It's been very busy! (Hence the lack of update). Charlotte and I spent the morning at Romp n' Roll. She was my "little helper" during classes and seemed to have such a good time seeing everyone!
Roger was up in Caroline County today promoting some of our Romp n' Roll To Go activities up there.
After Romp n' Roll, Charlotte and I ran many errands (PetSmart, Five Below, Ukrops). I don't know about her but I'm ready for a nap!
Speaking of Five Below, don't forget to stop by there today or tomorrow and stock up on your bouncy balls, pool noodles, stickers, etc. If you've never been, it's like an "upscale" dollar store with lots of discount stuff. The one at VCC (next to Best Buy) is where the Charlotte fundraiser is. 10% of sales go to Charlotte.
Now we are just counting down and gearing up for our trip to Houston next week. Everything seems to be going according to plan.
I think Roger is still looking for a few volunteers for Wednesday evening for the FACES event at Virginia Crossings (see previous journal post). Please contact him directly if you can help.
Enjoy your weekend!
Rachel
Showing posts with label Caroline County. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Caroline County. Show all posts
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Happy Easter
Happy Easter everyone. Thanks so much, again, to all involved with the Head Shaving Party on Friday. It was a great day from the word "go."
The morning Open Gym was busy with lots of our regular faithful members and that meant more to me than most people can know. It meant that our members are invested and interested enough to keep track of our wacky schedule shifts and adapt with them. (This has actually been a very successful Spring Break and now we are VERY excited that the official Summer Session schedule will be available TOMORROW!)
Then, after Open Gym, I went running around, gathering stuff for the big event including some cool jars and vases for the donations, face paint for the freshly shaved heads, and prizes. I had some good karma going and the timing actually worked out perfectly to fit in a Dr.'s appointment for myself. (Yeah, I actually need those too sometimes) Just a checkup. My numbers were all good except my cholesterol for which I actually have medication but I had stopped taking for a while to see if my low numbers from last time were a result of the statin or better eating habits. Turns out it's a little of both so I started taking a half dose again since that's what worked so well for my last checkup.
So, back on task...Got everything together and got things rolling right at 3pm (again, perfect timing despite a bog ole' traffic jam on 95). The rest you know about. $4600+. THANKS!
Rachel gave out lots of thanks but I want to send out my own.
Amanda from Great Clips a couple doors up was so generous with her lunch hour and did such a great job of whipping out those heads.
Also, Cici's Pizza gave us TWO huge trays of brownies for the party and has often offered meals (which we've taken them up on once)
I can't tell you how much I appreciate Pam and Chick-fil-a for everything they've done and are planning to do for us/Charlotte. Thanks for letting me be a cow! :-)
The head shavees. You helped make it so much fun!
The completely AWSOME RNR staff who proved once again how much we couldn't do without them.
Sorry for forgetting anyone. I'll remember them during my Grammy acceptance speech!
Now we have our next event coming up:
The Lisa Nichols Richardson Memorial All-You-Can-Eat Benefit Dinner, titled, "Living With Cancer" On April 25 from 2-5pm. At the Elko Community Center in Sandston, VA. Tickets are $10 and will be on sale at Romp n' Roll VA Center! All proceeds to help Charlotte.
This post to be continued...gotta run to the store to get some last minute stuff for Easter dinner...
An Update:
OK, I'm back. Yummy Easter meal. Charlotte is still eating like a champ. She's been downing the strawberries like nobody's business. Need to get a little something else in her so she doesn't explode (if you know what I mean).
The Flannagans (Lou and Joanne) brought by a couple discs of pics from the head shaving party and I'm going to try to post a bunch of what I have to Facebook since that's the best place I've found to share lots of photos (given my limited technical ability). Thanks folks.
Back to schedules...Happy Start of the Civil War. Does licking my chops at the number of future Southern Horizon gigs make me a war profiteer? 150 years or so after the fact? :-)
Here's what else is going on:
Tomorrow evening: RNR to Go up to Caroline County for an adventure class. There were several people from up there at the Head Shaving Party. Thanks for being there.
Tuesday, April 21 - We're invited to participate in Come and Play With Chic-fil-a at Virginia Center Commons Mall (in the play area by Sears) Not exactly sure who's going to do that as I will be doing RNR to Go. Needs to be led by a trained employee but volunteer "helpers" are always welcome.
Thursday, April 23 - There's an Open House at Rainbow Station by Memorial Regional Hospital. We can use a volunteer "helper" and a babysitter for CJ.
Saturday, April 25. - Talk about a nuts day! Besides the "Living With Cancer" benefit dinner in Sandston, we also have The Connections Fair at the Childrens Museum all day, Miss Alyson's Wellness Fair in Ladysmith, and a Southern Horizon performance at Tredegar Ironworks at 1:00. So it's going to be a huge day. I would like to take Charlotte to the dinner after the SoHo (My personal abbreviation) performance but we will probably need "CJ coverage" before then if anyone is available.
Wednesday, April 29th - I have a conference in the morning and Rachel is teaching at RNR.
Saturday May 2 - Randolph-Macon College is having the Relay For Life and we might be involved a little. Several organizations on campus have contacted us one way or another about doing something for Charlotte. More details as they develop.
We're going to have "Rompy's Bluegrass Jam" at the store on Monday, May 4. Bring your axe. Free for adults, kids can play in the gym for $5.00 each. Donations to the cause always accepted! Charlotte will be having chemo round 3.
I'm sure we will eventually have all of this on the Care Calendar so please check there to volunteer/sign up.
The morning Open Gym was busy with lots of our regular faithful members and that meant more to me than most people can know. It meant that our members are invested and interested enough to keep track of our wacky schedule shifts and adapt with them. (This has actually been a very successful Spring Break and now we are VERY excited that the official Summer Session schedule will be available TOMORROW!)
Then, after Open Gym, I went running around, gathering stuff for the big event including some cool jars and vases for the donations, face paint for the freshly shaved heads, and prizes. I had some good karma going and the timing actually worked out perfectly to fit in a Dr.'s appointment for myself. (Yeah, I actually need those too sometimes) Just a checkup. My numbers were all good except my cholesterol for which I actually have medication but I had stopped taking for a while to see if my low numbers from last time were a result of the statin or better eating habits. Turns out it's a little of both so I started taking a half dose again since that's what worked so well for my last checkup.
So, back on task...Got everything together and got things rolling right at 3pm (again, perfect timing despite a bog ole' traffic jam on 95). The rest you know about. $4600+. THANKS!
Rachel gave out lots of thanks but I want to send out my own.
Amanda from Great Clips a couple doors up was so generous with her lunch hour and did such a great job of whipping out those heads.
Also, Cici's Pizza gave us TWO huge trays of brownies for the party and has often offered meals (which we've taken them up on once)
I can't tell you how much I appreciate Pam and Chick-fil-a for everything they've done and are planning to do for us/Charlotte. Thanks for letting me be a cow! :-)
The head shavees. You helped make it so much fun!
The completely AWSOME RNR staff who proved once again how much we couldn't do without them.
Sorry for forgetting anyone. I'll remember them during my Grammy acceptance speech!
Now we have our next event coming up:
The Lisa Nichols Richardson Memorial All-You-Can-Eat Benefit Dinner, titled, "Living With Cancer" On April 25 from 2-5pm. At the Elko Community Center in Sandston, VA. Tickets are $10 and will be on sale at Romp n' Roll VA Center! All proceeds to help Charlotte.
This post to be continued...gotta run to the store to get some last minute stuff for Easter dinner...
An Update:
OK, I'm back. Yummy Easter meal. Charlotte is still eating like a champ. She's been downing the strawberries like nobody's business. Need to get a little something else in her so she doesn't explode (if you know what I mean).
The Flannagans (Lou and Joanne) brought by a couple discs of pics from the head shaving party and I'm going to try to post a bunch of what I have to Facebook since that's the best place I've found to share lots of photos (given my limited technical ability). Thanks folks.
Back to schedules...Happy Start of the Civil War. Does licking my chops at the number of future Southern Horizon gigs make me a war profiteer? 150 years or so after the fact? :-)
Here's what else is going on:
Tomorrow evening: RNR to Go up to Caroline County for an adventure class. There were several people from up there at the Head Shaving Party. Thanks for being there.
Tuesday, April 21 - We're invited to participate in Come and Play With Chic-fil-a at Virginia Center Commons Mall (in the play area by Sears) Not exactly sure who's going to do that as I will be doing RNR to Go. Needs to be led by a trained employee but volunteer "helpers" are always welcome.
Thursday, April 23 - There's an Open House at Rainbow Station by Memorial Regional Hospital. We can use a volunteer "helper" and a babysitter for CJ.
Saturday, April 25. - Talk about a nuts day! Besides the "Living With Cancer" benefit dinner in Sandston, we also have The Connections Fair at the Childrens Museum all day, Miss Alyson's Wellness Fair in Ladysmith, and a Southern Horizon performance at Tredegar Ironworks at 1:00. So it's going to be a huge day. I would like to take Charlotte to the dinner after the SoHo (My personal abbreviation) performance but we will probably need "CJ coverage" before then if anyone is available.
Wednesday, April 29th - I have a conference in the morning and Rachel is teaching at RNR.
Saturday May 2 - Randolph-Macon College is having the Relay For Life and we might be involved a little. Several organizations on campus have contacted us one way or another about doing something for Charlotte. More details as they develop.
We're going to have "Rompy's Bluegrass Jam" at the store on Monday, May 4. Bring your axe. Free for adults, kids can play in the gym for $5.00 each. Donations to the cause always accepted! Charlotte will be having chemo round 3.
I'm sure we will eventually have all of this on the Care Calendar so please check there to volunteer/sign up.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Parents Have to Be Advocates for Their Children
Just about 4am (as you can read intelligent CJ lover) and we just had an interesting experience. It's also reason #42 why parents have to be advocates for their children.
Because the central line pulled out, they had to put a traditional IV line in her hand-not a lot of fun. When I got here everyone informed me they would have to poke her again to draw blood for her labs and, of course, they couldn't do it at any kind of sane hour, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! They have to do it at 3am because that's when they have to check her numbers.
So,
I settle in at around 11pm to see what kind of sleep I can get from this very noisy room and slightly lopsided chair knowing what's coming at 3.
Now being the kind of guy who gets a little freaked out about oversleeping when there's an early wake-ups time, I was up just about every hour until 3 when, as usual, nothing happened. (Hospital standard time). The nurse came in to do vitals and in the back of my mind, I was actually hoping they had decided to wait. No luck. On her way out the door after the vitals check, she warned me it would be about 10 minutes.
It was more like 7. Which is good because it didn't give me the chance to fall back asleep.
So,
in comes the nurse and another woman, presumedly (sp?) to hold Charlotte down. Of course, that's my unpleasant jorb. (yes I said, "jorb." That's the next trivia challenge...) Turns out the other woman was the one doing the actual poking. That, believe it or not, made me feel better as the night nurse, nice as she is, doesn't seem all that secure doing procedures above and beyond taking vitals and hooking up drugs to the pumps. The other nurse, Mary, came down from the PICU and we all know how highly trained they are down there. She said she gets called out to do draws all the time because it's so difficult to access little veins.
So,
I at least feel like CJ is in capable hands. I get on the bed next to her and shield her eyes as they lights go on and the "big rubber band" gets tied onto her other arm, which she doesn't like and lets us know. I mentioned out loud that they should have some kind of topical cream that would numb the pain right at the site. (There's a really bad movie in there somewhere with Phil Hartman and Sinbad involving liquid novacaine and mistaken idenity.) Can anyone tell me why they don't use it in hospitals for little pokes and things like that?
I'm thinking, "This is REALLY going to suck. I'm getting ready to help them inflict more pain on my baby and she'll be wide awake screaming and I'm never going to get a shower." (Yeah, selfish, I know)
Then I remember something the night nurse mentioned, totally in passing just after Rachel left, about pulling blood from the IV line and how she was scared to try it because it might pull out the IV which would be far more tramatic for Charlotte. Almost in desperation, I said, "So there's no way you can do this through the IV line?" Nurse Mary from the PICU looked up like the lightbulb went off and said something like, "Hey, let's try that."
Bless her and all her progeny from here to the mext millenium. It worked and all CJ had was some minor discomfort from the "big rubber band." She was out again in about a minute, and I'm not exaggerating.
Of course, I'm wide awake and about to get my wonderful shower.
So let that be a lesson to you. Ask those "dumb" questions and be the obnoxious, persistant parent.
In my hyper emotional state, I think "Mary" just made it to the list of potential names for future children/pets behind Tye, Joanne, Kahn (only as a Trekkie pseudonym), Melissa, etc...(about 10 others)
Speaking of that, we forgot to mention that Charlotte went by the PICU for a walk and just happened the see Nurse Melissa and another nurse, whose name I'm ashamed to say I've forgotten, near the front doors. They certainly remembered her and came out to fawn (faun?) all over her. She didn't mind.
So,
After having Leah's death weighing pretty heavily on me for most of the evening, we had a sliver of a good thing happen. It's all we can ask for, right?
The spring fling at Primrose went smashingly and a good chunk of money was raised for A.S.K. in CJ's name. Thanks to all there including the teenage volunteers and especially to Karen Giles who allowed me to leave and go perform with John Robison from Southern Horizon at the Confederate Heritage Days celebration down at the Old Chester Courthouse. (There's some irony in there somewhere)
An aside: Although I really love playing the music and I'm becoming a student of the history behind the "War of Northern Aggression," I think some folks need to realize that the Civil War is over. I used to think that sort of thing was just reserved for geeks like me who got caught up in the Renaissance Faire mentality. (Man, I loved those days!)
Hey, did I mention we're having a head shaving party Friday?!? :-) The golf tourny and other various fun-raisers are being planned and I'm blissfully unaware of most of the details. Just point and tell me to go, I'll be there. You'll probably know about it before I do.
Wesley Berry's family (who we met here) is having a golf tournament Friday April 17 up Cameron Hills Golf Links in King George County. Romp n' Roll is going to sponsor a hole and donate some prizes. Here's the link to a story about him:
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/042009/04032009/455786
Go play a round for us.
It's now 5:00am and I still haven't showered. Here I go.
A Quick Update before going home for the day:
It was a great day at Romp n' Roll and Roger and I have been busy all day. Roger is now up in Caroline County launching our Adventure Classes at Ms. Alisons!
Charlotte is doing ok from what I understand. We FINALLY got a call from the surgeons asking for permission to re-insert her Central Line and that will happen first thing tomorrow morning. I don't have news on her methotrexate levels but I understand she was peeing like a racehorse today and eating well. Not sure if she's pooped.
Thanks to the Masseys for visiting with Easter Baskets. Riley's second grade class actually made baskets for all the kids on the floor and delivered them to Child Life today. What a sweet gift!
Now it's time for me to call gramps and get picked up from work. Did I mention that the alternator in my car died? More joy to the world.
On a positive note, I spent the morning running errands and got to listen to my This American Life podcast which was full of fabulous stories (as always). And through the rain I got to see a pretty cool rainbow while trekking down I-295. Plus I got to hang out with some pretty cool kids at Romp n' Roll today! At least I can find some joy in the day.
Time to sign off...my chariot awaits.
Rachel
Because the central line pulled out, they had to put a traditional IV line in her hand-not a lot of fun. When I got here everyone informed me they would have to poke her again to draw blood for her labs and, of course, they couldn't do it at any kind of sane hour, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! They have to do it at 3am because that's when they have to check her numbers.
So,
I settle in at around 11pm to see what kind of sleep I can get from this very noisy room and slightly lopsided chair knowing what's coming at 3.
Now being the kind of guy who gets a little freaked out about oversleeping when there's an early wake-ups time, I was up just about every hour until 3 when, as usual, nothing happened. (Hospital standard time). The nurse came in to do vitals and in the back of my mind, I was actually hoping they had decided to wait. No luck. On her way out the door after the vitals check, she warned me it would be about 10 minutes.
It was more like 7. Which is good because it didn't give me the chance to fall back asleep.
So,
in comes the nurse and another woman, presumedly (sp?) to hold Charlotte down. Of course, that's my unpleasant jorb. (yes I said, "jorb." That's the next trivia challenge...) Turns out the other woman was the one doing the actual poking. That, believe it or not, made me feel better as the night nurse, nice as she is, doesn't seem all that secure doing procedures above and beyond taking vitals and hooking up drugs to the pumps. The other nurse, Mary, came down from the PICU and we all know how highly trained they are down there. She said she gets called out to do draws all the time because it's so difficult to access little veins.
So,
I at least feel like CJ is in capable hands. I get on the bed next to her and shield her eyes as they lights go on and the "big rubber band" gets tied onto her other arm, which she doesn't like and lets us know. I mentioned out loud that they should have some kind of topical cream that would numb the pain right at the site. (There's a really bad movie in there somewhere with Phil Hartman and Sinbad involving liquid novacaine and mistaken idenity.) Can anyone tell me why they don't use it in hospitals for little pokes and things like that?
I'm thinking, "This is REALLY going to suck. I'm getting ready to help them inflict more pain on my baby and she'll be wide awake screaming and I'm never going to get a shower." (Yeah, selfish, I know)
Then I remember something the night nurse mentioned, totally in passing just after Rachel left, about pulling blood from the IV line and how she was scared to try it because it might pull out the IV which would be far more tramatic for Charlotte. Almost in desperation, I said, "So there's no way you can do this through the IV line?" Nurse Mary from the PICU looked up like the lightbulb went off and said something like, "Hey, let's try that."
Bless her and all her progeny from here to the mext millenium. It worked and all CJ had was some minor discomfort from the "big rubber band." She was out again in about a minute, and I'm not exaggerating.
Of course, I'm wide awake and about to get my wonderful shower.
So let that be a lesson to you. Ask those "dumb" questions and be the obnoxious, persistant parent.
In my hyper emotional state, I think "Mary" just made it to the list of potential names for future children/pets behind Tye, Joanne, Kahn (only as a Trekkie pseudonym), Melissa, etc...(about 10 others)
Speaking of that, we forgot to mention that Charlotte went by the PICU for a walk and just happened the see Nurse Melissa and another nurse, whose name I'm ashamed to say I've forgotten, near the front doors. They certainly remembered her and came out to fawn (faun?) all over her. She didn't mind.
So,
After having Leah's death weighing pretty heavily on me for most of the evening, we had a sliver of a good thing happen. It's all we can ask for, right?
The spring fling at Primrose went smashingly and a good chunk of money was raised for A.S.K. in CJ's name. Thanks to all there including the teenage volunteers and especially to Karen Giles who allowed me to leave and go perform with John Robison from Southern Horizon at the Confederate Heritage Days celebration down at the Old Chester Courthouse. (There's some irony in there somewhere)
An aside: Although I really love playing the music and I'm becoming a student of the history behind the "War of Northern Aggression," I think some folks need to realize that the Civil War is over. I used to think that sort of thing was just reserved for geeks like me who got caught up in the Renaissance Faire mentality. (Man, I loved those days!)
Hey, did I mention we're having a head shaving party Friday?!? :-) The golf tourny and other various fun-raisers are being planned and I'm blissfully unaware of most of the details. Just point and tell me to go, I'll be there. You'll probably know about it before I do.
Wesley Berry's family (who we met here) is having a golf tournament Friday April 17 up Cameron Hills Golf Links in King George County. Romp n' Roll is going to sponsor a hole and donate some prizes. Here's the link to a story about him:
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/042009/04032009/455786
Go play a round for us.
It's now 5:00am and I still haven't showered. Here I go.
A Quick Update before going home for the day:
It was a great day at Romp n' Roll and Roger and I have been busy all day. Roger is now up in Caroline County launching our Adventure Classes at Ms. Alisons!
Charlotte is doing ok from what I understand. We FINALLY got a call from the surgeons asking for permission to re-insert her Central Line and that will happen first thing tomorrow morning. I don't have news on her methotrexate levels but I understand she was peeing like a racehorse today and eating well. Not sure if she's pooped.
Thanks to the Masseys for visiting with Easter Baskets. Riley's second grade class actually made baskets for all the kids on the floor and delivered them to Child Life today. What a sweet gift!
Now it's time for me to call gramps and get picked up from work. Did I mention that the alternator in my car died? More joy to the world.
On a positive note, I spent the morning running errands and got to listen to my This American Life podcast which was full of fabulous stories (as always). And through the rain I got to see a pretty cool rainbow while trekking down I-295. Plus I got to hang out with some pretty cool kids at Romp n' Roll today! At least I can find some joy in the day.
Time to sign off...my chariot awaits.
Rachel
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