Jul 31, 2008

gratitude for public health care!

here we go again!

felt a little deja vu at the day surgery with Sasha today. After our previous visit for her deflux procedure last year, we knew what to expect from the routine this time.

Here were the few things that were different:
This time it was a surgical procedure and small incisions were made into her eyes, and a few muscles were moved (the deflux procedure required no incision. they call it 'non-invasive' but i still think having medical equipment of any kind stuck up inside you always feels a bit invasive)

we got to wake up around our regular time as the surgery wasn't until 10:15 (last time we were up at 5:30). still had to be there 1 1/2 hours beforehand. though she wasn't allowed to eat she did get to have some apple juice 1st thing in the a.m.

this time she is a vocal toddler who can pull your heart strings by saying "I don't like it. please take it off mommy" when you try to put her in the gown and the bracelet. the nurses loved her as she was a super calm and cooperative patient. I'm sure the nurses don't often get thanked by their 2 year old patients after going through the pre-op routine of weighing, blood pressure check, putting on bracelet and numbing cream for the hands

as always she pretty much went with the flow with little fuss. I always talk her through where we're going and what's going to happen beforehand. guess that seems to help her understand when we're there. And she has had about an appointment a week lately - between ultrasound, blood pressure checks (pretty good at this point. next blood pressure check will be in sept), multiple eye doctor visits, a trip to the emergency to have her head glued...and now this!

last year I got to go see her in recovery, and this time I also got to go into the surgery room with her until she was asleep. I held her as the anesthetist held the mask (her veins always prove tricky to find, so this time they didn't do the injection) and it is a very strange feeling watching your child be put to sleep...but I was happy to be there for her. Here are some pics from after surgery. and after she ended up sleeping for hours she was perky and wanting to play!
(see video of Sasha and her picnic below)

no glasses today...back to those tomorrow for a while longer anyways. Though Mark was a little under-thrilled that her eyes were not perfect right away, I did notice some difference. Especially without the glasses, her right eye had gotten to where it automatically was turning in all the time. Today, you can see she is noticing something is different...but not her...still happy and healthy!! we'll keep you posted on her eye progress and her follow up is aug 22.

I realized today that in 2 years and 3 months, this is the summary of Sasha's experience with Children's hospital so far:
- 15 days staying in hospital (5 days when born because she had jaundice, and 10 days when she was six weeks old and got her urinary and kidney infection)
- 2 trips to emergency (1st at 6 weeks with fever -which led to the 10 day stay, and 2nd two weeks ago from the head wound)
- 2 day treatment procedures
- 2 follow up ultrasounds

Keep in mind this is all "common" stuff...who knew there were so many freakin 'common' things that could happen to your child?? Though our experiences with Sasha have now made all things medical feel a bit routine (and Sasha now handles it all like a pro!) I have only an inkling of what it is like for parents who have to spend some, most, or all of their child's life at the hospital for things they may never be cured for. The kids are always the most resilient ones.

Anyways...in all of this we have also never had the stress of being able to afford the care our daughter needs. When she coned her head on the table and cut it open a bit, our only hesitancy was whether or not it was a small abrasion or in need of stitches (we could tell she was fine over all) But since it was her head we said "let's go". Now, if we had been a family living in the US without any coverage our first concern might have been "can we afford to have her head fixed if something is wrong?". A big difference I have heard between here (Canada) and there (USA) is the 1st question asked there is 'where's the credit card'. Here the 1st questions is 'what happened?' and 'do you have her care card?'
nice words indeed when you're already stressing about your kid!

In fact, upon reflection Mark and I have become insanely full of gratitude for being Canadians where our family has access to a top notch public health system!!! Not that we were ever ungrateful...but when you really stop to think about the luxury of the system we have overall (even with the faults each of us may have to gripe about - and actually I can't really gripe especially about Children's as they have been amazing!) it really makes me wish I could personally thank Tommy Douglas for having the courage of his convictions to push for this legacy for my generation and those to come! Time to write that letter to my MP, MLA and more (including revisiting the BC Health Coalition campaigns) - Dear leaders...please don't sell health care out!

Two of our family have been having appointments lately: Sasha...and for once not me! haha ;) Mark had developed an infected wound on his leg. He went to the clinic last week to have it checked and he was given antibiotics for the infection. The other day we went back and the doctor cut it open and dug out all the bad stuff...and this weekend we'll see if it finally gets stitched up! Good news: The swelling has gone down and not looking too gross anymore. Mark was disappointed in my lack of desire to tend his wound, but I get quesy when things reach a certain point of yuckiness - so no Nurse Nightingale for him...
almost better...

so a quick summary of the fun stuff in our life - just so you don't think it's all been a medical drama here for the past few weeks ;)

the folk fest was, as always, an uplifting weekend! though I missed the friday night with my amigos for Sasha's trip to the emergency, our 2 days there were plenty fantastic! Saturday we played with Tanya and Nolan and had a great family time. my favorite Sasha line for the day was when I was bouncing around with her at the African collaborative stage and she took my face in her hands and said "mommy, I wanna get down and boogy" - OMG!! too too cute! and she now has a love for hula hoops...I need to find one in her size. As is our custom now, we lounge in the shade of stage 2 for lovely music relax time, and here Sasha dozes to the amazing vocal stylings of the Womens Voices Rising collaborative - which was stunning :)




Granma Penny came and picked up Sasha so Mark and I had saturday night, sleep in sunday, and all day sunday to relax and play just the 2 of us...and a bunch of our friends and even some of our co-op neighbours! brilliant good music and good times. Next to the closing show with our fave artist Micheal Franti & Spearhead, my favorite moment was the 'Celebrating Utah Phillips' collaborative on the Sunday. He passed away back in May, and I feel so lucky to have been introduced to the music and storytelling of this wonderful man, and more happy both of our kids got to see him alive (though Sash won't remember, Che has become a big fan too) He has left a big impression on this family...contributing to our radical nature ;)

as for nature...here's a pic of the awesome orange flowers that are filling our patio - a nice surprise as we didn't know what they were gonna be! and I can't believe I didn't mention it before, but earlier in the month one of our co-op members was checking the suites dryer vents (for fire insurance purposes) and you will never believe what he found in the back of our dryer...
2 dead birds! been in there a loooong time. but the heat and dryness had preserved them. hmmmm. good news: the dryer is working better now

we have also had some fun with friends: I've been to 2 housewarming gatherings and a press conference for a couple of friends running in the civic election; Mark went to a the COPE annual summer bbq fundraiser with his CUPE 391 crew; and had a boys night out to spend some time with his old friend Mike who he hasn't seen in a very very long time. A nice mid-day gathering at Thomas & Kristina's gave us an opportunity to meet his whole family visiting from Ontario. sweet!

alright. I'm done. though I'm sure i've forgotten something...can't be that important.
time to enjoy a long weekend with family and friends...love our fun in the summertime! hope you are all still enjoying your summer too! squishes :)

enjoy the clip of 'apple & orange' talk while Sasha serves a picnic on the roof of her 'tent'

Jul 27, 2008

Sasha's quilt

Long before I ever got pregnant, my mom started telling me about this idea she had for a quilt she wanted to make for her future grandchild.

Well, along came Sasha and with life gettin in the way (like it often does) mom determinedly worked away at this quilt over the past 2+ years...and the majority is hand sewn!

We are so thrilled with this beautiful legacy piece for Sasha which can be altered through the years and passed down to our own grandkids some day!

Fantastic is an understatement in my opinion - and I don't think I am biased on this one...it really is an amazing piece of work!!!

Each square can be washed independently, the whole thing is washable. Each letter has a hand sewn capital letter on one side, and lower case underneath. Picture cards were made for every letter, and shapes provide things to count for each number. The images she chose for every letter card were either natural flora and fauna, animals, vegetables and fruits, or musical instruments - all of which she copied from old encyclopdia sets (one series she has had since high school!) online image places and childrens books. Pictures of Mom, Dad, Brother and Oma fill each corner. (the pic of Oma is the first time they met when Sasha was 4 months - awww)

Truly the most wonderful gift from Oma...so much time and love and creativity!!!

Well, the pics tell the story of our opening of the package and exploration of the quilt as we put it together. Great fun! And Sasha sang the abc's for a while, looked at the picture cards trying to identify things (these cards have lots she knows, but also plenty of new things to add to her vocabulary!), started playng hopscotch on the squares, and generally had a blast with it right from the get go...no surprise!









Video: "I made it!" - Sasha playing hopscotch on the quilt

Jul 16, 2008

play time!!

every walk is an adventure for Sasha. She needs to climb every rock (like this little 'mountain' 1/2 way up the hill from our place), walk every wall, try out every set of stairs and rampways she can find, test out the acoustics of entryways and gateways to underground parking, say hello to the pansies and daisies, play hide & seek, blast off like a rocket ship, sing and dance...5 blocks is a long way to go on Sasha time ;)

She has just as much fun exploring the neighbourhood as she does playing at any of the parks around here (we are most fortunate to have 5 play parks within a short walk of home). And our outdoor living space is getting plenty of usage too. Here a a scattering of pics to show a bit more of where we are:

after taking the pic of Sasha the mountaineer, I turned around and took this pic facing towards our home down the hill, though primarily you can see the green space to the east of our co-op. and FYI, the red car is a bad neighbour I just happened to catch in the act of dumping their garbage...there are many folks who go out of their way to dump their garbage in the dumpsters of the buildings in our 'hood. fast becoming a pet peeve for me as we live closest to the bin for our co-op - see the view from our bedroom balcony (thankfully we have great neighbours who help keep it all tidy, and it is picked up often enough to not be a problem.)

Che, modeling the car seat as a new style of head gear, is standing on the sidewalk just outside our place, and here you can see the view up the hill. literally at the corner of 5th & Fraser, and our fave co-op car is just 1/2 way up the hill (at the tip of the Fraser st sign in the pic)

some views of our outdoor space from outside the fence, and out the kitchen window. nice view while doing the dishes. a new addition of a little wood burning pot-bellied stove was handed down to us from our wonderful neighbour Amada (fast becoming like a grandmotherly character in our life here at Northern way) and life continues to grow on our patio...except the carrots and the dill. lucky Che...the zucchini is doing just fine! lol!


below our co-op is Great Northern way, a busy street, and one that divides us from the industrial area to the north. this view (I thought the clouds looked pretty cool this day - though they do obstruct the nice mountain view) overlooks a vacant property, soon to become The Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) - neat!


Anyways...enough about the neighbourhood we play in! Last weekend we went for a BBQ at Gilly's new home in Port Moody. Rob grilled us up some fabu burgers, Che played some tunes for us (he gets better and better...especially playing "Smoke on the Water"), Sasha and Merlin played, and we simply had an overall amazing time - as always!




some of you might question my reasoning when I tell you I let Sasha play with my new camera (after all she did break my last one!)...but in the carpeted confines of her room I felt it safe to let her try to take some pics - she asked really nicely - and here are the 2 she took:


and now that your all relaxed and happy with life in Sasha land...here's some drama for you: tonight we took her to Children's Hospital emergency after she cut her head open on the coffee table! aaaaagh! but serously...she is ok. we actually weren't sure if we needed to take her at first. but the wound was deep enough that I felt unsure - and considering it was her head, we took no chances and we went to have it checked out.

I had just about finished getting ready to go out with a couple of friends for the night when she took the tumble and smacked her head right on the corner of the table. Thought she was gonna be ok 'til we realized the back of her head was covered in blood! drop everything, let's clean it out. after rinsing and applying pressure to it we saw that it had stopped bleeding...ok to breath again. because it is under all her hair it was hard to see how bad it was.

Fortunately, my friend Brenda was ready and waiting for me...and she came to the rescue and took us to the hospital. As we were told it would be at least an hour, I sent my friends on the way to enjoy the wonderful friday night at folk fest without me, and Mark and I hung out with Sasha at Children's.

She was a total trooper, as always, and was super helpful for the nurses and doctors. They ended up using a medical crazy glue to pull the wound together as it wasn't deep enough for stitches. I'm glad we went as I don't think regular crazy glue is as good to use at home ;)

here's a couple of pics of Sasha passing time before (we had to wait about 1/2 hour on the 'fast track' so hung outside a bit) and after (we waited almost 1/2 hour for a cab home):


Before we go enjoy the rest of the folk fest this weekend, I'll finish with an update on her eyes. Here's the quick summary of the past 2 weeks: had an appointment with the eye specialist last week, had a follow up appointment this past wed, and she is slipping into a cancelation time slot for her surgery - July 31!

Basically the procedure will take about 20 min per eye, and what the surgeon will be doing is actually moving the eye muscles closest to her nose, to provide more give and flex for her focusing efforts. There are 6 muscles that control eye movement, and I had thought they would shorten the muscles on the outside to pull her eyes back out. His logic is that they don't want to cut anything out, when all they have to do is pick one up and move it instead. Who knew?

The glasses can correct the focusing problem from the far-sightedness (and in fact they are still optimistic that she will not need glasses permanently...which I take with a grain of salt as they also didn't believe, in the beginning, that she would need the surgery ever) and the procedure will correct what the glasses can't which is a muscular problem.

She still has remarkable control over it, so the surgeon is confident it will go well. And "No kids have gone blind by me or anywhere in Canada from this procedure" - awesome. We're lucky not to have to wait long for this to be done as the wait list can be as long as 6-9 months!! If only everyone was fast-tracked like babies are.

She has a blood pressure check with our family doctor next week, and surgery the week after. I cannot believe how patient and helpful she has become with all these appointments we seem to have had lately...and even managed to handle a hospital visit after bedtime with fun and humour.

video this month: Sasha and the boys having fun on Gilly's deck :)

Jul 1, 2008

celebrating alive at 35 :)


what more could a girl ask for at 35? an amazing daughter, great partner with my hubby, cool step-son, supportive family and friends, a broad network of inspiring colleagues and role models, an evolving sustainable lifestyle, a few 'hats' that enable me to pursue my passion for positive change in public education, goals to keep striving for, a wonderful home in our co-op, some family income stability for the next 6 months with my job share renewed, living in a peaceful and beautiful corner of the world...I feel it is a huge understatement to simply say "I am full of gratitude for this abundant wealth in my life"!!!!
in short, grateful and happy is what i am :)

now some tales from the past few weeks:

first to update on the 2 appointments for Sasha. She had her 2nd follow up ultrasound and a visit with the urologist, and the good news is her kidneys have grown and it still looks like the deflux procedure did the trick. Her right kidney is a bit smaller, but he was happy enough with her progress that he doesn't feel a need to see her again until she is 4 and potty-trained. aside from her blood pressure being a bit high (which may have just been because it was taken after the ultrasound and being at the hospital for a couple of hours), which he wants us to monitor with our family doctor, it seems all is well internally. however, as some kids have a tendency to hold it in too long when learning how to toilet train, if Sasha develops this habit it could cause damage...so this is something for us to keep in mind when she actually starts potty training.

which should be soon! Now that she is settling in at the new childcare (and loving it), we're able to introduce another routine to the mix. She is also using all the right language, and asking to sit on toilet (though not 'cuz she needs to - only cuz she wants to flush the toilet. hehe. smart as she is, she hasn't yet grasped the concept of wasting water), etc...so I actually think we've already begun...we just need to get the potty here at home!! as the past year was quite unstable we kept putting it off. I didn't want to start while we were moving, then she started one childcare, then we went away, then she started another childcare. That's a lot of change in a short while, and I figured it would be much easier for her to start using potty when all was stable...or as stable as things get for us ;)

the other appointment she was supposed to have was with the eye specialist...but they canceled last minute, and has been rescheduled to july 10th. so the next post will have some more info on the corrective surgery, if it's needed (which we think it will be).

Sasha does a whole lot of talking and singing now (see video clip below). Incredibly sweet to listen to her voice, and she is blowing our minds with how quickly she is learning to articulate new words and speak in full sentences. She copies everything you say, and will repeat it over and over if it is the first she has tried it out. She has also added counting to 5 in spanish to her list of faves, and also having extended conversations on the phone...unless a real person is on the other end...then she just wispers and smiles. LOL



one thing we have spent a lot of time on, since Sasha and I returned from Ontario, is our patio! While we were away, Mark had started the work by clearing a space in one of the tiers (there are 5 in total) to begin an herb garden. mmmmmmm...fresh yummy herbs! rosemary, dill, oregano, and chives oh my



as a family, we spent a day doing more work together. a few days later we had another family work party with mum and Heath to help out too, a bit more work scattered throughout...and within a couple of weeks we have turned our patio into an awesome outdoor living space. Put up a couple of bamboo blinds we had lying around to add a touch more privacy. Laid another 4 ft of patio stone to increase the seating area (it was just dirt before). used the stones scattered around to create a design around the flower bed on the ground. We've had plant contributions from Penny's garden, and from one of our fabu neighbours here in the co-op. edible additions we have added to the mix are tomatoes, basil, cucumber, zucchini, carrots, mint, and swiss chard. still some work to do, but overall we are very very sastified with the work so far, and have been enjoying it on the really hot days lately! things are growing, and all is groovy...and I have developed a tremendous love of diggin in the dirt!!! maintaining the garden is also turning into a daily family ritual now...sweet :)



Aside from the fixin up of our outdoors, I've also had a couple of things to do outside the home. The PEPpers united for a sunny afternoon meeting to continue our dialogue on influencing a progressive slate of candidates in the upcoming school board/civic elections. I always feel so empowered and informed after meeting with these folks, and they have become a big dose of positive support and inspiration in my life! And I'm still hope-full we will succeed in efforts.

The Mt. Pleasant childcare parent board had it's AGM, and guess who is now a board member at Sasha's childcare - yup, me! This will be even more interesting as this childcare is one of the satellite childcares that Britannia Community Centre (where I work) is the hub for. Yet anothe learning opportunity for me to get a better handle on how the whole thing works ;)

For Canada Day, I was invited to be the MC for the Kengsington Community annual event - soooo much fun! I had been looking forward to seeing my friends and neighbours for the first time since we moved. It really is a great community, and I loved being part of the event which brings the full diversity of the neighbourhood together. It seems I have a nack for the role of MC...and they are trying to get me to committ for life! lol. I'm determined to find another cheeseball in that community to take over at the mic one day...but happy to keep being asked back to help out with good times in our old 'hood! lookin' forward to mc'ing the annual Jones Park family fun day on Aug 9th :)

after the feel good buzz from my fun at KCC wore off, I began reflecting on one particular conversation I had with a former neighbour of ours. I was happy to see this woman at the event, and surprised when she said she had no idea there had been an annual event for 3 years now. I had always assumed she was 'in the know' having lived in that home for over 30 years, and also assumed she used the community centre only a 1/2 block down the hill. She told me she used to come here daily, but not anymore. When I asked her why she had stopped coming for the swimming she had clearly loved, her response was "now the pool is too dirty from all those chinese"

I stopped her right there saying I was sorry she felt that way, but I was not interested in listening to any racial discrimination geared at the chinese, or any other culture for that matter. I expressed concern that she no longer felt welcome in the centre where she had raised her kids. Then I asked if she might consider getting involved on the board, or some other way, to be a part of making the centre a more inclusive place.

She changed the subject to the kids and gave me an update on her grandchildren. Then I had to get back to the stage.

after much thought, I wanted to do something to diffuse the negative emotion that came from my dissatisfaction with my reunion with my neighbour. She is a great lady, and I was fond of her over the years we got to know each other. However, the racial comment was not the worst part of it to me. The bigger challenge is the chasm that exists between the different cultural backgrounds that blend in the Kensington area.

next year, as MC, I am committed to learning a greeting in at least 3 of the languages spoken in that community, as well as inlcuding a traditional greeting to the native territory by a 1st nations member of the community. perhaps that will be another solid step in the right direction, to build on the efforts already being achieved by other people in the Kensington area.

I was thankful that another community member approached me later wanting to know how he could get involved. Recently retired he feels an urge to lend some time to his community and had been inspired by my push for folks to get involved by participating at the centre through programs or volunteering. And he is going to keep me in mind for mc gigs too!

always the ups and downs in life eh?

anyways, on that note I'll finish off with some pics of the good times - aka the 'ups'. Che and I both celebrated our bdays with Dad & Liz. (when I received my gift from the whole family - a new camera!! yippee!) We'll likely have another family gathering some time where everyone can see him at once. He also organized a street hockey party for his 14th - that's right, 14 - to play with his friends - cool! now he is with us for the next 2 weeks (unfortunately not while we have time off work) and we hope to make the most of our summer time with him.




Having connected with my 'Saucy Side' this year I wanted to do something different for my 35th! For so many years I have simply invited people to come sit around the fire in our backyard for laidback BBQ's for my bday...only now we don't have a yard for a fire! And I was dying to see some live music!! So I planned a night out to celebrate being alive at 35...on 'theDrive'. Starting with drinks and food at the Reef with one gathering of peeps. And then on to the Lime for 3 great preformers and plenty of fun with another gathering of peeps! A diverse night - Carribean, Japanese, and R&B/Soul/hip hop/ jazz/ funky music between 3 fantastic artists! As you can see I certainly got sauced, and I'm sure all my elders are just brimming with pride at my ability to still drink 2 drinks at once - lol.

Cheers to all of you for making my life the joy that it is...and caring enough to read about it :)









This months video: Sasha singing E I E I OOOO