and I post on alternate fridays - Malcolm after his shifts, and I after the shifts that Malcolm wasn't there for. yay!
Jen and Stel's Blog
Sebastian's mum Jen has been blogging for a while about their triumphs and setbacks as a growing family. Please find her blog here http://jenandstel.blogspot.com/
It is another perspective that puts faces to the lives, and deaths, of Canuck Place.
Thank you Jen.
It is another perspective that puts faces to the lives, and deaths, of Canuck Place.
Thank you Jen.
Sunday, 25 January 2009
Friday night at the House
After 6 weeks of not being the house it was nice to be back! Met my new Friday night partner Steve and Joan was, as always, here on Friday night. Joan has become the new Kyle the only difference being that she can't eat as much as Kyle could.
Dinner was awesome tonight!
There was a ton of people at dinner. One little boy, who I'll call Normie, had his whole family: aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, and Grannie! The neat thing about this is that after dinner I went into the Playroom/tv room and they were ALL in there talking, playing table hockey...and there was tons of room. Little Normie was waiting patiently for the X-box to be set up...yes...even 3 year olds like to rock it out at times.
Normie is in a little makeshift comfy rolling chair. It is an old lounging chair that has been adapted into a wheel chair! Normie was so happy playing the drums...ok...holding the drum sticks! His mum and I tapped the right drums for him! Joan rocked on lead guitar.
All this time Steve was up on the Kid's floor snuggling with Mira. That was his job that tonight. He also had a bit of a nap. One of the perks you get when you are sitting in a comfy chair with a sleeping toddler. Mira's mum and dad (and little sister) are also in the house. Mum and Dad used Steve's high cuddle proficiency to get some time to watch a show on TV.
Corrine is a young teen with not much verbal communication. She is pretty good at one word missives and grunts and shakes of the head. I don't think she likes me!!! Joan was hanging with her in the school room and she was grooving (and singing) to videos. I started to talk to Corrine (in between videos) and she was getting upset. "no!", "bed!", "No!"...finally, "Do you want me to go away?"..."Yes!"
She and Joan continued to watch and sing with music videos....I scooted back to the other side of the room!
There were a couple other girls in the house. They were with their families too.
I think tonight, more than any other night, it struck me that the house is really a family house. Nobody in the house was without their family tonight. When kids are without their blood relatives there are awesome alternatives who get to step in.
I like being a part of this whole business!
Dinner was awesome tonight!
There was a ton of people at dinner. One little boy, who I'll call Normie, had his whole family: aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, and Grannie! The neat thing about this is that after dinner I went into the Playroom/tv room and they were ALL in there talking, playing table hockey...and there was tons of room. Little Normie was waiting patiently for the X-box to be set up...yes...even 3 year olds like to rock it out at times.
Normie is in a little makeshift comfy rolling chair. It is an old lounging chair that has been adapted into a wheel chair! Normie was so happy playing the drums...ok...holding the drum sticks! His mum and I tapped the right drums for him! Joan rocked on lead guitar.
All this time Steve was up on the Kid's floor snuggling with Mira. That was his job that tonight. He also had a bit of a nap. One of the perks you get when you are sitting in a comfy chair with a sleeping toddler. Mira's mum and dad (and little sister) are also in the house. Mum and Dad used Steve's high cuddle proficiency to get some time to watch a show on TV.
Corrine is a young teen with not much verbal communication. She is pretty good at one word missives and grunts and shakes of the head. I don't think she likes me!!! Joan was hanging with her in the school room and she was grooving (and singing) to videos. I started to talk to Corrine (in between videos) and she was getting upset. "no!", "bed!", "No!"...finally, "Do you want me to go away?"..."Yes!"
She and Joan continued to watch and sing with music videos....I scooted back to the other side of the room!
There were a couple other girls in the house. They were with their families too.
I think tonight, more than any other night, it struck me that the house is really a family house. Nobody in the house was without their family tonight. When kids are without their blood relatives there are awesome alternatives who get to step in.
I like being a part of this whole business!
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
Sebastian
After this mornings post we received a note about Sebastian:
Dear Volunteers:
It's with great sadness that I share the news of Sebastian G. passing away
at 11:35 am this morning. It was very peaceful and Mom and Dad were there
with him.
Please take care of yourselves and each other.
Leanne
Dear Volunteers:
It's with great sadness that I share the news of Sebastian G. passing away
at 11:35 am this morning. It was very peaceful and Mom and Dad were there
with him.
Please take care of yourselves and each other.
Leanne
Friday
Looking forward to getting to the house this Friday. It has been over a month! The morning of my last shift I woke up with my uvula hanging like a swollen speedbag that had been punched at all night. Called in sick. There are enough bugs out there that the kids don't need me bringing them directly to them.
I am looking forward to seeing Sebastian and his parents. They have been at the house for 6 weeks straight. Sebastian hasn't been feeling well since the last time I was there. He is a tough kid (aren't they all?) and the family even more so. They had the big old house all to themselves over christmas.
I am looking forward to seeing Sebastian and his parents. They have been at the house for 6 weeks straight. Sebastian hasn't been feeling well since the last time I was there. He is a tough kid (aren't they all?) and the family even more so. They had the big old house all to themselves over christmas.
Saturday, 13 December 2008
Boyz to Men
It has been a while since I was at the house. I have been switched from one Friday to another. I have been doing Friday nights with Tony for 4 years now and will now be working with another family volunteer.
I ended the night with the neatest conversation with a couple of the boys in the house. There is Jason who turned 19 in May and Brent who is seventeen. This was Jason's last weekend of respite care and then he officially graduates from the program. So what is next? That's when the talk got really neat. There is nothing like Canuck Place once you are an adult. There are few options...long term care (aka old folks home), full time nurse, or maintain status quo with your family. These guys would truly love a little independence and one of the ideas they had was to buy a house or large apartment and hire full time care. Of course they were pretty aware of the fact that it could cost as much as 2 -3 million to start a venture like this...but in their minds they had already formed a non-profit society (aligned with Canuck Place) and felt they could get the funds in place! They envision a place with 5 rooms, fully modified for chairs, hygiene and basic care. There would be 24hr care on hand. This would be their legacy to Canuck Place graduates and as a bed opens up in the house because somebody has moved onto bigger and better things...bang...the spot is filled!
When you have been in the care of your family for your whole life and you reach the age of majority a little independence is warranted. I also get the feeling that these guys realise how much effort their families have put into caring for them. Maybe their ideas tonight will never come to fruition. Perhaps the funds are too out of reach.
What I learnt tonight was that Jason and Brent will live their lives way beyond most people's expectations. Like all of us they make plans for their future. Being part of a hospice program doesn't phase them.
I said to Brent I can imagine the first purchase they would make is a case of beer. Not that they would drink it...just that it would seem the right thing to do. Brent replies that it wouldn't take much him being all of 20kg!
Guess what we did for the first 3 hours of the shift?
Rock Band! Jason had the best line of the night. He feels that X-Box 360 and RockBand should be covered under medical therapy. Jason has a reduced lung capacity because of muscular dystrophy. Part of his therapy has been to blow bubbles into a device; exercises to keep his diaphragm and intercostal muscles as active as possible. Singing does the same thing! Jason rocked out a few songs. Until you get out there and sing you don't realise how tiring it can be!
I ended the night with the neatest conversation with a couple of the boys in the house. There is Jason who turned 19 in May and Brent who is seventeen. This was Jason's last weekend of respite care and then he officially graduates from the program. So what is next? That's when the talk got really neat. There is nothing like Canuck Place once you are an adult. There are few options...long term care (aka old folks home), full time nurse, or maintain status quo with your family. These guys would truly love a little independence and one of the ideas they had was to buy a house or large apartment and hire full time care. Of course they were pretty aware of the fact that it could cost as much as 2 -3 million to start a venture like this...but in their minds they had already formed a non-profit society (aligned with Canuck Place) and felt they could get the funds in place! They envision a place with 5 rooms, fully modified for chairs, hygiene and basic care. There would be 24hr care on hand. This would be their legacy to Canuck Place graduates and as a bed opens up in the house because somebody has moved onto bigger and better things...bang...the spot is filled!
When you have been in the care of your family for your whole life and you reach the age of majority a little independence is warranted. I also get the feeling that these guys realise how much effort their families have put into caring for them. Maybe their ideas tonight will never come to fruition. Perhaps the funds are too out of reach.
What I learnt tonight was that Jason and Brent will live their lives way beyond most people's expectations. Like all of us they make plans for their future. Being part of a hospice program doesn't phase them.
I said to Brent I can imagine the first purchase they would make is a case of beer. Not that they would drink it...just that it would seem the right thing to do. Brent replies that it wouldn't take much him being all of 20kg!
Guess what we did for the first 3 hours of the shift?
Rock Band! Jason had the best line of the night. He feels that X-Box 360 and RockBand should be covered under medical therapy. Jason has a reduced lung capacity because of muscular dystrophy. Part of his therapy has been to blow bubbles into a device; exercises to keep his diaphragm and intercostal muscles as active as possible. Singing does the same thing! Jason rocked out a few songs. Until you get out there and sing you don't realise how tiring it can be!
Friday, 5 December 2008
gift of time
wow...the numbers for gift of time were astounding....over $750 000 . wow and thank you!
Monday, 24 November 2008
Radiohead + Creep + Me + Jeffrey = 97%
I tell you. This Rockband game is da bomb! Cut to the chase: Jeffrey and I had the game to ourselves for a few songs and we nailed Creep by Radiohead. I was on 'expert' in case you were wondering.
Jeffery has become one of my followers along with Joan. That sounds a bit creepy. No Kool-Aid to be served.
Meat and potatoes for dinner. I managed to put a rather tough piece of meat into Jeffrey's mouth. He was taking forever to get it down. I told him he had NO CHOICE but to swallow it because I wasn't going to deal with the 'spit it out into a napkin' plan. So I just kept giving him some of the creamy potatoes and juice to help it slide on down. He eventually got through the piece!
Quiet night tonight: Jeffrey was in, a girl I have not met before was in with her family. Sandy got us going with the Rockband and we played a number of songs. This game is absolutely addictive. Every other thursday I run a 'meeting'in my classroom. Very fun.
Jeffrey played guitar, Sandy played drums, Joan played base and I sang my heart out.
When we finally go a bit tired we made our way upstairs and explored on the computers. Sandy was with her family for most of the time after that.
Turns out that Jeffrey can barely read the screen of a computer. This boy needs his eyes checked. Next time I see him I hope that he is wearing some new eye candy.
Jeffery has become one of my followers along with Joan. That sounds a bit creepy. No Kool-Aid to be served.
Meat and potatoes for dinner. I managed to put a rather tough piece of meat into Jeffrey's mouth. He was taking forever to get it down. I told him he had NO CHOICE but to swallow it because I wasn't going to deal with the 'spit it out into a napkin' plan. So I just kept giving him some of the creamy potatoes and juice to help it slide on down. He eventually got through the piece!
Quiet night tonight: Jeffrey was in, a girl I have not met before was in with her family. Sandy got us going with the Rockband and we played a number of songs. This game is absolutely addictive. Every other thursday I run a 'meeting'in my classroom. Very fun.
Jeffrey played guitar, Sandy played drums, Joan played base and I sang my heart out.
When we finally go a bit tired we made our way upstairs and explored on the computers. Sandy was with her family for most of the time after that.
Turns out that Jeffrey can barely read the screen of a computer. This boy needs his eyes checked. Next time I see him I hope that he is wearing some new eye candy.
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
sitemeter
http://www.sitemeter.com/
holy crap! I thought that the google application that keeps track of the number of visits to your site was cool. not so!
Sitemeter tells you things like who referred the visit...so if you 'google search' something about canuck place and you happen to see the link to my page and click on it...sitemeter will show me that. cool!
of course it is all about vanity...but that is ok.
ps...click on the thing that says 'followers'. then i know who you are (of the 13 that have the rss feed)!!
holy crap! I thought that the google application that keeps track of the number of visits to your site was cool. not so!
Sitemeter tells you things like who referred the visit...so if you 'google search' something about canuck place and you happen to see the link to my page and click on it...sitemeter will show me that. cool!
of course it is all about vanity...but that is ok.
ps...click on the thing that says 'followers'. then i know who you are (of the 13 that have the rss feed)!!
Saturday, 8 November 2008
Raffi and Me
I have a penchant for singing Raffi songs. My kids grew up on Raffi and I remember singing Raffi songs for a number of years. I think I sing in the key of Raffi. Raffi has a wonderful website:
http://www.raffinews.com/
As remarkable as it seems he has been doing this for over 40 years. His focus now is one of sustainablity and of honouring the child. He is still teaching fortysomethings to be good stewards of our earth and to each other, so that they can teach their children.
Last night all I did was sing. Sing and colour. Colour and sing. Raffi tapes were lined up in the art room, Jesse (a 6 year old girl whose baby brother is in the house), Chancy (who is also about 5 or 6) was beside me playing floppy head, Tony, Joan, and me were all doing what we do best: hanging out. No TV, no rockband, no computer....just me and Raffi (and everyone else).
I think we did this for about 2.5 hours. Tony had no idea I knew so many Raffi songs.
Go to Raffi's site. I was not at all surprised to see the direction he has taken with his work. He always sounded like a real nice guy when he sang for me and my kids. Turns out he is!
As remarkable as it seems he has been doing this for over 40 years. His focus now is one of sustainablity and of honouring the child. He is still teaching fortysomethings to be good stewards of our earth and to each other, so that they can teach their children.
Last night all I did was sing. Sing and colour. Colour and sing. Raffi tapes were lined up in the art room, Jesse (a 6 year old girl whose baby brother is in the house), Chancy (who is also about 5 or 6) was beside me playing floppy head, Tony, Joan, and me were all doing what we do best: hanging out. No TV, no rockband, no computer....just me and Raffi (and everyone else).
I think we did this for about 2.5 hours. Tony had no idea I knew so many Raffi songs.
Go to Raffi's site. I was not at all surprised to see the direction he has taken with his work. He always sounded like a real nice guy when he sang for me and my kids. Turns out he is!
Saturday, 25 October 2008
Boy's Night Out
More accurately put Boy's Night In but it appeared to be full of as much debauchery as could be: loud music, swearing, false accusations, falling out of wheelchairs, high fives, and the oddest event of the night being the whole crew sitting around the poker table watching a little Sing With Me Elmo doll sing "Shout". Not proud of that, but there is a really good reason for it.
In the House tonight for boys teen night are rod, liam, kenny, randy, saul, and jeffrey.
I was early and half the crew were in the TV room doing the Rock Band video game. I love that game. I can't sing, or play the drums but I can't help myself...I love the sound of my bad voice and I know others like it too. A couple of hellos, a couple of songs, and then off to dinner.
Awesome pasta!
Back to the TV room and a couple more songs until Poker Time.
Poker is a very high class game and must be played in the high class room: the Great Room. One day I will have to run through the house with my camera and do a bit of a show and tell. It is a beautiful house. Yours truly got to deal for Texas Hold 'Em. I don't know anything about poker, but am know well versed in the Burn and Turn, the flop, the turn and the river.
One of the prizes that went into the pot during a game of 21 was a dancing Elmo doll who sings shout. With his squeaky little voice at the end of his dance Elmo proclaims "oh boy! You really want to make Elmo SHIT!" Every time Elmo spoke the word 'shout' it comes out 'shit'! It had to be the funniest thing to happen all night....other than the time Kenny was doing a wheel stand in his chair. I was dealing and I could see him rocking back in his chair....he was holding it and had a big Elmo Shouting grin on his face...and then he started to go backwards. It was all in slow motion and he still had the Elmo Shouting grin on his face as I leapt across the room only to end up standing over him and laughing my ass off. It was the funniest thing to watch! Good thing it was on the carpet because he smacked the floor pretty good.
After poker Liam kept egging me on to go sing while he does guitar. We got Saul on the drums.
I like that game. Need one in my classroom.
In the House tonight for boys teen night are rod, liam, kenny, randy, saul, and jeffrey.
I was early and half the crew were in the TV room doing the Rock Band video game. I love that game. I can't sing, or play the drums but I can't help myself...I love the sound of my bad voice and I know others like it too. A couple of hellos, a couple of songs, and then off to dinner.
Awesome pasta!
Back to the TV room and a couple more songs until Poker Time.
Poker is a very high class game and must be played in the high class room: the Great Room. One day I will have to run through the house with my camera and do a bit of a show and tell. It is a beautiful house. Yours truly got to deal for Texas Hold 'Em. I don't know anything about poker, but am know well versed in the Burn and Turn, the flop, the turn and the river.
One of the prizes that went into the pot during a game of 21 was a dancing Elmo doll who sings shout. With his squeaky little voice at the end of his dance Elmo proclaims "oh boy! You really want to make Elmo SHIT!" Every time Elmo spoke the word 'shout' it comes out 'shit'! It had to be the funniest thing to happen all night....other than the time Kenny was doing a wheel stand in his chair. I was dealing and I could see him rocking back in his chair....he was holding it and had a big Elmo Shouting grin on his face...and then he started to go backwards. It was all in slow motion and he still had the Elmo Shouting grin on his face as I leapt across the room only to end up standing over him and laughing my ass off. It was the funniest thing to watch! Good thing it was on the carpet because he smacked the floor pretty good.
After poker Liam kept egging me on to go sing while he does guitar. We got Saul on the drums.
I like that game. Need one in my classroom.
Tuesday, 21 October 2008
Celine Dion
I never thought I would ever say this but, thanks to unknown benefactors, 60 Canuck Place volunteers (including me) are going to the Celine Dion concert tonight. As I said to Sara our Volunteer intake worker "my street cred has been destroyed...
It should be a great show...I will drive all night.
It should be a great show...I will drive all night.
Sunday, 12 October 2008
Monopolised
Very quiet in the house tonight. Bobby and Denny are in for respite care. While we were doing our thing tonight one of the most important events that occurs at the house was taking place. An 11 day old baby and family were coming into the house for an end of life stay. This must be incredibly hard to do for a family but I can think of no other place where the short life of a child is so revered and the care given to all involved is so expert.
Bobby is a veritable senior citizen of the program and is in for his very last admission. Bobby turned 19 and has therefore graduated from the program. If I am not mistaken this is the third Grad I have known. I would have to think that it is both exciting and sad to graduate from the house. If you have to leave the house because you are too old is a fantastic event, but not being part of Canuck Place and getting their special care would be an absolute bummer.
Denny is a boy from Penticton. He has Duchennes muscular dystrophy. He is the monopoly in monopolise. After dinner we all (Denny, Bobby, Joan, and me) went up to the school room to continue a game of Monopoly. We played for a long time. Bobby was whisked away by a nurse...maybe for bed?
Denny made sure that he put Joan and I into the deepest and darkest realms of debt. Even when Joan tried to concede he said no and made her sell him every last piece of property she had mortgaged to the bank. Only then was the game over.
After a trip to the Kid's floor for a potty break we were upstairs for a game of Scrabble.
Yours truly kicked fanny.
Bobby is a veritable senior citizen of the program and is in for his very last admission. Bobby turned 19 and has therefore graduated from the program. If I am not mistaken this is the third Grad I have known. I would have to think that it is both exciting and sad to graduate from the house. If you have to leave the house because you are too old is a fantastic event, but not being part of Canuck Place and getting their special care would be an absolute bummer.
Denny is a boy from Penticton. He has Duchennes muscular dystrophy. He is the monopoly in monopolise. After dinner we all (Denny, Bobby, Joan, and me) went up to the school room to continue a game of Monopoly. We played for a long time. Bobby was whisked away by a nurse...maybe for bed?
Denny made sure that he put Joan and I into the deepest and darkest realms of debt. Even when Joan tried to concede he said no and made her sell him every last piece of property she had mortgaged to the bank. Only then was the game over.
After a trip to the Kid's floor for a potty break we were upstairs for a game of Scrabble.
Yours truly kicked fanny.
Friday, 3 October 2008
Gift of Time
This is a time to share your wealth: The Gift of Time
If you are feeling particularly flush and would like to seat a table of 7 of your close and personal wealthy friends $2800 will do that wonderfully. Bring your chequebook. An auction for many beautiful items will take place.
Entertainment for the last three years has been Chantal Kreviazuk, Jan Arden, and Amanda Marshall...who's next?
If you are feeling particularly flush and would like to seat a table of 7 of your close and personal wealthy friends $2800 will do that wonderfully. Bring your chequebook. An auction for many beautiful items will take place.
Entertainment for the last three years has been Chantal Kreviazuk, Jan Arden, and Amanda Marshall...who's next?
Saturday, 27 September 2008
Finally..a night at the house
Wow...it has been a long time...I think. I was all by my lonesome as far as volunteers go (Tony sprained his ankle and Jen is naming limpets after Tony and I in Bamfield), but certainly not alone in the house. In the house tonight were a handful of kids...Grenadine (I know...bad name...) and her mum, sister and brother from the island, Stephen's , mum and dad, brother and sister (Brady and Insia), Jerrold and Eliza.
Dinner was awesome. Meat. I love meat.
AFter dinner I went with Stephen's brother to the Sun room. Rock band was calling our name. With Isaac and Ophelia in tow Brady and I kicked Rock Band proverbial butt for three songs. Brady kept choosing the most difficult songs. I really do sing better when I know the words.
I had promised Ophelia and Isaac that I would read them a story so I went to find them. They were upstairs with mum. Ophelia was painting in the art room. I helped set Isaac up for a paint. Elsa was with us as well. Isaac found a broom after he painted and it looked suspiciously close to a NIMBUS 2000 so I taught him how to fly on a broom.
After our time in the art room we went next door to the Schoolroom. I was bound and determined to read tonight...and we did. I haven't read a John Burmingham book for so long and we read Would You Rather... and a bunch of others. I miss reading to kids. I am so glad I got to tonight. Isaac's mum came to take him for a bath and I kept reading to his sister and Insia then it was Ophelia's turn for a bath. Insia's mum came and took her away for bed. I mosied down to the kids floor and found Eliza watching The Aristocats. I hung out with her for a while. Jerrold joined us ...he must have woken up from a nap. It was time for some of his meds so I helped the nurse. I helped keep Jerrold kind of upright while he was being "steamed" a cortizone steroid to help his lungs. ELiza got quite anxious when The Aristocrats ended. One of the nurses put the next movie. I think Eliza has watched thousands of movies!
My night ended and I quietly said goodbye to those who were still awake and around.
There are times when you feel that life is tough and you feel crappy. I am so lucky to share part of my time here. It makes me feel better. I hope that a little bit of what I feel rubs off on those I am with.
Dinner was awesome. Meat. I love meat.
AFter dinner I went with Stephen's brother to the Sun room. Rock band was calling our name. With Isaac and Ophelia in tow Brady and I kicked Rock Band proverbial butt for three songs. Brady kept choosing the most difficult songs. I really do sing better when I know the words.
I had promised Ophelia and Isaac that I would read them a story so I went to find them. They were upstairs with mum. Ophelia was painting in the art room. I helped set Isaac up for a paint. Elsa was with us as well. Isaac found a broom after he painted and it looked suspiciously close to a NIMBUS 2000 so I taught him how to fly on a broom.
After our time in the art room we went next door to the Schoolroom. I was bound and determined to read tonight...and we did. I haven't read a John Burmingham book for so long and we read Would You Rather... and a bunch of others. I miss reading to kids. I am so glad I got to tonight. Isaac's mum came to take him for a bath and I kept reading to his sister and Insia then it was Ophelia's turn for a bath. Insia's mum came and took her away for bed. I mosied down to the kids floor and found Eliza watching The Aristocats. I hung out with her for a while. Jerrold joined us ...he must have woken up from a nap. It was time for some of his meds so I helped the nurse. I helped keep Jerrold kind of upright while he was being "steamed" a cortizone steroid to help his lungs. ELiza got quite anxious when The Aristocrats ended. One of the nurses put the next movie. I think Eliza has watched thousands of movies!
My night ended and I quietly said goodbye to those who were still awake and around.
There are times when you feel that life is tough and you feel crappy. I am so lucky to share part of my time here. It makes me feel better. I hope that a little bit of what I feel rubs off on those I am with.
Thursday, 25 September 2008
RESULTS AND PICS FROM THE CHALLENGE
Yea!
1 metre ahead of me is a rock.
Thank goodness these are plastic.
I have never had so much fun on a bike.
I have had better runs.
Final Bib Final Kayak Bike After Bike Run FinalFrom 23rd to 4th! See what riding to work can do for you? Next year I vow to run a bit for training!
Place No. Name of Competitor Pos Time Pos Time Pos Time Pos Time Pos Time Pos Time Team Name
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1 861 Mark Coates 1 3:28:25 3 49:15 4 1:36:58 2 2:26:13 4 1:02:13 1 3:28:25 Team mc bah
2 860 Billy Adams 2 3:28:25 4 49:16 3 1:36:56 1 2:26:12 5 1:02:14 2 3:28:25 Team mc bah
3 864 Nicole Akeroyd 3 4:27:30 20 59:32 7 2:29:30 9 3:29:01 3 58:29 3 4:27:30
4 865 Malcolm Chrystal 4 4:34:31 19 59:22 5 2:17:30 3 3:16:52 8 1:17:40 4 4:34:31
Tuesday, 16 September 2008
death is hard to understand
I have been at Canuck Place for about 4 years. Many of the house's kids have died in that time. Some I have known a little and some I have never met, but no matter who it is, they are somebody's baby girl, big brother, little sister, or grandchild. As a volunteer we are informed of when a child at the house dies. Recently there were two little boys who passed away with whom I was able to share a night holding, cuddling, and singing songs that I can't remember the lyrics to. When I read of their deaths there is just that little bit more familiarity, a clearer face to put a name to, and a little more sadness. It pales in comparison to what a family member feels.
On Sunday, my wife lost her little bother. Very suddenly and very unexpectantly. He is also an uncle, a son, a husband.
I have never experienced the death of anyone close to me. What I am feeling I am not able to express well. As I watch my family deal with the death of Chad it is clear to me I have no comprehension of what they are feeling.
I can see what they have lost: I have shaken his hand, hugged him, laughed at his corny humour, and danced his silly clotheswasher dance, but I don't know what it is like to lose someone who has alwasy been a part of your life, or you theirs.
When we hear of a death at the house it is from Leanne. She always signs off by saying "take care of yourselves, and each other"
Do that. Always.
On Sunday, my wife lost her little bother. Very suddenly and very unexpectantly. He is also an uncle, a son, a husband.
I have never experienced the death of anyone close to me. What I am feeling I am not able to express well. As I watch my family deal with the death of Chad it is clear to me I have no comprehension of what they are feeling.
I can see what they have lost: I have shaken his hand, hugged him, laughed at his corny humour, and danced his silly clotheswasher dance, but I don't know what it is like to lose someone who has alwasy been a part of your life, or you theirs.
When we hear of a death at the house it is from Leanne. She always signs off by saying "take care of yourselves, and each other"
Do that. Always.
Wednesday, 10 September 2008
Canuck Place Video
This is the reason I volunteer at the house:
Garghttp://canuckplace.com/news_events/video_gallery/articles431.php oyles, Grotesques and Chimeras Gargoyles, Grotesques and Chimeras
Garghttp://canuckplace.com/news_
Sunday, 7 September 2008
Race Day Over $201 000 Raised
What a day! Absolutely freakin' fantastic! Calm waters, cool bike, and the run was ok too. Cramping legs for me and a number of others today!
I get to introduce to you the 'Adventure Cam'.
I get to introduce to you the 'Adventure Cam'.
Images of the bike trails from a very deftly mounted camera atop the handle bars of "The Bike".
This year I think I have an idea of how I did compared to all these young, agile, and superfit individuals in the race. Last year I had know idea what happened and was very surprised when I won the 'Solo Mens' category. This year 'The Bike' was a tool of absolute precision and awesomeness. Thank you to Leslie and her guys at Dizzy Cycles who did some things to 'The Bike' for $90 and made it run like a $150 bike and made all the difference in the world. Mercer...I will get you the $90...soon!
If my oxygen and electrolyte depleted body figures correctly: 2 young guys completed this years race way under 4hrs as a team. In third place there is Nicole who is a Thursday Night family volunteer at the house (so she wins the Women's Solo), and then me who represents the Friday night family volunteer shift (and I win the Men's Solo!). The house was well represented on the podium!!
Leah from North Shore Orthodpedic massaged my legs after the race....and she kept telling me I was "damaged". The massage helped to get the post race gunk out of my achy legs but that I needed way more massage therapy....damaged....sigh....
I raised over a thousand dollars this year again. Next year I hope that I can do even better in raising funds. There were 3 or 4 racers who raised over $8000. Top fund raiser did over $11 000.
Thank you to anyone and everyone who helped in sponsoring a competitor this year.
The House is an magical place where the kids are the magicians. The staff and volunteers get to be assistants in a wonderful show.
Ps If you missed doing a donation before the race it appears the sponsor page is still open (!!!).
More Adventure Cam:
This year I think I have an idea of how I did compared to all these young, agile, and superfit individuals in the race. Last year I had know idea what happened and was very surprised when I won the 'Solo Mens' category. This year 'The Bike' was a tool of absolute precision and awesomeness. Thank you to Leslie and her guys at Dizzy Cycles who did some things to 'The Bike' for $90 and made it run like a $150 bike and made all the difference in the world. Mercer...I will get you the $90...soon!
If my oxygen and electrolyte depleted body figures correctly: 2 young guys completed this years race way under 4hrs as a team. In third place there is Nicole who is a Thursday Night family volunteer at the house (so she wins the Women's Solo), and then me who represents the Friday night family volunteer shift (and I win the Men's Solo!). The house was well represented on the podium!!
Leah from North Shore Orthodpedic massaged my legs after the race....and she kept telling me I was "damaged". The massage helped to get the post race gunk out of my achy legs but that I needed way more massage therapy....damaged....sigh....
I raised over a thousand dollars this year again. Next year I hope that I can do even better in raising funds. There were 3 or 4 racers who raised over $8000. Top fund raiser did over $11 000.
Thank you to anyone and everyone who helped in sponsoring a competitor this year.
The House is an magical place where the kids are the magicians. The staff and volunteers get to be assistants in a wonderful show.
Ps If you missed doing a donation before the race it appears the sponsor page is still open (!!!).
More Adventure Cam:
Friday, 5 September 2008
thank you
thank you to absolutely everyone who has donated.
today i received an veritable flurry of donations. my sister in law barb, my principal russ klein, and ....to mr bob murphy! No offense intended....but who is bob?!!!!
bed time!
today i received an veritable flurry of donations. my sister in law barb, my principal russ klein, and ....to mr bob murphy! No offense intended....but who is bob?!!!!
bed time!
Wednesday, 3 September 2008
apology to kyle
I teach science, not English.
Everybody should be like Kyle because he did NOT forget to sponsor me before he left for Med School. It just came out funny below!
Sponsor me.
Everybody should be like Kyle because he did NOT forget to sponsor me before he left for Med School. It just came out funny below!
Sponsor me.
Tuesday, 2 September 2008
one week before the race
Less than a week before the sure to be eventful Adventure Challenge. Get on the bandwagon and sponsor me here:
SPONSOR MALCOLM
Your heart, the kids, your tax credit and I thank you!
The race is at Panorama Cove in Deep Cove on Saturday morning.
Training? I need to thank my most awesome wife Cindy for getting me to the pool everyday this week, otherwise I would have done absolutely nothing. I know there is no swimming unless I tip the kayak but stranger things could happen!
Don't forget to sponsor me...like Kyle...peer volunteer extraordinaire who has left BC to become a doctor. Rumour has it that he will specialise in pediatric oncology. Every kid in the future will benefit from him going down this path. Kick Alberta behind Kyle.
SPONSOR MALCOLM
Your heart, the kids, your tax credit and I thank you!
The race is at Panorama Cove in Deep Cove on Saturday morning.
Training? I need to thank my most awesome wife Cindy for getting me to the pool everyday this week, otherwise I would have done absolutely nothing. I know there is no swimming unless I tip the kayak but stranger things could happen!
Don't forget to sponsor me...like Kyle...peer volunteer extraordinaire who has left BC to become a doctor. Rumour has it that he will specialise in pediatric oncology. Every kid in the future will benefit from him going down this path. Kick Alberta behind Kyle.
Monday, 1 September 2008
A quiet night at the house
There was no Garage Band tonight! Pretty quiet at the house as they are gearing up for the annual shutdown and renovations. The Kid's Floor (aka Nurse's Station & Main floor) is getting a makeover for a little more room. It can get pretty tight in the alcove when there are more than 2 or 3 kids that need, or want, to stay close to the best nurses on this earth.
In the house tonight were Carol, Nichole, and Gaston (where do I get some of these names?) who represented the older kids, Richie and Mathew are about 2 and under. Mathew is full of beans and doesn't stop for much despite having a ticker that holds him back. Mathew's dad is in the house for a bit and this is the part that makes Canuck Place so awesome. It will be the first time that they are leaving Mathew in the house by himself. He and his wife are hoofing it out of town for the weeked for a little relaxtaion. Not an easy thing to do when you have never left your child for a night, but that is what the house can do for families.
After dinner Joan and I took Carole, Nichole, and Mathew outside to the playground. Gaston's sister Leyla joins us after finishing her book. A little bit of hockey, and little bit of ball, a little bit of spinning on the merry-go-round. It sounds a little strange to say that your are playing hockey with a couple of girls who are in wheelchairs, non-verbal, and have limited or no use of there hands but sometimes you can catch a glimpse of something in their eyes that tells you they are playing too.
One by one the kids are rescued from us by a nurse. Joan, Leyla and I are left with Nichole outside. I have a great idea! There is this strange sit down contraption that you can move with little tiny wheels that rotate independently. Very difficult to use. I challenge the girls to a race around the house! Joan is up first and finishes in a painfully slow 6m 15s. I dominate and complete the course in 2:45 (or was it 3:45?). Leyla kicks Joan's butt and finishes in 4:30.
The last hour of the night I got to sit with Richie. First, while he had to wear a 'vapouriser' that steams in meds for him to inhale and then while he got his dinner (via his tummytube). It came as an awful shock to me that I have forgotten the words to almost every song I used to sing to my own kids as I struggled to put together enough Stompin' Tom Conners songs to keep me singing along. Sometimes just sitting with the little ones is my favourite time.
In the house tonight were Carol, Nichole, and Gaston (where do I get some of these names?) who represented the older kids, Richie and Mathew are about 2 and under. Mathew is full of beans and doesn't stop for much despite having a ticker that holds him back. Mathew's dad is in the house for a bit and this is the part that makes Canuck Place so awesome. It will be the first time that they are leaving Mathew in the house by himself. He and his wife are hoofing it out of town for the weeked for a little relaxtaion. Not an easy thing to do when you have never left your child for a night, but that is what the house can do for families.
After dinner Joan and I took Carole, Nichole, and Mathew outside to the playground. Gaston's sister Leyla joins us after finishing her book. A little bit of hockey, and little bit of ball, a little bit of spinning on the merry-go-round. It sounds a little strange to say that your are playing hockey with a couple of girls who are in wheelchairs, non-verbal, and have limited or no use of there hands but sometimes you can catch a glimpse of something in their eyes that tells you they are playing too.
One by one the kids are rescued from us by a nurse. Joan, Leyla and I are left with Nichole outside. I have a great idea! There is this strange sit down contraption that you can move with little tiny wheels that rotate independently. Very difficult to use. I challenge the girls to a race around the house! Joan is up first and finishes in a painfully slow 6m 15s. I dominate and complete the course in 2:45 (or was it 3:45?). Leyla kicks Joan's butt and finishes in 4:30.
The last hour of the night I got to sit with Richie. First, while he had to wear a 'vapouriser' that steams in meds for him to inhale and then while he got his dinner (via his tummytube). It came as an awful shock to me that I have forgotten the words to almost every song I used to sing to my own kids as I struggled to put together enough Stompin' Tom Conners songs to keep me singing along. Sometimes just sitting with the little ones is my favourite time.
Friday, 29 August 2008
Back to the House!
Wow! It has been almost a month since I have been at the House. The bike accident preventing me the first time in August. Since I was unable to work I took advantage of the time and went to Penticton and the Cariboo.
The Race approaches! Having done no training in the last month it could be very interesting! I hope to set up my camera so I can take pics while on the ride and run. SInce I am not so good at at the Kayak...I might leave it on shore!
The Race approaches! Having done no training in the last month it could be very interesting! I hope to set up my camera so I can take pics while on the ride and run. SInce I am not so good at at the Kayak...I might leave it on shore!
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Friday, 1 August 2008
Me hit. They run
After over 2500km this year on my bicycle the inevitable event happened: I was involved in a car accident. Not just any accident! A HIT AND RUN!
This car decided to turn left in front of me while I was travelling East on Fourth Avenue. It was the slowest turn in the world. He had NO idea that I was there. I smacked into his side rear and catapult over the back end of the metallic blue car. I can confirm the metallic blue because I pulled a paint chip out of my cut finger. I landed about 7m from the point of collision only to find that the car had decided to continue his forward motion and DRIVE AWAY! Yes...I said drive away. I was way to foggy to read his plates as I attempted to chase the card down the road fueled by nothing but adrenaline I was so mad I was yelling profanities not to be recorded on this report and I sensed that the driver was seeing if I was ok. I guess I scared him because he would NOT stop.
My wife came to collect me and take me to the hospital.
I am angry. Bruised, cut, stitched, x-rayed, tired, and incredibly angry.
ps yes. I was wearing my helmut
This car decided to turn left in front of me while I was travelling East on Fourth Avenue. It was the slowest turn in the world. He had NO idea that I was there. I smacked into his side rear and catapult over the back end of the metallic blue car. I can confirm the metallic blue because I pulled a paint chip out of my cut finger. I landed about 7m from the point of collision only to find that the car had decided to continue his forward motion and DRIVE AWAY! Yes...I said drive away. I was way to foggy to read his plates as I attempted to chase the card down the road fueled by nothing but adrenaline I was so mad I was yelling profanities not to be recorded on this report and I sensed that the driver was seeing if I was ok. I guess I scared him because he would NOT stop.
My wife came to collect me and take me to the hospital.
I am angry. Bruised, cut, stitched, x-rayed, tired, and incredibly angry.
ps yes. I was wearing my helmut
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Tuesday, 29 July 2008
The Tally
The total funds collected to date: $995!
A big thank you to everybody who has donated! The bad news is that I will not, at this point, be able to participate in the big race. Very sad. I do not know what I will do now. I suppose I can find a fiver somewhere. Am I able to make $1500 this year?
A big thank you to everybody who has donated! The bad news is that I will not, at this point, be able to participate in the big race. Very sad. I do not know what I will do now. I suppose I can find a fiver somewhere. Am I able to make $1500 this year?
Cheques found!
I have found the missing cheques safe in my knapsack.
Big news of the day is the $50 I am dropping on 'The Bike'. I phoned a former customer of mine, Leslie at Dizzy Cycles, and asked her if she could help me with 'The Bike'. She is a little hesitant as I gather that everybody and their dog is always on the lookout for a freebie, me included. Nonetheless I took 'The Bike' down to her and she gave it the once over. She is going to do a service on it and hopefully a little bit more! In the end I will have to fork out $50 on 'The Bike', but still a bargain after the mileage I have put on it! Now I am going to ride my Craparotti road bike for the next week. Whoo hoo! Skinny tires!
Back to the house on Friday. I always look forward to going to the house.
Big news of the day is the $50 I am dropping on 'The Bike'. I phoned a former customer of mine, Leslie at Dizzy Cycles, and asked her if she could help me with 'The Bike'. She is a little hesitant as I gather that everybody and their dog is always on the lookout for a freebie, me included. Nonetheless I took 'The Bike' down to her and she gave it the once over. She is going to do a service on it and hopefully a little bit more! In the end I will have to fork out $50 on 'The Bike', but still a bargain after the mileage I have put on it! Now I am going to ride my Craparotti road bike for the next week. Whoo hoo! Skinny tires!
Back to the house on Friday. I always look forward to going to the house.
Sunday, 27 July 2008
More Donations...but where did i put the cheques?
Phillipa and Gordon Wenstob have also bucked up $100 for the Adventure Challenge (Thank you!!) but I appear to have a small problem. I can't find the two cheques from Judy and Phillipa. Yikes!
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
Whoo-hooo! Big Day for donations!
Whoo-hooo!
First of all I would like to than David Long, CEO of The Terminal City Club of Vancouver for their $150 donation. Secondly, Judy Walsh who donated her $100 BC Carbon Credit to Canuck Place.
What an awesome idea!
Thank you David and Judy!!
First of all I would like to than David Long, CEO of The Terminal City Club of Vancouver for their $150 donation. Secondly, Judy Walsh who donated her $100 BC Carbon Credit to Canuck Place.
What an awesome idea!
Thank you David and Judy!!
Sunday, 20 July 2008
Garage Band on Friday
It has been a month since I had been to the house and I always feel like I am missing something, and I was: GARAGE BAND!
In the house tonight were Karina, Jeffrey (who seems to be there the most when I am there), a couple of little ones, Lucy and Ricardo. Ricardo is new to me. He is another boy with DMD (Duchenne's Muscular Dystrophy) and we had some fun!
Tony was away tonight and Joan and I held the fort. Roberto the chef had to go home so the Nurses ordered out: Chinese food galore! After we stuffed ourselves silly Jeffrey got ready to go the Football game with his dad leaving Karina, Lucy, Ricardo, Joan and me to play Kick the Can.
I got Karina (who can't speak but sure laughs alot) and Joan got Lucy. Ricardo runs a powerful chair so he was on his own.
Believe it or not it can be quite challenging to find a boy and his chair in a big garden. When we (Karina and I ) did find him...we had to race to the tether pole. I kept losing....
A little later we made our way into the house to fetch the Garage Band game...holy crap is that fun. Joan and I had to sit back for a little bit while Ricardo did his drums solo. Boy did i want to play. Lucy hung out beside Joan who got to do Ricardo's bass drum for him. Karina and I just held hands while I tried to sing to guns n roses.
Finally we all got our turn when I masterfully sang to Radiohead's 'Creep', Joan struggled with guitar AND Ricardo's bass drum, and Ricardo kicked fanny on his part. Joan left early and Ricardo and I played for another hour. Karina just kept smiling and smiling.
I love playing at the house!
In the house tonight were Karina, Jeffrey (who seems to be there the most when I am there), a couple of little ones, Lucy and Ricardo. Ricardo is new to me. He is another boy with DMD (Duchenne's Muscular Dystrophy) and we had some fun!
Tony was away tonight and Joan and I held the fort. Roberto the chef had to go home so the Nurses ordered out: Chinese food galore! After we stuffed ourselves silly Jeffrey got ready to go the Football game with his dad leaving Karina, Lucy, Ricardo, Joan and me to play Kick the Can.
I got Karina (who can't speak but sure laughs alot) and Joan got Lucy. Ricardo runs a powerful chair so he was on his own.
Believe it or not it can be quite challenging to find a boy and his chair in a big garden. When we (Karina and I ) did find him...we had to race to the tether pole. I kept losing....
A little later we made our way into the house to fetch the Garage Band game...holy crap is that fun. Joan and I had to sit back for a little bit while Ricardo did his drums solo. Boy did i want to play. Lucy hung out beside Joan who got to do Ricardo's bass drum for him. Karina and I just held hands while I tried to sing to guns n roses.
Finally we all got our turn when I masterfully sang to Radiohead's 'Creep', Joan struggled with guitar AND Ricardo's bass drum, and Ricardo kicked fanny on his part. Joan left early and Ricardo and I played for another hour. Karina just kept smiling and smiling.
I love playing at the house!
red bull rejection
I cannot believe it. I am truly devastated by the decision of the RedBull Pit crew to reject the Canuck PLace Soapbox of Doom plans outright. Depite the email candor developed between a rep of the Pit Crew we were ungraciously dumped with a "Thank you very much, P.F.O." letter and 4 RedBulls.
What now?
What now?
Sunday, 6 July 2008
the super duper plans
Here is the final engineered drawings I sent to the RedBull people.
Thay are crazy if they don't let us in!!
PLANS FOR SOAPBOX ARE HERE
Thay are crazy if they don't let us in!!
PLANS FOR SOAPBOX ARE HERE
Friday, 4 July 2008
No house tonight
I was a busy boy today and did not make it to the house. I wonder what happened?
I was riding my bike home today after a day of hard labour** shredding trees into mulch and realised that I have ridden my $10 bike more than 2000km this year. Last year for the triathlon and Adventure challenge I think I cycled about 140km in preparation!
I will be at the house in two weeks. I am sitting on pins and needles waiting to see if the Canuck House Soapbox of Doom is going to be accepted into the RedBull Soapbox Derby. I am going to figure out how to post my plans....
**i am available for hire. i do hard work that nobody likes to do...but it costs money.
I was riding my bike home today after a day of hard labour** shredding trees into mulch and realised that I have ridden my $10 bike more than 2000km this year. Last year for the triathlon and Adventure challenge I think I cycled about 140km in preparation!
I will be at the house in two weeks. I am sitting on pins and needles waiting to see if the Canuck House Soapbox of Doom is going to be accepted into the RedBull Soapbox Derby. I am going to figure out how to post my plans....
**i am available for hire. i do hard work that nobody likes to do...but it costs money.
Saturday, 21 June 2008
Summer Solstice Night
What? No pagan ritualistic ceremony celebrating the longest day of the year event?
We met a new peer volunteer tonight and her name is Brittany. She goes to the same school as Joan and is in Grade 11. See Kyle...they need to replace you with not one, but two peer volunteers.
In the house we have Aldo, Jeffrey, Julian, Vanessa, Emily.
I have known Julian for a while. He has been in Children's for the last couple of days and is in the house after being released from there. His mum and dad are with him and they watched the EUFA World Cup together on the Kid's Floor.
Some neat things happened tonight.
First off a great idea came from a conversation about chairs. Brittany suggested an event called "Pimp my Ride". I was complaining that few of the kids take their chairs and really do them up. Other than a few stickers they are very cool rides without the panache. What about lights? Sound systems? Most have hydraulics so they are already in the low riders category. I think that we can have a teen night for both boys and girls to do up their chairs. Get some sponsorship for the event and I see great things happening!
After dinner we went to the TV room to figure out what to do. Brittany had asked what we do on Friday nights because on Teusday it is Movie Night. Movie Night? There is a Tuesday Movie Night? WHat about Friday? I told her that we hang on Fridays. We figure out what the kids want to do and go from there.
Vanessa, being a nearly 15 year old wanted to escape the grounds, Jeffrey is pretty much keen to do anything, Aldo wants to play on the computer, and Emily is just hanging. How far can we go? Vanessa just wants to roll down any steep hil so she is thinking about getting to Granville and Broadway as a destination. A quick check with the nurses lets us take off, but we had to leave Aldo and Elisabeth at home; both are still having supper through their tummy tubes. Aldo, Tony, and Joan caught up with us a little later.
We made it all the way down to Strabucks where Vanessa bought a tea for herself and a hot chocolate for Jeffrey. Then we turned around and made our way back up the hill. Vanessa's chair is not a power chair so I got a bit of a workout going up Granville!
Back at the house we ended up in the school room playing a trivial pursuit Disney game: boys against girls. It was all going in favour of the boys until Aldo joined the dark side. His final answer won the game. I thought it was boys against girls?
We met a new peer volunteer tonight and her name is Brittany. She goes to the same school as Joan and is in Grade 11. See Kyle...they need to replace you with not one, but two peer volunteers.
In the house we have Aldo, Jeffrey, Julian, Vanessa, Emily.
I have known Julian for a while. He has been in Children's for the last couple of days and is in the house after being released from there. His mum and dad are with him and they watched the EUFA World Cup together on the Kid's Floor.
Some neat things happened tonight.
First off a great idea came from a conversation about chairs. Brittany suggested an event called "Pimp my Ride". I was complaining that few of the kids take their chairs and really do them up. Other than a few stickers they are very cool rides without the panache. What about lights? Sound systems? Most have hydraulics so they are already in the low riders category. I think that we can have a teen night for both boys and girls to do up their chairs. Get some sponsorship for the event and I see great things happening!
After dinner we went to the TV room to figure out what to do. Brittany had asked what we do on Friday nights because on Teusday it is Movie Night. Movie Night? There is a Tuesday Movie Night? WHat about Friday? I told her that we hang on Fridays. We figure out what the kids want to do and go from there.
Vanessa, being a nearly 15 year old wanted to escape the grounds, Jeffrey is pretty much keen to do anything, Aldo wants to play on the computer, and Emily is just hanging. How far can we go? Vanessa just wants to roll down any steep hil so she is thinking about getting to Granville and Broadway as a destination. A quick check with the nurses lets us take off, but we had to leave Aldo and Elisabeth at home; both are still having supper through their tummy tubes. Aldo, Tony, and Joan caught up with us a little later.
We made it all the way down to Strabucks where Vanessa bought a tea for herself and a hot chocolate for Jeffrey. Then we turned around and made our way back up the hill. Vanessa's chair is not a power chair so I got a bit of a workout going up Granville!
Back at the house we ended up in the school room playing a trivial pursuit Disney game: boys against girls. It was all going in favour of the boys until Aldo joined the dark side. His final answer won the game. I thought it was boys against girls?
Soap Box Update
It is early days yet to report on the advancement of the Red Bull Soap Box Derby idea but Leanne has taken the idea from her computer and written it down on paper...to be ready to meet with the movers and shakers of the house...i hope we get the support we need!
Friday, 20 June 2008
An Idea.....
Here is an email I sent to Leanne at the House...I hope it works!
Hi Leanne,
I am trying to convince my friend Mark to enter into the redbull soap box derby with me.
Our biggest challenge is finding the components to build a super duper soap box derby cart...herein named 'super duper soab box derby cart for canuck place'.
Why am I emailing you and Ian?
You first...you are the contact lady....you know everybody...one word from you can create a veritable cavalcade of support.
Why Ian? He looks like an 'ideas man' and the house might be a really good place to build the cart known as the 'super duper soab box derby cart for canuck place' and since he is the master of the house...his support really counts!
This is the race: http://www.redbullsoapbox.ca/the-race.php
I have no idea why I want to do this other than the fact that it looks like fun and the dangerous stupidity appeals to me.
Why Mark? He is the buffer zone between stupidity and serious injury. He has raced cars, is a professional stuntman, and is truly an ideas man when it comes to figuring out and building things.
Why Canuck Place? Any opportunity I can seize to put the Canuck Place banner up is a good opportunity for me.
How can you help? Help me spread the word that components for a super duper soap box derby cart for canuck place are needed: sturdy set of axles and wheels, devices to control steering and stopping, and some thing to mount them all onto.
what a stupidly good idea....right?? I can try be a media whore as well and try go through red bull marketing and drum up support for the house!
Let me know your thoughts...and share mine with everybody at the house who likes to do things like this!
Malcolm
Hi Leanne,
I am trying to convince my friend Mark to enter into the redbull soap box derby with me.
Our biggest challenge is finding the components to build a super duper soap box derby cart...herein named 'super duper soab box derby cart for canuck place'.
Why am I emailing you and Ian?
You first...you are the contact lady....you know everybody...one word from you can create a veritable cavalcade of support.
Why Ian? He looks like an 'ideas man' and the house might be a really good place to build the cart known as the 'super duper soab box derby cart for canuck place' and since he is the master of the house...his support really counts!
This is the race: http://www.redbullsoapbox.ca
I have no idea why I want to do this other than the fact that it looks like fun and the dangerous stupidity appeals to me.
Why Mark? He is the buffer zone between stupidity and serious injury. He has raced cars, is a professional stuntman, and is truly an ideas man when it comes to figuring out and building things.
Why Canuck Place? Any opportunity I can seize to put the Canuck Place banner up is a good opportunity for me.
How can you help? Help me spread the word that components for a super duper soap box derby cart for canuck place are needed: sturdy set of axles and wheels, devices to control steering and stopping, and some thing to mount them all onto.
what a stupidly good idea....right?? I can try be a media whore as well and try go through red bull marketing and drum up support for the house!
Let me know your thoughts...and share mine with everybody at the house who likes to do things like this!
Malcolm
Saturday, 14 June 2008
Stellar Bike Modifications
I have decided to commit The Bike to the race (unless a bike benefactor comes forward). I am truly excited by the modifications of this classic BRC Bonzai. The Bull horn handle bars are gone. I cut them off and moved my brake levers in to the middle as much as possible. Now these sleek lines will allow me to drive by things without fear of catching the handle bars on a tree or side mirror.
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
thrilling news!
I received an email from Stephani the Adventure Challenge Coordinator stating that I had won the early bird prize draw for fundraising !! Guess what it was? A signed Canucks Jersey! Going to pick it up today!
Thank you Stephani!
Thank you Stephani!
Friday Night
It was a very quiet night at the house. Tony and I were both on hand and we have with us a new peer volunteer. Joan is a grade 12 student from a local private school. Our old peer volunteer has left us (we think) and did so without us saying goodbye! We do know that he has been accepted to med school...somewhere.
RIBS!! Ribs were on the table and I had a huge stack of them! Tonight there were more PCA's, nurses, and volunteers at the table. Janice and Daria were with us...snacking a bit and getting plugged into their tummy tubes. Janice was restless...really restless. I opted out of my RIBS(!!) and went away with Janice. Word on the street was that she absolutely loves Barney...the purple dinosaur. I though that Barney was outlawed years ago. Having opted out of my RIBS(!!) I opted out of Barney. Instead we went upstairs to the art room.
Janice is about...oooh...she could be anywhere from 6 to 9! I just don't know. Janice doesn't speak but communicates just fine with her face and eyes...and some unique sign language to which I am not privvy to what the signs mean! Earlier in the day Janice unclipped herself from her seatbelt and tried the quick crawl away from Melissa, a Friday afternoon Family Volunteer.
The prospect of painting piqued her interest so I got her suited up with a smock, some paper, paint and brushes. Not bad technique, until the paint brushes started to make their way to Janice's mouth. Time to put them away and do a bit of a clean up. That was fun! Janice liked washing her own hands in the sink. We did that for about 10 minutes.
After clean up we went outside to play some hoop. Janice could catch the ball with a very gentle toss onto her lap. She had more fun rolling it to the bushes than back to me. A bit later we went to the swing, and then we wandered the beautiful garden.
While we were talking Janice would use a couple of signs whenever I mentioned Sponge Bob on her shirt. She would stick her left arm out straight and place her right arm on her left shoulder. Then she would rub her nose with her knuckles...just like my buddy Buck did all the way through highschool with his itchy nose. Then she would giggle. I copied her everytime hoping that it didn't mean she had to go to the bathroom.
Dalia, Tony and Joan came out for a walk.
Soon it was time for her bath and a PCA came out to find us to take her in.
The three of us continued walking, Tony and I talking while Joan pushed Dalia. A few laps around the block and it was time to come in.
There was a family in the house with their son. Mum and Dad and Dylan made it down to the TV room downstairs...they has X-Box on their mind and we joined them in a ROUSING contest of the NEED FOR SPEED X Box race offs. This is the only time I have been successful against anyone in the house. Usually the kids kick my sorry rear end on every game.
RIBS!! Ribs were on the table and I had a huge stack of them! Tonight there were more PCA's, nurses, and volunteers at the table. Janice and Daria were with us...snacking a bit and getting plugged into their tummy tubes. Janice was restless...really restless. I opted out of my RIBS(!!) and went away with Janice. Word on the street was that she absolutely loves Barney...the purple dinosaur. I though that Barney was outlawed years ago. Having opted out of my RIBS(!!) I opted out of Barney. Instead we went upstairs to the art room.
Janice is about...oooh...she could be anywhere from 6 to 9! I just don't know. Janice doesn't speak but communicates just fine with her face and eyes...and some unique sign language to which I am not privvy to what the signs mean! Earlier in the day Janice unclipped herself from her seatbelt and tried the quick crawl away from Melissa, a Friday afternoon Family Volunteer.
The prospect of painting piqued her interest so I got her suited up with a smock, some paper, paint and brushes. Not bad technique, until the paint brushes started to make their way to Janice's mouth. Time to put them away and do a bit of a clean up. That was fun! Janice liked washing her own hands in the sink. We did that for about 10 minutes.
After clean up we went outside to play some hoop. Janice could catch the ball with a very gentle toss onto her lap. She had more fun rolling it to the bushes than back to me. A bit later we went to the swing, and then we wandered the beautiful garden.
While we were talking Janice would use a couple of signs whenever I mentioned Sponge Bob on her shirt. She would stick her left arm out straight and place her right arm on her left shoulder. Then she would rub her nose with her knuckles...just like my buddy Buck did all the way through highschool with his itchy nose. Then she would giggle. I copied her everytime hoping that it didn't mean she had to go to the bathroom.
Dalia, Tony and Joan came out for a walk.
Soon it was time for her bath and a PCA came out to find us to take her in.
The three of us continued walking, Tony and I talking while Joan pushed Dalia. A few laps around the block and it was time to come in.
There was a family in the house with their son. Mum and Dad and Dylan made it down to the TV room downstairs...they has X-Box on their mind and we joined them in a ROUSING contest of the NEED FOR SPEED X Box race offs. This is the only time I have been successful against anyone in the house. Usually the kids kick my sorry rear end on every game.
Saturday, 31 May 2008
slow posting and Mitzvah Day
The end is nearing for the school year and I haven't been at the house for a shift for a bit. A creaky old neck keeping me at bay.
I did get to the House on the 22nd of May with my school. As part of the school's community service ideals we spread ourselves through out the city cleaning beaches, helping shelters, feeding people and cleaning cars.
I was at the house with a team of 12 or so and they were given various tasks like sweeping up the grounds, sanding down some old benches that needed sprucing up, and a general good old fashioned clean up! The kids did great, but some were in need of the little instruction on the correct operation of a push broom!
The neck kept me out of the house for the Friday shift so I will be back this next one! friday.
I did get to the House on the 22nd of May with my school. As part of the school's community service ideals we spread ourselves through out the city cleaning beaches, helping shelters, feeding people and cleaning cars.
I was at the house with a team of 12 or so and they were given various tasks like sweeping up the grounds, sanding down some old benches that needed sprucing up, and a general good old fashioned clean up! The kids did great, but some were in need of the little instruction on the correct operation of a push broom!
The neck kept me out of the house for the Friday shift so I will be back this next one! friday.
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
eagles
mms://streamwav.onenetplace.com/eagle for windows media: copy and paste into 'open URL'
for the website go here: http://wavelit.com/media/702/Eagles_Nest_Live/
for the website go here: http://wavelit.com/media/702/Eagles_Nest_Live/
Saturday, 10 May 2008
Girls Weekend ...again...just say no to boys
Imagine how surprised I was as I rode up the driveway to see the same teen group of girls that ignored me last month in the driveway tonight. There they were, Maggie, McKenna, Kirsten, and Juliana, and Hanna. I didn't meet Hanna last month because she got sick and went home. Tonight she was going home AGAIN but for a most awesome reason; she is flying to Orlando, Florida to go swim with the dolphins.
Earlier in the day the girls had a visit from Steven Seagal, and his 'protectors' who apparently patrolled the perimeter of the building the whole time he was there. I also heard he was protected from entering in the Wrap the Toilet Paper around a Person contest that was taking place as part of some serious pre-Olympic competitions.
After dinner I learned that the girls were setting up to watch "The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants"--chick flick if there ever was--but they seemed 'ok' with Kyle and I hanging out with them but I think that was a little reverse psychology. Someone had the sense to call in a ringer family volunteer for these Girls Night Outs, Karen, who probably does way more for the girls than us boys.
Kyle and I went up to the Kid's floor to hang out with some of the other kids: Sangeeta and Hardeep, a brother and sister team, and Matthew a precocious little 3 year old. Sangeeta and Hardeep are both non-verbal, but hardly non-communicative. Their eyes, faces, and squeals express so much it is absolutely amazing. Sangeeta is absolutely smitten by Matthew. He will come and hold her hard .She just beams. If he walks away and she can't see him she turns her head, willing her chair to turn with her so she can see where he went.
We watched a little bit of The Wiggles: toot, toot, chugga, chugga, big red car....went outside to the garden to play and then came back inside for bed.
There is another boy in the house, Micheal, who is new to the house since April. Micheal has Kawasaki Disease, and if I understand the disease correctly, Kawasaki Disease can lead to heart problems. Micheal suffered a cardiac arrest which has caused some serious brain damage. Kyle was in his room and was looking at all of his pictures of him playing hockey from this year.
There are all types of kids that come to the house. Some are born with life limiting diseases or complications, some have genetic diseases that develop as a person grows, and some end up there out of the blue; a bad event that changes the path so quickly it can make your head spin. Regardless of the journey to the house, for everyone that comes in, whether family or child, there is always hope. Micheal's first admission was an 'end of life stay'. That was last month and they are talking about taking him home, Hanna told me she wanted to be a teacher when she grows up. I have been at the house and met four graduates of the program. There is always a future for these kids and many times that future includes leaving the house alive.
I never did get to hang with the girls again. They seemed happy watching the movie with Karen so Kyle and I left. The girls will be back in June. I can tell they are warming up to us and our time will come.
I never did get to hang with the girls again. They seemed happy watching the movie with Karen so Kyle and I left. The girls will be back in June. I can tell they are warming up to us and our time will come.
Friday, 9 May 2008
Justin did it AGAIN
If you were to go to my sponsor page at the link above you will see that Justin Fishman is at it again. He walked into my classroom with a cheque for $145 for Canuck Place. It appears that he has inspired some people in our school to give to Canuck Place. The donors would like to remain anonymous and would like Justin's name appear as the donor. Thank you Justin!!
My mum and dad have always donated to Canuck Place by way of the Adventure Challenge and I get to thank them again this year: Thanks Mum, thanks Dad!
My mum and dad have always donated to Canuck Place by way of the Adventure Challenge and I get to thank them again this year: Thanks Mum, thanks Dad!
Thursday, 8 May 2008
Monday, 5 May 2008
Normalcy and some fitness...
Many perceive the things that happen at the house are difficult to deal with. It is important to remind the four of you who read the blog that at the house normalcy reigns supreme. The house provides families a place to experience traumatic events such as a critical illness, or an end of life stay without any other issues taxing their emotions. Illness and death is a normal life event and we all deserve to be in a safe environment whenever possible.
I can't forget about this Adventure I have signed myself up for. A large part of completing the race is to have a modicum of fitness. It is events like these that keep me trying to attain a decent level of fitness. How do you set your goals for fitness? Is weight loss the sole indicator of fitness? No. I like to eat. I also like to drink the occasional beer or three. The best indicator for fitness is your ability to do something as simple as moving your body!
My first goal set this season as I began to run again four weeks ago was to be able to move my body over 5k at a pace of 5 min / kilometer. I managed to do that on Sunday. Now my goal is to maintain that pace for the next five runs.....sigh.
My next goal is to be able to lift my body doing dips and chin ups. We'll have to see how that one goes.
I can't forget about this Adventure I have signed myself up for. A large part of completing the race is to have a modicum of fitness. It is events like these that keep me trying to attain a decent level of fitness. How do you set your goals for fitness? Is weight loss the sole indicator of fitness? No. I like to eat. I also like to drink the occasional beer or three. The best indicator for fitness is your ability to do something as simple as moving your body!
My first goal set this season as I began to run again four weeks ago was to be able to move my body over 5k at a pace of 5 min / kilometer. I managed to do that on Sunday. Now my goal is to maintain that pace for the next five runs.....sigh.
My next goal is to be able to lift my body doing dips and chin ups. We'll have to see how that one goes.
Sunday, 4 May 2008
Conner
When a child passes away at the house the volunteers are often informed by an email letting us know that something has happened. Sometimes it is a little difficult to put a face to a name when you may have only seen that child once before and never had the opportunity to hang out, and sometimes you may have never met the person.
Last week Conner, a boy I met in April, passed away in his Dad's arms. He was three. I had just posted the story about Tamryn and Justin when I read the email about Conner. Tamryn was also three when she passed away. How devastating it must be to lose a child.
Last week Conner, a boy I met in April, passed away in his Dad's arms. He was three. I had just posted the story about Tamryn and Justin when I read the email about Conner. Tamryn was also three when she passed away. How devastating it must be to lose a child.
Friday, 2 May 2008
Justin and Tamryn
I received one of the best donations ever this week. One of my students, Justin Fishman, had emailed me and asked if he could donate to Canuck Place, even if he didn't have a cheque or a credit card. I told him he could. He came to me on Monday with an envelope and said here you go! He then went on to tell me that he had stayed at the house a few years back. His sister, Tamryn, had Tay-Sachs and Justin's family became part of the Canuck Place family. I found an article from West Coast Family ( westcoastfamily.com ) and have included it in this post. The link to the article is here: West Coast Family --Tamryn Fishman
On July 9th, 1996,Marty and Paulette Fishman thought their lives were perfect. Their second child, a beautiful baby girl named Tamryn, was born. But the family’s happiness was cruelly short-lived. In the months following her birth, the Fishman’s slowly became concerned by their daughter’s slow development.
“We ended up seeing a paediatric neurologist, and were preparing for the possibility that Tamryn might have a neuromuscular problem and might even need a wheelchair,” shares dad, Marty Fishman, “but we were not prepared for the verdict we were delivered: our daughter would be blind and prone to seizures—and would be dead in two or three years!” Tamryn was diagnosed with Tay-Sachs Disease, a genetic disorder caused by the lack of an enzyme necessary for breaking down fatty acids in the brain and central nervous system. When two carriers become parents, there is a one in four chance their child will develop Tay-Sachs. To this day, there is no cure. For the Fishman’s, the thought of such a diagnosis was unbelievable. “Because originally, one of us had been screened and found to be a Tay-Sachs carrier as a youth, the other went for premarital Tay-Sachs screening and was found not to be a carrier,” explains Marty. “We knew that both parents had to be carriers for a child to have this disease, so [we thought] it would be impossible for us to have an affected child.”
Using samples from the Fishman’s and other Tay-Sachs carriers, scientists have since discovered an extraneous factor outside the carrier gene that lead screening to produce a “false normal” result. But for Tamryn, the discovery came too late. For the three years that followed her birth,Marty and Paulette’s lives were consumed with care for their daughter. “We decided right from the start that we would keep her at home and not place her in an institution,” says Marty. “We watched as she became progressively blind and immobile, and as she developed seizures and became unable to eat or drink. She never walked or spoke.” In a heart-wrenching twist, Tamryn also lost all expression in her young face, leaving her mom and dad to pray their daughter was not suffering. After a courageous and difficult battle, Tamryn’s young life came to an end at just three years of age. For her parents, the pain of losing their beloved daughter will never heal. However, they both take small comfort in the progress being made in genetic research. The extraneous genetic abnormality that caused Tamryn’s “false normal” diagnosis has now been accounted for, and the screening test has been replaced. “Without the knowledge that there are people and researchers who care enough to keep working with affected individuals and their families, and to keep working for cures for these genetic diseases, it would be easy to give up hope,” says Marty. One such Organization is the Canadian Gene Cure Foundation (CGCF) whose Annual fundraiser, Jeans For Genes Day® takes place in schools and workplaces across Canada each October. This year’s goal is to reach $500,000. Jeans For Genes Day is a unique example of how one small day can make a difference in lives of many. And for the Fishman’s, it brings a small amount of hope that it works to save even just one family from the pain of losing a child. “Organizations that fund this type of care and research,” continues Marty, “are providing a lifeline to those families who are unfortunate enough to carry genetic abnormalities that take the lives of their children.”
Article contributed by Dr. Rob Abbott in collaboration with Marty and Paulette Fishman. Rob Abbott, CEO of the Canadian Genetic Diseases Network and the Canadian Gene Cure Foundation devotes his time and expertise to the annual fundraiser, Jeans For Genes Day®.
There is a Tamryn Fishman Fund that is operated by the Jewish Community Centre's Early Childhood Centre. Information can be found and donations received at the JCC.
I would like to thank Justin for a wonderful donation.
Malcolm
Saturday, 26 April 2008
Time goes quickly...
At the house I don't think I have ever had a shift drag...I am always surprised that the shift is over. This is not to say that we have endless amounts of fun and energy to do amazing things all of the time...but for me time at the house passes quickly.
Normally when the evening shift begins we go and round up the kids from the afternoon shift volunteers who are usually bringing them down to dinner or to the kids floor. I went upstairs to check in with the nurses on the kids floor and then up to the classroom where a I found Shannah and Corrine. It appeared that Corrine did not want to make her way down to dinner as she was fully involved in a computer game about Tigger finding hunney for Winnie the Pooh.
I ran down and picked up a plate of dinner and made my way uptairs.
The game is called Tigger's Hunny Hunt and was actually a fun game. I was needed to help Tigger fly by using the space bar. Corrine did all of the rest and we ended up being a pretty great team!
Also in the house tonight were Jaxson and Galen. Jaxson can be seen putting the boots to Roberto Luongo in this video:
Jaxson and Luongo
There were also a few siblings and parents in the house and everyone seemed pretty happy and calm. It has been a tough couple of weeks at the house with a couple kids passing on. The house is built for this and always looks after the things that need looking after.
Here is a bit of an email from our volunteer coordinator Leanne Freeman quoting Filomena:
On a final note, we have had another busy week here at Canuck Place. In
the words of the Canuck Place CEO Filomena Nalewajek - “ This week we
witnessed the "symphony" that silently embraces that care and resonates at
decibels beyond our ability to simply hear. Staff quietly lending a hand,
without being asked; instinctively knowing what is needed: volunteers
helping staff engaging children in play so they would not witness the raw
pain of parents saying goodbye to their lifeless child; staff there to
support and hold together parents in pain, whatever it took to
respond,give,care. The harmony was there, and in that very sad music was
a sense that the world goes on.”
This house is beautiful.
Normally when the evening shift begins we go and round up the kids from the afternoon shift volunteers who are usually bringing them down to dinner or to the kids floor. I went upstairs to check in with the nurses on the kids floor and then up to the classroom where a I found Shannah and Corrine. It appeared that Corrine did not want to make her way down to dinner as she was fully involved in a computer game about Tigger finding hunney for Winnie the Pooh.
I ran down and picked up a plate of dinner and made my way uptairs.
The game is called Tigger's Hunny Hunt and was actually a fun game. I was needed to help Tigger fly by using the space bar. Corrine did all of the rest and we ended up being a pretty great team!
Also in the house tonight were Jaxson and Galen. Jaxson can be seen putting the boots to Roberto Luongo in this video:
Jaxson and Luongo
There were also a few siblings and parents in the house and everyone seemed pretty happy and calm. It has been a tough couple of weeks at the house with a couple kids passing on. The house is built for this and always looks after the things that need looking after.
Here is a bit of an email from our volunteer coordinator Leanne Freeman quoting Filomena:
On a final note, we have had another busy week here at Canuck Place. In
the words of the Canuck Place CEO Filomena Nalewajek - “ This week we
witnessed the "symphony" that silently embraces that care and resonates at
decibels beyond our ability to simply hear. Staff quietly lending a hand,
without being asked; instinctively knowing what is needed: volunteers
helping staff engaging children in play so they would not witness the raw
pain of parents saying goodbye to their lifeless child; staff there to
support and hold together parents in pain, whatever it took to
respond,give,care. The harmony was there, and in that very sad music was
a sense that the world goes on.”
This house is beautiful.
Thursday, 24 April 2008
Looking forward to getting to the house Friday
It gives me something to write about! Time at the house is far more interesting than my less than stellar efforts at training. In my two week holiday from school I had great aspirations of doing more running. I have have done that a little, but only with thanks to my wife who has taken me to Kitsilano Community Centre Gym and I ran on the treadmill. I did manage to knock off 17 km in my four visits!
I attempted to blog my training last year for the Kelowna Apple Triathlon
as I had challenged a couple of friends to join me in the tri...they both bailed. Here is that blog.
I believe training has 2 simple components:
I attempted to blog my training last year for the Kelowna Apple Triathlon
as I had challenged a couple of friends to join me in the tri...they both bailed. Here is that blog.
I believe training has 2 simple components:
- It must become a habit forming practice
- Your point of reference for personal fitness is the point where you began (not what you used to weigh in college)
Sunday, 20 April 2008
FITNESS IS DEPRESSING
I have been 96kg for the last 5 years, I think. Every time I workout at the gym I weigh myself and I am always 96 kg. I think I would like to be 90 kg, which may be a a bit of a pipe dream so maybe I can accept 92kg...but a man can dream.
Exercising is hard...ok the exercising habit is hard...and when you are not in the habit of exercising, exercising is hard. stay tuned.
Exercising is hard...ok the exercising habit is hard...and when you are not in the habit of exercising, exercising is hard. stay tuned.
Sunday, 13 April 2008
Saturday Make-up
The girls were in for a treat on Saturday as they were given the spa treatment. They were also having their hair, makeup, and nails done. My wife Cindy did their makeup. Maggie, who is in grade five, was doing her own makeup for dinner when I came in on Friday. By Saturday she was in the doghouse with her mum and had had taken her makeup AWAY. Cindy came with goody bags of makeup for each of the girls...so Maggie was back in the game. The girls faces were painted and Cindy said they were all happy and pretty.
Oh...and the girls
Well...it was a Pyjama party and chick flick night. Neither of us (me, Tony, Kyle) brought our PJ's and it appeared that the girls had everything under control with other girl volunteers who were brought in as ringers for the night.
I guess it was a no boy zone for the night...girls...sigh.
I guess it was a no boy zone for the night...girls...sigh.
Saturday, 12 April 2008
Girls are not like boys
The teen girls at the house are very different from the boys. If there is anything that the girls are able to do...they will do it themselves. The boys will have you do it for them!
In the house this week are four girls for the girls teen weekend. There is Maggie, McKenna, Kirsten, and Juliana.
There is also Conner. Conner is a 3 year old boy from the Interior who is in the house (and Children's) as they try and figure what is happening with his tummy. He is having difficulty digesting any food he receives. Right now he gets ALL of his nourishment by way of intravenous lipids and proteins. I got to sit with Conner and we watched the hockey game. Some of the discomfort Conner is feeling is due to him swallowing a lot of air and his stomach is filling up with it. Every ten minutes or so he becomes really uncomfortable and the nurse will "depressurise" him by sucking out the air through his tummy tube with a syringe--anywhere between 100 to 200 cc of air each time. He also farts! When I sat down with him tucking his legs up with one hand and supporting him from underneath with the other he let one rip as a way of introduction.
Conner's mum, dad, and sister are all in the house and have been in town for a number of weeks. He also has a brother who is staying closer to home and being looked after by somebody else. His sister can do her school work while she is here. There is a full time teacher that looks after the kids and their siblings while they are away from home.
Conner's dad came by to sit with him. We all watched the hockey game and talked a little. Dad said some nice things about what we do as volunteers and how important we are...how important the house is...to everybody that needs the help. The house isn't just for the kids. It is for the kids and their whole families. Parents get a break from doing all the work that is needed to keep their children comfortable, or for that matter, alive. When they are at the house they can concentrate on simply loving their babies, or taking a break.
In the house this week are four girls for the girls teen weekend. There is Maggie, McKenna, Kirsten, and Juliana.
There is also Conner. Conner is a 3 year old boy from the Interior who is in the house (and Children's) as they try and figure what is happening with his tummy. He is having difficulty digesting any food he receives. Right now he gets ALL of his nourishment by way of intravenous lipids and proteins. I got to sit with Conner and we watched the hockey game. Some of the discomfort Conner is feeling is due to him swallowing a lot of air and his stomach is filling up with it. Every ten minutes or so he becomes really uncomfortable and the nurse will "depressurise" him by sucking out the air through his tummy tube with a syringe--anywhere between 100 to 200 cc of air each time. He also farts! When I sat down with him tucking his legs up with one hand and supporting him from underneath with the other he let one rip as a way of introduction.
Conner's mum, dad, and sister are all in the house and have been in town for a number of weeks. He also has a brother who is staying closer to home and being looked after by somebody else. His sister can do her school work while she is here. There is a full time teacher that looks after the kids and their siblings while they are away from home.
Conner's dad came by to sit with him. We all watched the hockey game and talked a little. Dad said some nice things about what we do as volunteers and how important we are...how important the house is...to everybody that needs the help. The house isn't just for the kids. It is for the kids and their whole families. Parents get a break from doing all the work that is needed to keep their children comfortable, or for that matter, alive. When they are at the house they can concentrate on simply loving their babies, or taking a break.
Monday, 7 April 2008
Girls weekend out.
Every once in a while the house holds a teen weekend for the kids who are teens. They are all in the house for the weekend and spend a lot of time together doing activities...going out...group discussions...and playing. I think this is the first girls weekend out in a couple of years.
This weekend there are going to be five girls hanging out.
I am really happy that my wife and step daughter will be helping out on Saturday.
One of the activities is doing makeup. Cindy is a professional makeup artist and is taking her kits to the house and taking goody bags of makeup for the girls. She will doll up the girls for the night and teach those who can do their own makeup some tips on how to do a beautiful makeup and to take care of their skin.
I will be there on Friday night...I wonder what will be in store for us!
This weekend there are going to be five girls hanging out.
I am really happy that my wife and step daughter will be helping out on Saturday.
One of the activities is doing makeup. Cindy is a professional makeup artist and is taking her kits to the house and taking goody bags of makeup for the girls. She will doll up the girls for the night and teach those who can do their own makeup some tips on how to do a beautiful makeup and to take care of their skin.
I will be there on Friday night...I wonder what will be in store for us!
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