Meant to post this on Friday. Sorry for the delay!
Ella and I were so happy that it was 50 degrees outside today! Went went over to the forest preserve and gathered items to make a wreath for the front door, just like we did last year when we were stuck inside! She is in a good mood and we had fun on our walk. She even let me take a few pictures.
I had a great teacher in high school. His name was Mr. Thompson and he taught history. He was a great teacher in my eyes because he gave you a copy of the test the night before and said "Study this and you will do well!" To me he was a teacher who in a sea of other teacher seemed like he wanted you to succeed. Well, it took me till high school to have this great teacher, but Ella has hers now.
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| Adorable Bunny |
Ella's teacher this year has a heart for kids. I know it is a total
God Thing that she is Ella's teacher this year. She has personal family experience with Leukemia and she has been following Ella's story even before she knew she was going to be Ella's teacher this year. Above is a picture of Ella's Adorable Bunny. This bunny is currently sitting in Ella's desk at school and traveling with the class through the day. This way part of Ella is in class, even though she is not. Ella has not told anyone in her class that she has cancer, but now since she has been out for 4 weeks she wants me to help her explain to her class why she has been out. Ella's teacher has said yes to everything we have needed or asked for Ella without hesitation. I know Ella is not her only responsibility, so I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am to have a partner in her education AND her health! It is scary sending your child to Kindergarten for the entire day, but even harder when they have cancer and have spent the last year attached to your hip. Knowing that any cough or sneeze could potentially be life threatening is very nerve racking. Knowing that Mrs. K has Ella's back makes it so much easier.
Thank you.
Blessings~Katie
Your photos are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThere is a website www.monkeyinmychair.org that you may want to check out. They offer mokey kits for children who are away from school because of a cancer diagnosis. It might be a good resources for Ella's classroom.
Continued prayers for Ella and family.
Marg71: Thanks! We actually got the monkey and package from them when Ella was diagnosed. Ella is such a huge Build A Bear fan, she wanted to use one of her BAB's instead :-).
ReplyDeleteHi!
ReplyDeleteHave you worked with any child life specialists at the hospital? They would be at great resource for things to do for Ella's class. One good and fun activity used for explaining leukemia is blood soup, if you want I can give you the directions for this.
I'm not sure if you have heard of Gabe's chemo ducks.... But they are really petty cool and free, and you can even get one with a port to match Ella's port. I would think she would really like this, seeing how much she loves her BAB.
I have only recently found your blog, and I've read everything and I'm sending good thoughts to your family! Please let me know you want more info on the things I've mentioned or if you want me to hook you up with some of the leukemia resources I have ( I'm a child life specialist so I have loads) just say the word.
Hugs xxx
Thanks for your reply. Ella made a good (BAB) choice.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to hear that you have been blessed with such supportive school environment. Prayers that Ella return to school is a good one.
Jessica: Thanks for the info! I got a chemo duck today from our Child Life Specialist and a doll with a port!
ReplyDeleteIf you have directions for the soup, that would be great, but I would need it tonight. She got the okay to go back to school tomorrow!
Thanks.
Thats great that she get to go back to school tomorrow!!
ReplyDeleteHere is my recipe for blood soup:
White blood cells are marshmallows
Red blood cells are red hots
Platelets are sprinkles or skittles
Luekemia cells/blasts are black licorice
First you want make healthy blood and talk about what each cell does for us (ex. white blood cells fight infections and keep us from getting sick). Make the blood soup in a small cup, and be sure to fill the cup to the top.
Then you want to talk about how sometimes, our blood can get sick and then there are extra cells (leukemia cells or blasts) in our blood. This time make the blood soup again in a cup the same size as before but start with the leukemia cells and be sure to add a lot of them, then as you add the other cells talk about how there isn't very much room left for them because of the leukemia cells, and how when there isn't room for them we get sick, (for example there aren't as many white blood cells in the 2nd blood soup because they didn't fit anymore so there aren't as many to fight of germs and keep us from getting sick).
After that you can talk about how there is medicine that works to fix the blood and make the leukemia cells go away, and from there you could talk about chemo and her port.
I hope this makes sense... It's something that is much easier to just do or observe than to type out but I found a good youtube video showing how blood soup works.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_k3S7-VFtU
When I do this I don't have the cup with water in it, only because I like to give the kiddos the blood soup as a treat afterwards. As a school thing it's something that you can send the kids home with in a ziplock bag after they made their blood soup and it invites discussion with their parents about what they learned that day.
You can always change the ingredients of the blood soup, this one is just my favorite to use. :)
Good luck at school tomorrow and I hope Ella enjoys her chemo duck! :)
xxx