Well, I was meant to go in to hospital in the middle of the night and relieve Richard (several of you in LBS will now be guffawing) from his night duty, but I woke at 8am having slept through my alarm and four 'phone calls from Richard on my mobile. Think I must have been tired! So, when I finally got into the hospital with the girls, I was met with a huge shock and thought I was going to be sick. Harry's room was empty, no Richard, no Harry. My immediate thought was of course, that Richard had been been trying to call to let me know something had happened. That was until a nurse broke into my thoughts to ask who I was and if I was lost. I stared at her rather blankly trying so hard to remember whether or not I had seen her before (we really only get to see the eyes and foreheads of all the medical staff because of all the protective gear they wear to treat Harry). I finally came to the conclusion that I hadn't seen this lady before, so explained who I was and asked where my son had gone. She promptly told me that I was on floor 2 and he was on floor 3 - "every one knows about the boy with Kawasaki!" The girls and I giggled and snorted our way back to the elevator and began our morning again! This time pressing button 3.
When I reached Harry's room, Richard looked a little worse for wear but Harry was looking rather better than the night before. He was able to move his arms and I could see some of his eyes. His lovely blue eyes. I sent Richard off to catch up on some sleep, settled the girls in with (yet another) DVD in the corner of Harry's room and then I learned that Harry was just about due to start his treatment again. An ICU nurse had been brought in to stay at his bedside constantly and they started to administer his treatment. He was given a concoction of 2 things to curb his allercic reaction as well as the blood pressure dropping so violently yesterday (the specialist thinks the latter may also have had something to do with the fact he was having IV codine last night as well as all the other medication too). This stuff woke him up from his drousy state, the allergy IV made him scream the place down - they said it might really sting. Immediately after that, his IV of white blood cell anti bodies (I think that's right) started. He had been prescribed a massive dose - the doctors said in order for him to get the quantity he needs, it takes thousands of donors. That really suprised me. Of course, I had asked a doctor at an earlier stage if Richard and I could give the blood - if he hadn't been such a polite chap, I think he would have laughed at the thought of just 2 people being able to do the job!
Within an hour or so our little boy was waving his legs in the air and shouting "Bang Bang you're dead, fifty bullets in your head!". Normally this sort of greeting to a nurse, I do rather frown upon (!). On this occasion however, I was delighted! Poor boy's not going to know what's hit him when he comes home and discipline sets in again!
Really the whole process of the IVIG (intravenous immunoglobulin - the antibodies) was monitored so closely that we were all taking it 10 minutes by 10 minutes. It was just before the 2 hours point last night that his body started reacting against it, so I was pretty tense at that stage today. It made his face itch quite a lot and his blood pressure did fall, but we decided to continue and with the ICU nurse in with me I felt much more comfortable. As each ten minutes went by today, Henry's recovery came on in leaps and bounds. I couldn't really believe what I was seeing. The dreadful strange hives all over his face and body started to fade pretty speedily and I could see his puffy face returning close to normal. I was desperate for Richard to finish his snooze (yes, those of you who know him will know that actually, that was kinda wishful thinking. Richard and waking up aren't usually in the same sentence - apart from when I have sent the children on a mission to wake him up!) so that he could walk into Harry's room and see him pretty much restored to his former self.
During hour two of the IVIG, the boy who has not eaten since Monday morning - 6 days - asked me for some mushroom soup, some pasta, some cucumber and apple juice. I found it and he ate it all - straight up. I honestly couldn't believe my eyes. His recovery curve has been astonishing. Quite miraculous. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. We all appreciate them so much. All of us.
So, today closes with the girls and me leaving the two boys in the hospital (I WILL wake up to my alarm in the small hours, I will!). Harry is busy telling the nurses when the tubes feel loose on his hand, and please could they tuck him in, please could they find him some music with drums and guitars and not have the television switched on! Sounds like he's near normal then!
Shadows of his peculiar target lesions do still remain, but I wonder if that is almost like a type of bruising. I'll ask tomorrow.
I can go to bed tonight not dreading tomorrow.
Although the treatment should work this time, we are always going to have to be careful with infections - we all have to have the 'flu jab now, he shouldn't go to any toddler groups/preschool for a long time and he will need ECGs frequently because his heart may have a reaction to his present medication, at any time in the future, weird thought it may seem. He is on massive doses of asprin, larger than adult's, to kick start another part of the treatment and he has to continue having small doses of it for quite a while to keep his blood thin. It is also entirely possible in the future that another episode like this could happen again. For now, however, we are all just simply delighted, over the moon, thankful and grateful that it looks like Harry will be out of hospital by the end of this week.
Thank you again for your loving thoughts, prayers and communications with us. You are all super friends and family. Lots of love. Noo xxx
30 August 2009
29 August 2009
Saturday 29th August 2009. Still in Calgary.
Ok. Here's the next bit of news. I went in to the hospital just before 5 this morning (bit of a scary walk - albeit a short one, but it was v. dark and no one was about. Perfect scene for a spine chiller....) and seeing my poor little boy was a shock to me. I have been by his side since Monday when all this started and then coming away for a few hours sleep and then going in to see him fresh again was a bit of a shock (I know that sounds silly, I did know what to expect, but it still made me gulp). He and Richard had a fairly good sleep though as Harry was administered codine for the first time , which really helped him with the joint pain.
He was so very stiff that his position hadn't changed from when I left him late last night and his joints had swollen even more. He still can't open his eyes though I'm pretty sure he acn see us through his lashes.
Fairly early on in the morning, two specialists in Tropical and infectious diseases came to see me. One was heavily pregnant and in teetering in high heels and the chap, the more senior of the two was hearing a Hawaian shirt and cowboy boots. I couldn't help a little mental guffaw as they walked in! Good job everyone is on a high state of alert and wearing gowns, masks, gloves and the works or I wouldn't have been able to concentrate on what he was saying!
Now, to what he was saying. It was an enormous relief to hear him say that he can narrow down what Harry has to two things. No one up to this point has been too sure and therefore have been unable to treat him accordinly. The two options are Kawasaki Disease and Stephen Johnson's Syndrome. The former is the more likely of the two, but one of the main symptoms is that the child has to have an extremely high fever for at least 5 days so they had to leave Harry burning up in order to see. Well, he's exceeded the five days now so they are please (so to speak) with that. Harry had more bloods and various horrid swabs taken today so that he can do further testing adn at the moment he is going to treat him for the Kawasaki. This consists of a massively high dose of asprin and then a continuous flow, for 12 hours of white blood cells - that is if his body doeesn't reject and show an allergic reaction to them (possible because the cells are from multiple donors).
So, the treatment began this evening, the asprin was successfully administered so they started on the intravenous immunoglobulin. Sadly, and most frustratingly, he has had a reaction to this and his blood pressure (which was high) has dropped quickly and far too much, so the treatment has had to be stopped. The docs are working right now to get his blood pressure back up again and I have left the hospital (I SO didn't want to, but the girls were beyond tired - and now they are having to wait while I write this) with the medical team working on how to administer the much needed white platelets without Harry's blood pressure dropping. RIchard is there now waiting to see what they decide.
So that's all the news today chaps. He did say a few words today, the first being "play the drums like Jon and Benj" (you know who you are, you two - oh such heros!). Generally though, he just lies there stiff , swollen and unable to be touched. How I would love to give him a cuddle. It hurts him even to hold his hand. Singing to him though seems to be soothing (though I think the ward are now a little sick with "Doe a Deer, a female Deer" - in two or three part harmony, which ever you prefer, with Lizzie and Lexi! Bit of in house entertainment!).
So, off I shall go and catch some ZZZs now. These girls need it too. They are being so good, but are so bored. There's a great deal of tv watching, junk food eating and staying up late going on - they've never had it so good!
Thank you everyone for your messages. It really is so lovely to hear from you. We feel very far away from home at the moment, so coming away from the hospital and then sitting down to write this, only to find lots of messages from friends is really really lovely. Thank you.
Love from Noo.xxx
P.S. SOrry for any spelling errors and typos. I'm typing as fast as I can without checking so you just have to fill in the gaps and use your imagination, I'm afraid! x
He was so very stiff that his position hadn't changed from when I left him late last night and his joints had swollen even more. He still can't open his eyes though I'm pretty sure he acn see us through his lashes.
Fairly early on in the morning, two specialists in Tropical and infectious diseases came to see me. One was heavily pregnant and in teetering in high heels and the chap, the more senior of the two was hearing a Hawaian shirt and cowboy boots. I couldn't help a little mental guffaw as they walked in! Good job everyone is on a high state of alert and wearing gowns, masks, gloves and the works or I wouldn't have been able to concentrate on what he was saying!
Now, to what he was saying. It was an enormous relief to hear him say that he can narrow down what Harry has to two things. No one up to this point has been too sure and therefore have been unable to treat him accordinly. The two options are Kawasaki Disease and Stephen Johnson's Syndrome. The former is the more likely of the two, but one of the main symptoms is that the child has to have an extremely high fever for at least 5 days so they had to leave Harry burning up in order to see. Well, he's exceeded the five days now so they are please (so to speak) with that. Harry had more bloods and various horrid swabs taken today so that he can do further testing adn at the moment he is going to treat him for the Kawasaki. This consists of a massively high dose of asprin and then a continuous flow, for 12 hours of white blood cells - that is if his body doeesn't reject and show an allergic reaction to them (possible because the cells are from multiple donors).
So, the treatment began this evening, the asprin was successfully administered so they started on the intravenous immunoglobulin. Sadly, and most frustratingly, he has had a reaction to this and his blood pressure (which was high) has dropped quickly and far too much, so the treatment has had to be stopped. The docs are working right now to get his blood pressure back up again and I have left the hospital (I SO didn't want to, but the girls were beyond tired - and now they are having to wait while I write this) with the medical team working on how to administer the much needed white platelets without Harry's blood pressure dropping. RIchard is there now waiting to see what they decide.
So that's all the news today chaps. He did say a few words today, the first being "play the drums like Jon and Benj" (you know who you are, you two - oh such heros!). Generally though, he just lies there stiff , swollen and unable to be touched. How I would love to give him a cuddle. It hurts him even to hold his hand. Singing to him though seems to be soothing (though I think the ward are now a little sick with "Doe a Deer, a female Deer" - in two or three part harmony, which ever you prefer, with Lizzie and Lexi! Bit of in house entertainment!).
So, off I shall go and catch some ZZZs now. These girls need it too. They are being so good, but are so bored. There's a great deal of tv watching, junk food eating and staying up late going on - they've never had it so good!
Thank you everyone for your messages. It really is so lovely to hear from you. We feel very far away from home at the moment, so coming away from the hospital and then sitting down to write this, only to find lots of messages from friends is really really lovely. Thank you.
Love from Noo.xxx
P.S. SOrry for any spelling errors and typos. I'm typing as fast as I can without checking so you just have to fill in the gaps and use your imagination, I'm afraid! x
Message for Sue (in pink this time!).
Thanks so much for asking Anna - plese could you possibly tell her one more thing? There's certainly no connection with the chicken pox, it's just that the consultant wanted to know absolutely every virus etc that I could come up with that he might have been in contact so that they can cross reference etc. My sister's little girl had Scarlet fever when we said goodbye to them the day after you. He also wants to know when we last had colds etc.. He just wants the fullest picture he can get. Nothing more than that! So please tell her not to worry or anything - I'm just information gathering!xxxx P.S. Your "comments" are reaching me.xx
Thanks so much for asking Anna - plese could you possibly tell her one more thing? There's certainly no connection with the chicken pox, it's just that the consultant wanted to know absolutely every virus etc that I could come up with that he might have been in contact so that they can cross reference etc. My sister's little girl had Scarlet fever when we said goodbye to them the day after you. He also wants to know when we last had colds etc.. He just wants the fullest picture he can get. Nothing more than that! So please tell her not to worry or anything - I'm just information gathering!xxxx P.S. Your "comments" are reaching me.xx
28 August 2009
Hi Everybody, this is going to be short and sweet.
The canadians have been fab and have put us up in a Ronald MacDonald house(!) 100 yards from the hospital in Calgary (5 hours from our home). It's the most amazing place with every facility from a gym, craft room,computer room, library etc to a kitchen (complete with KitchenAids to use!). So we do have somewhere to stay which is good......
If you read my blog, the last you will know is that the docs thought Harry had a mutant form of measles. The nigth I wrote that though, he took a turn for the worse so we took him to hospital and he was admitted. They have done countless blood tests etc on him and can come up with nothing so far. The poor little thing is covered in what looks like massive hives - deep purple with a red circumference. Every joint in his body is very swollen and he is extremely stiff. He can't be moved without screaming. His beautiful little face is swollen in every place, he can't open his eyes anymore, his mouth is dry and cracked, his nose is like a blob of putty. It breaks my heart to see him like this. He can't be picked up and cuddled becasue it hurts too much.
Things aren't good and all the doctors are scratching their heads. This is a university hospital though so we have the best brains on the job. His temperature is constantly high and keeps peaking to 105, which isn't good. The girls are now here with us (H and I got the air ambulance today from Med Hat Hosp to Calgary and R drove the long journey behind me). SO there we are, that's what's going on here. But I have to say the cleanliness, helpfulness and efficiency of the Canadians has been super. Really super. Thank you all for your prayers. That little boy needs every one he can get at the moment. He's in a bad way. Lots of love to you all, and I am REALLY sorry not to have repied individually. We only have internet connection in the temp housing on the base when I can naughtily gain access to someone else's Wifi (!). Being in the MacDonald house is the first time I have had a proper connection and time to write.
I have averaged 3 hours sleep or less each nigth this week,so now Richard is here he's taking the nigth shift and I'm in this plush accom with the sprogs. Wish we didn't have to be here at all though.......
Oh,lastly, most frlightening for litle Harry apart from the prodding and poking and now not being able to see properly is that everyone who enters his room has to put on special gowns, masks, gloves, visors etc as they don't know how contagious he is (not very I shouldn't think as we all seem to be fine) or how depleted his immune system is. They are starting to err towards some sort of auto immune problem. Will let you know more as I do.
Lots of love Noo.xxx
MESSAGE FOR SUE PALMER: Sue, just seen you are following this - do you know if Anna's children were diagnosed with chicken pox or anything that week we left. She mentioned to me that she thought Tibby had it the day we said goodbye. The docs have said I do need to find out, just so they can rule out all sorts of things. I don't have my uk mob with her number in it with me so really hope you get this. If you are possibly able to reply asap, it would, because of the time difference, I might be able to go in with an answer for them tomorrow morning..... thank you. xx
The canadians have been fab and have put us up in a Ronald MacDonald house(!) 100 yards from the hospital in Calgary (5 hours from our home). It's the most amazing place with every facility from a gym, craft room,computer room, library etc to a kitchen (complete with KitchenAids to use!). So we do have somewhere to stay which is good......
If you read my blog, the last you will know is that the docs thought Harry had a mutant form of measles. The nigth I wrote that though, he took a turn for the worse so we took him to hospital and he was admitted. They have done countless blood tests etc on him and can come up with nothing so far. The poor little thing is covered in what looks like massive hives - deep purple with a red circumference. Every joint in his body is very swollen and he is extremely stiff. He can't be moved without screaming. His beautiful little face is swollen in every place, he can't open his eyes anymore, his mouth is dry and cracked, his nose is like a blob of putty. It breaks my heart to see him like this. He can't be picked up and cuddled becasue it hurts too much.
Things aren't good and all the doctors are scratching their heads. This is a university hospital though so we have the best brains on the job. His temperature is constantly high and keeps peaking to 105, which isn't good. The girls are now here with us (H and I got the air ambulance today from Med Hat Hosp to Calgary and R drove the long journey behind me). SO there we are, that's what's going on here. But I have to say the cleanliness, helpfulness and efficiency of the Canadians has been super. Really super. Thank you all for your prayers. That little boy needs every one he can get at the moment. He's in a bad way. Lots of love to you all, and I am REALLY sorry not to have repied individually. We only have internet connection in the temp housing on the base when I can naughtily gain access to someone else's Wifi (!). Being in the MacDonald house is the first time I have had a proper connection and time to write.
I have averaged 3 hours sleep or less each nigth this week,so now Richard is here he's taking the nigth shift and I'm in this plush accom with the sprogs. Wish we didn't have to be here at all though.......
Oh,lastly, most frlightening for litle Harry apart from the prodding and poking and now not being able to see properly is that everyone who enters his room has to put on special gowns, masks, gloves, visors etc as they don't know how contagious he is (not very I shouldn't think as we all seem to be fine) or how depleted his immune system is. They are starting to err towards some sort of auto immune problem. Will let you know more as I do.
Lots of love Noo.xxx
MESSAGE FOR SUE PALMER: Sue, just seen you are following this - do you know if Anna's children were diagnosed with chicken pox or anything that week we left. She mentioned to me that she thought Tibby had it the day we said goodbye. The docs have said I do need to find out, just so they can rule out all sorts of things. I don't have my uk mob with her number in it with me so really hope you get this. If you are possibly able to reply asap, it would, because of the time difference, I might be able to go in with an answer for them tomorrow morning..... thank you. xx
26 August 2009
Tuesday 25th August 2009. A grotty day.
What a day it’s been today.
Yesterday lunchtime, I noticed a few spots on Harry’s back and by mid afternoon he had a really high temperature, so off I trotted to the doctor (except it wasn’t that easy – the doc is on the other part of this base, where Richard works and a security pass is needed to enter. Of course, I don’t have a pass yet. Not only that, we are not yet registered with the med centre. To top it off, surgery had finished and no one was answering the ‘phone. So....I called Richard out of a conference (yes, I was most popular), he had to come and collect us as we only have one car at the mo and he was able to use his pass to get us through. The place was closed but I managed to persuade a nurse just leaving to get a doctor to see Harry. The doctor told us he was pretty sure it was chicken pox and to do the normal stuff one does with that. So we went home but I kept saying to Richard that I just didn’t think it was that – something didn’t seem right. It just didn't seem like chicken pox.
Anyway as today progressed Harry looked far worse, so we had to go through the whole getting onto the camp rigmarole again where the doc told me that he was fairly sure that Harry had measles! It’s definitely some sort of viral infection and probably measles (a slightly mutated form) but because of the vaccine programme in Great Britain he hadn’t seen a case for 25 years so had to call in another doc for a second opinion. He then sent us on our way to Medicine Hat hospital having been in touch with ER asking for Harry to be admitted recommending blood tests, fluid drip and something to bring down his temperature of just under 105*F. So.....back home we went, kitted myself out with an overnight bag (GP reckoned we’d be in hosp there for 2 days).
Well, we spent the whole afternoon and part of the evening in the in hospital with Harry under observation (the girlies were so good, it was really boring for them). They gave me the choice of giving him the tests and staying in overnight but I was reluctant. Confirmation or not of measles, he will still need the same care and meds as it is a viral infection. It would also save Harry being poked and pierced, which wouldn't be nice. So we brought him home and as long as I can keep his temperature down he can stay at home. The second he becomes floppy as he was earlier in the day we have to dash back to the hospital where they’ll test in earnest. Poor wee thing, he is covered in large flat blotches each with a deep red circumference, the whites of his eyes are red, the skin surrounding his eyes is purple and he just looks terrible. So....we need to get through tonight and pray that tomorrow is a turning point.
Just to add a little excitement to an otherwise dull and uneventful day........ when we finally returned from hospital, we sent Lexi fro a shower. A few moments later, we heard a thud and then a blood curdling scream. On dashing in, we were presented with poor little Lexi standing in the shower, shattered glass all over the floor and blood all around her feet. Bit of a shocker, I have to say, and her frightened screams weren’t helping with the overall picture, but with a huge amount of patience and calm (!) Richard managed to tweezer out all the tiny shards of glass from her feet. When we finally got her out of the cubicle, she was shaking and jittering in shock, poor little thing. She has since been read chapter and verse on why it's not that good an idea to take a glass into the shower .....
Quite a day!
Most tragic of all (!) is we have been invited to a cocktail party at the end of this week and neither of us have the right attire with us – it’s all still in packing boxes somewhere on a ship!
Yesterday lunchtime, I noticed a few spots on Harry’s back and by mid afternoon he had a really high temperature, so off I trotted to the doctor (except it wasn’t that easy – the doc is on the other part of this base, where Richard works and a security pass is needed to enter. Of course, I don’t have a pass yet. Not only that, we are not yet registered with the med centre. To top it off, surgery had finished and no one was answering the ‘phone. So....I called Richard out of a conference (yes, I was most popular), he had to come and collect us as we only have one car at the mo and he was able to use his pass to get us through. The place was closed but I managed to persuade a nurse just leaving to get a doctor to see Harry. The doctor told us he was pretty sure it was chicken pox and to do the normal stuff one does with that. So we went home but I kept saying to Richard that I just didn’t think it was that – something didn’t seem right. It just didn't seem like chicken pox.
Anyway as today progressed Harry looked far worse, so we had to go through the whole getting onto the camp rigmarole again where the doc told me that he was fairly sure that Harry had measles! It’s definitely some sort of viral infection and probably measles (a slightly mutated form) but because of the vaccine programme in Great Britain he hadn’t seen a case for 25 years so had to call in another doc for a second opinion. He then sent us on our way to Medicine Hat hospital having been in touch with ER asking for Harry to be admitted recommending blood tests, fluid drip and something to bring down his temperature of just under 105*F. So.....back home we went, kitted myself out with an overnight bag (GP reckoned we’d be in hosp there for 2 days).
Well, we spent the whole afternoon and part of the evening in the in hospital with Harry under observation (the girlies were so good, it was really boring for them). They gave me the choice of giving him the tests and staying in overnight but I was reluctant. Confirmation or not of measles, he will still need the same care and meds as it is a viral infection. It would also save Harry being poked and pierced, which wouldn't be nice. So we brought him home and as long as I can keep his temperature down he can stay at home. The second he becomes floppy as he was earlier in the day we have to dash back to the hospital where they’ll test in earnest. Poor wee thing, he is covered in large flat blotches each with a deep red circumference, the whites of his eyes are red, the skin surrounding his eyes is purple and he just looks terrible. So....we need to get through tonight and pray that tomorrow is a turning point.
Just to add a little excitement to an otherwise dull and uneventful day........ when we finally returned from hospital, we sent Lexi fro a shower. A few moments later, we heard a thud and then a blood curdling scream. On dashing in, we were presented with poor little Lexi standing in the shower, shattered glass all over the floor and blood all around her feet. Bit of a shocker, I have to say, and her frightened screams weren’t helping with the overall picture, but with a huge amount of patience and calm (!) Richard managed to tweezer out all the tiny shards of glass from her feet. When we finally got her out of the cubicle, she was shaking and jittering in shock, poor little thing. She has since been read chapter and verse on why it's not that good an idea to take a glass into the shower .....
Quite a day!
Most tragic of all (!) is we have been invited to a cocktail party at the end of this week and neither of us have the right attire with us – it’s all still in packing boxes somewhere on a ship!
23 August 2009
Sunday 23rd August 2009
Well, here we are a few days later – it’s Sunday – and we are starting to find our feet. The girls no longer have jet lag but Harry is still waking up in the night. Until last night he was waking at 3am (and making a fuss unless released from his cot) and just staying awake for the rest of the day! Needless to say, I feel a little ragged around the edges now! Also, just to keep me on my toes, I decided to potty train Harry 2 days ago. And guess what.......he’s done. HURRAH! (Yes, Annabel, that’s 2 days!! Sorry! Don’t worry, it took weeks and weeks with Lizzie.x).
We seem to be haemorrhaging money at the moment. We’ve bought car seats, extra bedding (ours in still in boxes waiting for our permanent house), really expensive food – that is until we found Costco yesterday. We’ve bought the car (see pic – it’s absolutely massive – makes my people carrier at home feel like a nippy little town car!). When purchasing a car over here, before being allowed to drive it off the forecourt, you have to take the bill of sale to a registry office (over the other side of town) with the insurance cover note, where they then verify your licence and then having departed with lots more money they give you a licence plate to take back to put on the car and THEN you can drive away! It’s quite a length process compared with being able to do it all on line at home.
I drove into Med Hat yesterday. As most of you will know, I am not exactly a timid driver and have been known to have one or two (!) points on my licence, but yesterday, I was making up every excuse under the sun not to have to drive. I started by having a quick (slow) drive round Ralston Village. All went well until I parked up to fiddle with the seat position, started up again and promptly drove off on the incorrect side of the road – Richard had kittens (loud, shouty ones!). There are lots of little extra rules and regs to remember when driving here. You have to stop for 3 seconds at a cross road (even if you can see there’s nothing coming – or the police will have you!), you can turn right when the traffic lights are red and everyone, absolutely everyone sticks to the speed limits (?????). Even on the open, boring, lonnnnng trans Canadian highway. Such a wasted opportunity!
Well, I shall try to post this doc on the blog this afternoon. I’ll go into Richard’s office while it’s quiet and I hope I’ll be able to attach some photographs this time. The internet connection in Stabuck’s, where I did the last blog entry , wasn’t fast enough to be able to do that.
The girls go for a taster day at school on Monday, so, grandparents and God parents, I shall let you know how it goes in the next Natter!
We seem to be haemorrhaging money at the moment. We’ve bought car seats, extra bedding (ours in still in boxes waiting for our permanent house), really expensive food – that is until we found Costco yesterday. We’ve bought the car (see pic – it’s absolutely massive – makes my people carrier at home feel like a nippy little town car!). When purchasing a car over here, before being allowed to drive it off the forecourt, you have to take the bill of sale to a registry office (over the other side of town) with the insurance cover note, where they then verify your licence and then having departed with lots more money they give you a licence plate to take back to put on the car and THEN you can drive away! It’s quite a length process compared with being able to do it all on line at home.
I drove into Med Hat yesterday. As most of you will know, I am not exactly a timid driver and have been known to have one or two (!) points on my licence, but yesterday, I was making up every excuse under the sun not to have to drive. I started by having a quick (slow) drive round Ralston Village. All went well until I parked up to fiddle with the seat position, started up again and promptly drove off on the incorrect side of the road – Richard had kittens (loud, shouty ones!). There are lots of little extra rules and regs to remember when driving here. You have to stop for 3 seconds at a cross road (even if you can see there’s nothing coming – or the police will have you!), you can turn right when the traffic lights are red and everyone, absolutely everyone sticks to the speed limits (?????). Even on the open, boring, lonnnnng trans Canadian highway. Such a wasted opportunity!
Well, I shall try to post this doc on the blog this afternoon. I’ll go into Richard’s office while it’s quiet and I hope I’ll be able to attach some photographs this time. The internet connection in Stabuck’s, where I did the last blog entry , wasn’t fast enough to be able to do that.
The girls go for a taster day at school on Monday, so, grandparents and God parents, I shall let you know how it goes in the next Natter!
21st August 2008
We arrived here on Tuesday and on Wednesday afternoon we went to a barbeque at the Flight (Richard’s work). It was nice to meet people, although it was mostly chaps from work. It was great for the children because really they could run about as far as they wanted. The prairie is so flat and open that they could just run and run and we’d never lose sight of them! We only stayed a couple of hours because it felt like midnight to us when the BBQ started, so we were on our knees with drooping eyelids by the time we left!
Richard started work almost immediately and was in the office getting to grips with running the Flight (an independent unit consisting of pilots, ground crew and maintainers) as well being on Casevac standby – launch within 30 minutes. Casevac (Casualty Evacuation) is for the soldiers on exercise on the prairie. The helicopter takes a doctor to the casualty and then on to hospital if necessary. Having Richard round the house in the evening, dressed for flying, attached to his mob waiting for the call, takes me back 13 years to when we were first married and living in Northern Ireland and he just lived in his flying suit. Poor chap, it’s really hot at the moment – hot enough for the children to be down at the splash park all the time, and he’s having to wear a poloneck, flying suit, thick Army socks and heavy Army boots!
One of the wives showed me around on Friday – the base is MUCH more compact than I thought! The walk to school will be about 1 minute! I haven’t got out and done anything on the base yet as we have been so busy just getting the home set up. We’re still a little in limbo as I don’t want to fill the cupboards with cooking ingredients yet as we still have a hotel to stay in before we move into our permanent house. So the food situation here at the moment feels a little like we are on holiday - there’s a lot of repetition going on!
Things are very different here. The way of shopping is different – it seems there are a lot of what we would think of as industrial parks in which are superstores. It is set up that the shopper drives between each one. We haven’t yet found anything resembling a high street. It is all extremely spread out – but there definitely is room to do that here! I’m not one for shopping in supermarkets really, I like using independent shops (apart from my all time favourite at home – Lidl!), so now I am trying to get to grips with these simply enormous stores. All dairy products seem to be priced through the roof but fruit and veg is cheap (yey!). The meat is delish – hurrah! The Canadians don’t sell alcohol in their supermarkets and only in liquor stores (I just love saying “liquor” – feels like I’m in a Country and Western movie!). We joined at Costco yesterday and it’s fantastic. Guess what – they sell Kitchen Aids! Yes, my brownie making, bread proving, cake baking friends, all is not lost! I will be back in normal cooking mode soon (well, once I can persuade Richard that it really is a very good idea to get one..... I’m, three quarters of the way there.........(another good reason – I’m going to be making my own bread again as not only is bread very pricey here, but I don’t want to have to travel all the way into Medicine Hat to get it).
Well, I have managed to fill up some more space talking about pretty much nothing (you’ll be glad to hear I haven’t changed at all then!). Just thought you might like to know roughly how things are going...........XX
Richard started work almost immediately and was in the office getting to grips with running the Flight (an independent unit consisting of pilots, ground crew and maintainers) as well being on Casevac standby – launch within 30 minutes. Casevac (Casualty Evacuation) is for the soldiers on exercise on the prairie. The helicopter takes a doctor to the casualty and then on to hospital if necessary. Having Richard round the house in the evening, dressed for flying, attached to his mob waiting for the call, takes me back 13 years to when we were first married and living in Northern Ireland and he just lived in his flying suit. Poor chap, it’s really hot at the moment – hot enough for the children to be down at the splash park all the time, and he’s having to wear a poloneck, flying suit, thick Army socks and heavy Army boots!
One of the wives showed me around on Friday – the base is MUCH more compact than I thought! The walk to school will be about 1 minute! I haven’t got out and done anything on the base yet as we have been so busy just getting the home set up. We’re still a little in limbo as I don’t want to fill the cupboards with cooking ingredients yet as we still have a hotel to stay in before we move into our permanent house. So the food situation here at the moment feels a little like we are on holiday - there’s a lot of repetition going on!
Things are very different here. The way of shopping is different – it seems there are a lot of what we would think of as industrial parks in which are superstores. It is set up that the shopper drives between each one. We haven’t yet found anything resembling a high street. It is all extremely spread out – but there definitely is room to do that here! I’m not one for shopping in supermarkets really, I like using independent shops (apart from my all time favourite at home – Lidl!), so now I am trying to get to grips with these simply enormous stores. All dairy products seem to be priced through the roof but fruit and veg is cheap (yey!). The meat is delish – hurrah! The Canadians don’t sell alcohol in their supermarkets and only in liquor stores (I just love saying “liquor” – feels like I’m in a Country and Western movie!). We joined at Costco yesterday and it’s fantastic. Guess what – they sell Kitchen Aids! Yes, my brownie making, bread proving, cake baking friends, all is not lost! I will be back in normal cooking mode soon (well, once I can persuade Richard that it really is a very good idea to get one..... I’m, three quarters of the way there.........(another good reason – I’m going to be making my own bread again as not only is bread very pricey here, but I don’t want to have to travel all the way into Medicine Hat to get it).
Well, I have managed to fill up some more space talking about pretty much nothing (you’ll be glad to hear I haven’t changed at all then!). Just thought you might like to know roughly how things are going...........XX
20 August 2009
The Beginning
An awful lot seems to have happened in the last 36 hours! We left my family in Shenley on Monday lunch time to get to Heathrow for our 5.30pm flight. This whole move had seemed a little dream-like until that point, but saying goodbye to everyone at home was particularly difficult. I could hardly talk when I reluctantly got into the taxi. The driver must have thought me a pretty rude passenger, poor chap. The journey kicked off with Richard and Lizzie having to travel in a separate car to the rest of us because the firm didn’t have a vehicle large enough to take a family of 5 with international luggage. Anyway, the journey round the M25 to Heathrow was a good one. Not a single hitch so we arrived with plenty of time to spare (yes, I know you all can’t really believe that I, Noo, would be early anywhere – not exactly what I am known for. The reason: I wasn’t relying on my supersonic driving to get us there and had therefore planned enough time for a sensible taxi driver and the havoc caused by the dreaded M25 roadworks up in Hertfordshire. In the event, the road was clear. Hurrah).
So, arriving at 1pm,we had a lot of time to spare, and of course, the way I saw fit to best fill that time (and most sensibly, Richard agreed) was to go and find some food. But not just any old airport food. No. In Terminal 5 there is a new Gordon Ramsay restaurant – going in was a no brainer for both of us. No crusty old curled up sarnies, but instead for me, braised duck with red wine and clove jus with mustard mash, for Richard, pork something or other (looked super – see photo!), Lizzie had wild mushroom and rocket risotto, Harry a pasta dish and Lexi did choose a sandwich but one of the nicest I have seen- super ham, Emmentaal and quail’s eggs! Hee hee! Poshest airport lunch ever and, most superbly, courtesy of Her Mag!
The Army also fly us out here Club Class – so we were able to use the super duper lounge. It was great. There was a part of the lounge walled off in glass in which had been placed computers with internet access, some sort of computer console thing (yup, that’s right, can’t tell the difference between any of those boy type computer game playing things), games, TV, the works. So the girls were happy. Harry however, did a complete U turn and behaved in a way I have never known before and ran up and down the huge (hushed, filled with business men) lounge/Champagne bar screaming – for no reason. I hadn’t realised quite how fast the little blighter could run until I was forced into a faintly comedic chase across about 50 yards (Richard wasn’t there but heard it outside!). Deep joy.
I have only travelled Cattle Class on flights before, so when we were led to the front of the ‘plane I was pretty delighted to see how we would be travelling. The super comfy chair/bed things were excellent and nothing was too much trouble for the crew. They kept coming round offering Champagne (it would have been rude to say no), snacks, any drinks, hot towels, games for the children and a pretty good menu (honestly!) from which to chose our supper. I had the pea jelly with parmesan biscuits (Harry and Lexi loved it, Lizzie went for the smoked salmon). I’m going to have a go at making it at some point. It looked pretty good on the plate. The rest of the grub was good too.
The flight to Calgary was nine and a half hours long, so I was dreading the whole Harry aspect of things, but after a few hours and a huge amount of hard work, he went to sleep and slept until we landed. The giries however, stayed awake the entire time – we landed at 3am GMT. Not bad stamina! We weren’t able to leave the airport straight away as we were held back in Customs for an hour, which was a bit of a drag at that time of night, but the whole thing was helped along considerable by an Army chap who met us straight off the ‘plane and walked us through everything including taking us to our room in the airport hotel. When we walked into the reception of the hotel, we were met with the smell of chlorine (which the children clocked straight away!). The hotel reception area had a swimming pool in it! It looked super, but it was an absolute pain in the neck for us because, of course, all three sprogs kept begging to be allowed to go for a swim – despite it being 4am GMT.
After being the most mean parents in the world, making the children go to bed without a swim, we snatched about four hours sleep and were then up and ready for an early morning flight from Calgary to Medicine Hat – our nearest town. The ‘plane was SO titchy. It seated 14 and boy did it shake about. Harry thought it was marvellous – I suppose to a two year old, a ‘plane with two propellers and being able to look down the aisle to see the pilot flying it is far more real than the first huge aeroplane. Before boarding this ‘plane however, we were told at the Gate that one of our bags was 7 lbs and another 4 lbs over the weight limit. All our others were under, but it apparently made no difference. So Richard had to go and buy a small bag whilst I unpacked our bags, weighing piles of the contents in order to redistribute. It was a bit of a pest and a not one of the most calm moments of our journey.
We were collected by a military driver from the airport and brought straight to BATUS (British Army Training Unit Suffield), or I think, more commonly known here as Ralston Village. We have been allocated the Welfare House. It’s a pretty decent sized three bed bungalow and will be absolutely fine for the next couple of weeks. We have been aware for a while that our house is not going to be available until 12th September but on arrival we were informed that the chap moving out has had his leaving date postponed so we are not quite sure when we will now move in. We are hopeful that it will still be during September though.......
Well, we have had a good wander around the Patch, and there seems to be quite a bit for the children to do here, which is fab. There are about ten nice little play parks dotted around, the best being at the school. It’s nice that it is open to be used during the holidays. There’s the library, coffee shop, leisure centre, ice rink and lots more, but I am most delighted with the spaciousness of the place. It’s just so open.
Richard and I have decided that we are going to try and give the children a lot more freedom whilst living here. I, particularly, have always been rather terrible at letting the girls go out by themselves – even on the Middle Wallop base, but we reckon here is so jolly safe and so completely remote, we are going to be able to have a more free way of living. We started today by letting the girls go to the splash park by themselves. They were really chuffed! It’s a play park which has water sprinkling everywhere, rather like the one at LegoLand in Windsor. It has been so warm here today though that they dried off pretty quickly.
Richard starts work tomorrow (a touch too soon I reckon) but we’re off into Medicine Hat before he does to buy car seats, pick up our new car (yey!) and fill the cupboards with food (we had to go to the Canex – the shop on the base – to buy food just for today. Pizzas were about £9! Just bog standard, soggy frozen pizzas!).
So, here we are in Canada. I will try to find an internet cafe tomorrow so I can move this text from Word to my blog. I am not at all web savvy so I don’t know if I can (I hear several of you laughing at my hopelessness now!). I think internet access is going to be a bit hit and miss until we move into own home. We won’t have a ‘phone until then either......
I am aware this first post has been rather a mammoth one (I’ve always been one keen to chat!) but rest assured, I am quite certain as time goes on and everything becomes familiar and normal, there will be less and less to say!
Love Noo xx
So, arriving at 1pm,we had a lot of time to spare, and of course, the way I saw fit to best fill that time (and most sensibly, Richard agreed) was to go and find some food. But not just any old airport food. No. In Terminal 5 there is a new Gordon Ramsay restaurant – going in was a no brainer for both of us. No crusty old curled up sarnies, but instead for me, braised duck with red wine and clove jus with mustard mash, for Richard, pork something or other (looked super – see photo!), Lizzie had wild mushroom and rocket risotto, Harry a pasta dish and Lexi did choose a sandwich but one of the nicest I have seen- super ham, Emmentaal and quail’s eggs! Hee hee! Poshest airport lunch ever and, most superbly, courtesy of Her Mag!
The Army also fly us out here Club Class – so we were able to use the super duper lounge. It was great. There was a part of the lounge walled off in glass in which had been placed computers with internet access, some sort of computer console thing (yup, that’s right, can’t tell the difference between any of those boy type computer game playing things), games, TV, the works. So the girls were happy. Harry however, did a complete U turn and behaved in a way I have never known before and ran up and down the huge (hushed, filled with business men) lounge/Champagne bar screaming – for no reason. I hadn’t realised quite how fast the little blighter could run until I was forced into a faintly comedic chase across about 50 yards (Richard wasn’t there but heard it outside!). Deep joy.
I have only travelled Cattle Class on flights before, so when we were led to the front of the ‘plane I was pretty delighted to see how we would be travelling. The super comfy chair/bed things were excellent and nothing was too much trouble for the crew. They kept coming round offering Champagne (it would have been rude to say no), snacks, any drinks, hot towels, games for the children and a pretty good menu (honestly!) from which to chose our supper. I had the pea jelly with parmesan biscuits (Harry and Lexi loved it, Lizzie went for the smoked salmon). I’m going to have a go at making it at some point. It looked pretty good on the plate. The rest of the grub was good too.
The flight to Calgary was nine and a half hours long, so I was dreading the whole Harry aspect of things, but after a few hours and a huge amount of hard work, he went to sleep and slept until we landed. The giries however, stayed awake the entire time – we landed at 3am GMT. Not bad stamina! We weren’t able to leave the airport straight away as we were held back in Customs for an hour, which was a bit of a drag at that time of night, but the whole thing was helped along considerable by an Army chap who met us straight off the ‘plane and walked us through everything including taking us to our room in the airport hotel. When we walked into the reception of the hotel, we were met with the smell of chlorine (which the children clocked straight away!). The hotel reception area had a swimming pool in it! It looked super, but it was an absolute pain in the neck for us because, of course, all three sprogs kept begging to be allowed to go for a swim – despite it being 4am GMT.
After being the most mean parents in the world, making the children go to bed without a swim, we snatched about four hours sleep and were then up and ready for an early morning flight from Calgary to Medicine Hat – our nearest town. The ‘plane was SO titchy. It seated 14 and boy did it shake about. Harry thought it was marvellous – I suppose to a two year old, a ‘plane with two propellers and being able to look down the aisle to see the pilot flying it is far more real than the first huge aeroplane. Before boarding this ‘plane however, we were told at the Gate that one of our bags was 7 lbs and another 4 lbs over the weight limit. All our others were under, but it apparently made no difference. So Richard had to go and buy a small bag whilst I unpacked our bags, weighing piles of the contents in order to redistribute. It was a bit of a pest and a not one of the most calm moments of our journey.
We were collected by a military driver from the airport and brought straight to BATUS (British Army Training Unit Suffield), or I think, more commonly known here as Ralston Village. We have been allocated the Welfare House. It’s a pretty decent sized three bed bungalow and will be absolutely fine for the next couple of weeks. We have been aware for a while that our house is not going to be available until 12th September but on arrival we were informed that the chap moving out has had his leaving date postponed so we are not quite sure when we will now move in. We are hopeful that it will still be during September though.......
Well, we have had a good wander around the Patch, and there seems to be quite a bit for the children to do here, which is fab. There are about ten nice little play parks dotted around, the best being at the school. It’s nice that it is open to be used during the holidays. There’s the library, coffee shop, leisure centre, ice rink and lots more, but I am most delighted with the spaciousness of the place. It’s just so open.
Richard and I have decided that we are going to try and give the children a lot more freedom whilst living here. I, particularly, have always been rather terrible at letting the girls go out by themselves – even on the Middle Wallop base, but we reckon here is so jolly safe and so completely remote, we are going to be able to have a more free way of living. We started today by letting the girls go to the splash park by themselves. They were really chuffed! It’s a play park which has water sprinkling everywhere, rather like the one at LegoLand in Windsor. It has been so warm here today though that they dried off pretty quickly.
Richard starts work tomorrow (a touch too soon I reckon) but we’re off into Medicine Hat before he does to buy car seats, pick up our new car (yey!) and fill the cupboards with food (we had to go to the Canex – the shop on the base – to buy food just for today. Pizzas were about £9! Just bog standard, soggy frozen pizzas!).
So, here we are in Canada. I will try to find an internet cafe tomorrow so I can move this text from Word to my blog. I am not at all web savvy so I don’t know if I can (I hear several of you laughing at my hopelessness now!). I think internet access is going to be a bit hit and miss until we move into own home. We won’t have a ‘phone until then either......
I am aware this first post has been rather a mammoth one (I’ve always been one keen to chat!) but rest assured, I am quite certain as time goes on and everything becomes familiar and normal, there will be less and less to say!
Love Noo xx
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