Third Round of Chemo Is Over

Harry practising with his speed gun!!


Harry with his own whiteboard. (If I had known we were going to end up in PMH then wouldn't have bothered with the school fundraising as we ended up with a whiteboard anyway)


Harry and his favourite nurse Nicole, who has now left the ward unfortunately.


Well the third round of chemo went the same as the second. 2 hours in to the treatment and harry was sick. Then fine for most of Tuesday and then sick again on Wednesday. Levels came down nicely and then we got let out again for a long weekend.
The outside area of the ward has been officially opened and Harry and Laura managed to break the table tennis table on the first day in!! So we have had to play table tennis on half a table for the last couple of days. Dad came in today and fixed the table so hopefully it will be standing when we go in again next week.
Wednesday evening whilst waiting for Harrys blood tests to come back, Harrys temperature went up to 38. They then check his temperature an hour later and if it hasn't gone down then they keep you for 48 hours ! As you can imagine on the eve of our release Harry was not happy about possibly being kept in but luckily an hour later is was .3 lower and we were still on the road out of 3B - well for a few days at least.
Managed to get some sleep and the lovely night nurses woke Harry most of the time.
Fran, I met Ramena and yes she is lovely.
Spoke to Cousin Tom who is in Mongolia and organising the car rally from the UK and also the biggest horse race. Anyway it was great to chat to him and hope to see him at the end of September when his trip finishes. Laura is still here and stopping for another 10 days and Nanny Shirley arrives on Monday morning.

The head shave fundraiser for camp quality is hopefully being finalised in the next week. We are just short of $10,000 at the moment and hoping once all those promised donations come in we will make the $10k.

Harry is off to school in the morning and then hopefully the sun will shine and we will spend the arvo at point walter.

Have a great weekend and see you all soon.

PS Thanks Karen for all those meals! Looking forward to dinner next week now.

Third Round of Chemo Begins

Seems like only yesterday I was sitting in this hospital bed, with Harry beside me, and now we are back again. We had a good few days at home with not much sickness and lots of energy. Harry managed to go to school on Friday and enjoyed seeing all his friends. Then after school we went to point walter, which was great as it made life seem a bit normal for a few hours!

Harry had his new television put up in his room which he is very happy with and then on Sunday we went to Circus Quirkus at the convention centre. Lara came over for a play on saturday and it was good to hear lots of laughter in the house.

Forgot to mention that last week when we were in the hospital the Radio Lollipop volunteers came round and we were chatting to a lady (whilst playing Uno) who turned out to be best friends with Mrs Humphreys, Harrys previous principal. What a small world!

After this chemo has finished we are back in on Monday for the start of the next five weeks treatment. PEAC testing is being done for year 4's on Monday so have arranged for Harry to do the test in the hospital. As the chemo doesn't normally start till early evening he should be feeling ok, and even though they can do a make up session later on in the year he is likely to be feeling worse then than he is now, so really got nothing to lose. It will also give him something to do as he is not too enthralled with hospital school. Think the point of going to school is lost when you are one of one or at the most two kids in the class. I am beginning to see the main incentive for school is the chat, and also realising every day how much he takes after his mum!! On Friday he said he felt tired and didn't want to go to school, so I offered him a lunch order and he was up and dressed in minutes!! Again just like his mum!!

Well I had better go and get some sleep, after I wake him for a wee of course! Night to all, and again thanks for your camp quality contributions. Slowly but surely we are getting closer to Harrys new goal.

Going home!

Levels are down and we are good to go. (for now). Andrew (one of the boys on the ward) turns 11 today, so the kids are all down in the school making pancakes!
See you soon.

Second treatment is nearly over

Well it is now 12.30am on Thursday morning and we are hoping to be out today. Harry has drank and pee'd more than I ever thought possible and his levels are nearly under the level they should be, so fingers crossed all is good in the morning, and we will be out of here.
We have been in a shared ward for the past couple of days, but luckily I had a bed for 2 nights. This night thought it ain't looking so good. All 4 beds are full, so unless I can kick one of the kids out it looks like it could be a long night.
Harry has been very eager to find out who everyone is on the ward, and has been doing the rounds and chatting to everyone.
Saw Karen and Grace today, as Grace was here for an appointment. It is always good to see a friendly face, and Karen also introduced us to a friend of hers who is also here. So slowly but surely we are getting to meet the 3B locals. Mad Deb also came in, and for those of you from Attadale, if you don't know who I mean you really are missing out. Love that crazy pommy bird!!
The fundraising total continues to rise. I have said it before and I will say it again your generosity has overwhelmed me. Camp Quality I am sure will be very grateful, and I think all in all for something that was decided a week ago, it is just amazing. I am not going to mention what the total is at the moment, but watch this space..... the total keeps rising and I reckon we are not going to set another goal as we have smashed everyone so far and the result is going to be far higher than any of us would have expected!!
As you will all know I love a bit of fundraising but I think for now my focus has changed. So for all you kids who have read The Diary of A Wimpy Kid, the movie apparently comes out in September and this is going to be the next fundraising effort. Different charity this time - Red Kite. They are also very involved in supporting children with cancer and their families, and I think we should share the fundraising love around! Anyway watch this space and I will let you know the time and date, and hope to see some of you there!!
Anyway must go and try and get some sleep. Ciao for now.
PS This photo is a few years old, but have to say they are both too cute, so thought I would share it with you!! xx

Second Round of Chemo

We are back in PMH and Harry has had his second dose of chemo. This one is Methotrexate and is meant to make them less sick, but obviously Harry doesn't like it as he was sick 2 hours after it started. Anyway it was an eventful night with lots of wees and flushing but we made it through the night..... just! The good news is that next time we have this which is next Monday he will be given extra vomitting drugs so hopefully that will work.

Managed to get myself a bed and just keeping my fingers crossed that it is free again tonight.

Not really much else to tell you. Hoping to be out Thursday if not before and then we will have the weekend at home and hopefully Harry can make it to school on Friday.

Better go, things to do, people to see and all that.

PS Everytime Harry wees they measure it, and he has wee'd 2 litres in 2 hours!! Bet you all wanted to know that.

The Head Shave

Friday 17th 5.30 pm and the head shave was happening. It was going to be done on Sunday but as Harrys hair had started to come out and was annoying him he decided to bring it forward.

We invited a few friends over and Sharon did the shave for us. So far Harry has raised over $4000 and his aim is now for $5000. If you want to donate send an 'e' mail to harry.oneill8@gmail.com and I will send you the bank details. If you want a tax receipt then also include the name and address to make it out to.

All money raised is going to camp quality. www.campquality.org.au
Next Sunday we are off to the circus and this has been organised by camp quality, so hopefully Harry will be well enough to go and have some fun.

Harrys friend Shaye and also came over and shaved his hair off, which was fantastic. Brendon also shaved his head, so all in all we ended up with 3 bald boys!

At the end of the day, Harrys hair was going to come out anyway as a result of the chemotherapy but I think the realisation of the whole situation was written all over his face as his head was shaved.

Once the shave was over Harry settled down and enjoyed spending some time with his friends. A few glasses of wine, bottles of ruskis and plates of curry were had, and Harry and Ella crashed out on the couch after a long day. Just re-read this and it sounded like the kids drank wine, ruskis and ate curry but it was the adults!!

We now have the weekend ahead of us before Harry goes back into hospital for chemo on Monday, so let's hope for lots of laughter and fun!

Head Shave - Friday 16th at 5.30pm

Well the date and time has been brought forward till 5.30 Friday. Harrys friend Shaye is also going to do the shave so will post some photos later.

The total raised so far is over $3500! Thanks so much, everyones generosity is greatly appreciated.