A new blog has been made - using "Sean" instead of "Postcard". Sharing with people Sean's blog is much easier to say - google search "homeschool blogger Sean"

 PDF handout is being designed. So church prayer groups around the world can print it out and pray for Sean

More details on Sean's new home school blogger blog here http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Sean/

Moderators we would appreciate this blog also being left up as we have used some file uploads from this blog.

Thank you.

Well, the opportunities to have geography lessons have been in no shortage and we have appreciated the kind words and colourful postcards.   There are certainly some great places in the world and we have been getting everything from bears in Alaska, to dolphins in NZ   We all love learning about other places and people.   We’ve had postcards from the following places (no order)…

USA - Glacier National Park, New Mexico, Yellowstone National Park Wyoming, Snowy Mountains National Park, Pittsburgh, South Dakota, Wisconsin, California (several from Disneyland including one with signed photo by Mickey!), Oregon, Mississippi, Illinois (two from Superman’s hometown!), Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, Utah, Alaska, Washington State, New York State, Michigan, Maryland, Florida, Iowa, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan

Mexico – Riveria Maya

Australia – Sydney, Great Barrier Reef, Adelaide, South Australia (Flinders Ranges, Eyre Peninsula, Murray River Mouth)

NZ - Mt Taranaki, Tauranga, Putaruru, Otaki, Bay of Islands, Kapiti Coast, Kaikoura, Auckland, Hastings, Napier, Cambridge

China

Cook Islands

United Arab Emirates – Dubai and several awesome postcards – thank you)

Canada – Toronto, Ottawa

Turkey – Istanbul

Israel – Tel Aviv

South Africa – Pretoria

Scotland – Edinburgh and Eilean Donan Castles

Here's a photo of Sean from our prime viewing position, before the parade started.   He was very proud of his blue tongue from the lollypop, and kept asking Dad to give feedback on how blue it was.   Each year for the last 19 years, Nurse Robyn has organised a bus for the children from the hospital to go to the parade - a great outing for the kids (thanks Robyn).

Hi, another glorious Wellington day – yeah right!  Still even though it was wet, very wet, it was fairly calm at the zoo.  Yes the Zoo again.  Sean loves it there, and it’s a great anti-dote to being cooped up in the hospital.  All that fresh air, - eau de animal.

Last time we were at the zoo, the Cheetahs walked right past, then Mark took Sean again last week, and he got to feed the giraffes.  Today Sean got pooped on either by a morepork in the Kiwi House, or just as we left the kiwi house.  We’re not sure which, but he did see the funny side of it.  And we saw the snowy owl for the first time. 

Also this morning the Doctors and Nurses got all excited as some very nice Policeman and their Police Dogs arrived for a visit.  The kids thought it was great as well!!  Sean was very brave and even patted one. Will have some photos very soon.   There is a Policeman called Dean (he has a brain tumour) who is organizing these visits.  He had the police divers in a couple of weeks ago.  We’re expecting Firemen and the Armed Defenders in the very near future as well.  Dean has also offered to help organize a trip for our local homeschool group – to visit the local Police Station.

It’s now Friday night, and we were supposed to be going home, but Sean has been spiking high temps the last couple of days and so we may end up being here for the weekend, with a 5 day stint of chemo starting on Monday.  If we’re in here for the weekend I’m going to take Sean to the Indian Festival in Kilbirnie tomorrow – seeing as Butter Chicken is his favourite dish at the moment, and the Santa Parade on Sunday.

Have a great weekend everyone,

Catherine and Sean

PS Leanne – this could be a good link to have on our site – have a look when you and the kids have time.

http://www.royalmarsden.org.uk/captchemo/

Sitting here with Sean watching ‘Soup’ (for the 100^th time), with the wind howling around the hospital.  The weather is pretty wild -  wet and windy, and great to view from inside.  Some would say a typical Windy Wellington day!  ‘Soup’ is a Kiwi production of animated clay creatures in a swamp and different stories of what they get up to.  Sean just loves it, and likes it to be played while he gets his own clay out to make his own swamp creatures.  Our breakfast bar at home is currently covered in swamp creatures in a swamp setting that Sean and his brother Cameron made.  We are not allowed to remove it!!

Sean went to theatre yesterday for another dose of chemo, and is doing very well.  He is being cheeky with the doctors and nurses – a good sign.

There always seems to be something going on here at the Children’s hospital – the nurses keep us entertained, as well as people visiting – like Norm Hewitt.  He was the one who gave Sean and the other kids a teddy bear.  Last week we had police divers in all their gear, and this week it there will be police dogs visiting.  This (and the divers) has been organized by a policeman called Dean.  Dean has a brain tumour and is in for regular treatment and comes and visits the kids on the ward as well!

There is also a lady who comes every week with an animal – last time it was a very cute black and white rabbit.  Not to mention one of the nurses – Robyn – who has the most amazing photos of her with animals sitting on her like baby tigers and chimps.  She used to work with animals – good training for nursing?!!  There are also a few boxes with miniature scenes placed around the ward made by her.  One is a lolly shop – and the detail, right down to the little trays of chocolates in the glass counter is amazing.

At the moment we are aiming to have a complete set of tests done on Sean before Christmas to see whether he is in remission or not by then.  He will still have four to 5 months of what they call maintenance chemo after that.  But all looking good we will be home for Christmas with some very good news.

Thanks to everyone for their continuing support, and many thanks to Leanne and her family for the blog and their lovely baking and meals – it really is a huge help.

Go well everyone,

Catherine and Family

A big Lego Police Station was one of Sean's birthday gifts Cameron says it was really exciting for Sean.

He also got an X Box with Star Wars Battle Front 2.

Leanne Here

Catherine has asked me to update blog.

Thursday 25^th October Sean & Catherine spend the day in Wellington hospital having tests & waiting for Sean’s blood to arrive. Sean got a lovely teddy bear from Pumpkin patch handed out by ex all black (um I forgot his name will have to ask Catherine again)

Sean’s blood didn’t arrive but they were allowed home for the night.

Friday 26^th October

Back to Wellington hospital; - about an hour drive from Paraparaumu. There was blood for Sean so a quick top up & able to go home for weekend.

Monday 30^th October

Sean needed to be admitted to hospital as after he was given platelets he had an allergic reaction his little eyes all swelled up.

Tuesday 31^st October

More blood had arrived for Sean but sadly he had an allergic reaction to the blood and came out in a rash.

Catherine was hoping to come home tonight – she had a 6pm hair appointment – she thinks all hospitals could do with hairdressing facilities. When they were in Auckland a niece visited with her tools & all the family got a trim. Other families were asking if they could have a tidy up too!

Mark was left in charge for Cameron to attend his first ever Halloween party that the neighbours had organised. I am not too sure what costume Cameron organised with his dad.

Wednesday 1^st November

A better day for Sean & they were allowed out to Wellington Zoo  Much to Sean’s delight the keeper walked two Cheetahs on a lead right past them. Cheetahs are Sean’s favourite animals.

The NZ Cancer society dropped in a portable DVD player complete with earmuffs so Catherinee can watch some chick flicks to pass away the time while Sean sleeps.

Postcards can just be sent to our new post box – The Ternents, PO Box 1702, Paraparaumu Beach, 5032.

I’ve got all the postcards in dividers inside a folder at the moment, just to keep them sorted by country until I can get organized properly – we have quite a few!  The boys are really enjoying receiving mail.  And seeing what country will arrive today! 

So good being home, and Wellington hospital is turning out to be a very good choice – some things already being done better than Auckland.  Even though in Starship it is a dedicated kids oncology ward – it is overflowing and you often get put in other wards because there’s no room in oncology, unless you are really sick or neutropenic (no white cells) you end up in a 4 bed room with snoring dads, puking kids etc etc.   We have our own room here and the continuity of care is far better.   And this is all due to the smaller population and the fact that they can accommodate us more down here.  The Staff in Starship were wonderful, but just so busy.  We’ve also had visits from doctors and nurses who helped out with Sean when he first went into Wellington hospital, and they’ve heard he’s back and are very pleased to have him back and have been in to say hi!  Even had hugs from a couple – including one of the doctors – pity I’m married!!!

Anyway thanks so much for your support  – we are very lucky to have so many great people out there.  

Love Catherine

We really appreciated all the offers of help. We think we replied to
each individually - but then things got so hectic we haven't been back
in touch with anyone. One day just seems to blur into the next, and it’s
been very hard to plan any further than a day ahead. It’s been very
tiring, it’s been like having a baby again, with being up every night
and having to do all those same things as with a baby during the day.
Seeing him in pain and discomfort. Not to mention the stress of coping
with what’s happening to our son, and family.

As well as nursing Sean most of the time, we've had nearly a week with
Sean at Ronald McDonald house. By the end of a week his white blood cell
count is non-existent so it's back to hospital for antibiotics and extra
blood – it’s like giving Sean a new battery when he gets blood.

We are seriously looking at returning home, as soon as Sean is right
from this bout, and before he is due his next chemo, which will be when
his count has recovered. So it could be a short window, and all going
well could be later this coming week or early the next. Yay! Ronald
McDonald House is great, but there is only so long you can all live in
the same room!!

Had a sit down with the doctors the other day to get more of a handle on
the disease. Basically Sean is in the high risk group, because of the
type of lymphoma and other symptoms he’s had with it, and because they
found malignant cells in his central nervous system as well, which is
rare with this type of cancer. The prognosis is not as good as was first
discussed but better than 50-60%. And even then there would be things
like bone marrow transplant etc But, he has responded really well to
treatment, and everyone is very pleased with his progress. He is still
using a wheelchair, but is starting to walk a little more. Gets very
tired very quickly though. Sean is having a good day today – lots of his
cheeky smiles and humour. He is also getting impatient with Mum doing
emails, as he wants to play Zoo Tycoon with Mum on Mums laptop!!

We've been greatly encouraged by all the offers of help. Since being
here, and not just because of Sean, we've become acutely aware that the
kids on the oncology ward and many other sick kids in the hospital need
blood. They are always asking for donors. One of Sean's transfusions had
to be a slightly different blood because there wasn’t any other
available, and he then had to have antigens to help him cope with the
new blood. And this is not an isolated case. So blood and platelets –
Sean has had one transfusion of platelets so far, are in great demand,
and they are always trying to get enough for the blood bank.

So if people want to help, would they consider giving blood or
platelets. Platelets takes longer – possibly about two to three hours.
And please ask friends and relatives. Because there are a lot of sick
kids out there who need it.

A friend has been contacting home schoolers around the world to send
postcards to Sean and Cameron. They both love geography and anything to
do with foreign countries. They have been receiving quite a few! If
people do ask others to do this, if possible can they include their
e-mail address, so eventually we can reply. We are going to start a
Travel Book, and put in the postcards with a section for each country,
and include maps, flags and a little interesting info on each.

One of the things that Sean would like to do is to either go to China to
visit the Great Wall, or Denmark to visit Legoland!! I thought he was
only 6!!

Best wishes to everyone, and our Thanks again,

Catherine and Family.

Hi there, sorry it’s been awhile.  The days just seem to blur into one after the other.  It’s been very tiring nursing Sean day and night, and coping with a 9 ½ year old who is getting rid of enough energy!

Thank you so much for the postcards,  We have had so many, the boys are loving it.  If people could put their email address on them that would be great, because we would like to reply in time.  We are going to start a travel book, putting the postcards in, having a section for each country and including maps and interesting and fun facts.  I’d like to use something that we can write in but also have the postcards so we can look at both sides.  Is there anything you could recommend?

Sean and I are sitting in our hospital room with the sun shining in – we are enjoying the warm climate of Auckland!  He is getting impatient with me because I am taking so long with catching up with my emails, he wants to play Zoo Tycoon with me.  He is doing much better, and even walking a little now.  Although we still need the wheelchair as he gets very tired very quickly.

We are looking seriously at coming home and continuing treatment at Wellington.  We have to wait for him to recover from this bout of chemo and get home before his next lot is due.  So that could be later this coming week or early next – we hope.  As soon as we know I will let you know.

Hope you guys are all well, take care. 

Thanks again for the postcards – it’s great fun seeing what will arrive today!

Catherine and Family

Hi Everyone,


We've just had a wonderful couple of days as we were able to take Sean home
to Ronald McDonald House for a couple of nights. Took him out to the
movies, the Skytower, and today we went to the Zoo. Was great for all of
us, but especially the boys, as they now have more ideas for 'ZooTycoon'. I
haven't been able to use my laptop much since I received it, as it has been
in great demand for Zoo Games!!



We knew we were in Auckland today as it is only mid-September and in between
very light showers we were wandering around the zoo in t-shirts! An
essential piece of equipment I've discovered is a very small foldup umbrella
in your handbag.



Sean and I are back in Starship tonight in the dreaded 4 bed room. Dreaded
because you never know who you will be sleeping with. Tonight the bed next
to Sean is empty so I will grab that. In the other beds a baby (crying on
and off), with her snoring Dad, and a teenage girl who is lovely but
accompanied by her snoring Dad!! You only get a single room when their
white cell count goes really low (if there's one available), or if they're
very ill like Sean has been and has something that may be infectious to
other patients. Basically the ward is just not big enough to cope with the
numbers of cancer kids.



We're back in because Sean starts his second round of chemo tomorrow, and is
back in theatre again on Monday for his other chemo. Hopefully the side
effects won't be so bad this time as he is a lot stronger. Still only able
to take a few steps at a time, so gets to use a kids wheelchair which he
thinks is pretty cool - and Cameron does too - he likes to have a turn and
see how fast he can go - of course!!



On Friday afternoon, Cameron, Sean and I went to the art session at Ronald
McDonald House, it was very therapeutic, just pottering and chatting to the
other couple of parents that were there. Sean and I made a Dinosaur Diorama
(probably not the correct spelling, but the snoring is putting me off!!).
We spent a good couple of hours doing that. Cameron seems to know all the
kids - or all the kids seem to know Cameron. We've even had one visiting
our room regularly the last couple of days - a very nice boy called Jake.
He's 12 and has just had a new pacemaker put in. Showed us his very
impressive scar. Met a Grandad here in the kitchen yesterday who is here
because his one week old granddaughter has just had major heart surgery and
is lying in intensive care with her chest open, and just a plastic cover
over it, so they can get in quickly and not do too much damage!! Just
incredible the stories we are hearing. You are never the worst one off.



Anyway I suppose I should try and grab some sleep, maybe I should invest in
some ear muffs!



Take care everyone, enjoy the Spring,



Catherine

Hi Everyone! Thanks for the cards and thoughts from everyone - it is very
much appreciated.



I am excited at the moment because as you can see I am in contact with the
outside world again!!!! Just received my new laptop from Mark on his return
from Paraparaumu on Sunday. So I can be contacted etc etc.



This week has been much better with Sean, he has recovered from his first
full round of Chemo - and getting stronger every day. We are hoping to have
him walking by the end of this week. And we've been told that all going
well, we will be able to have him home (Ronald McDonald House) for the
weekend. And then on Monday the plan is to start his next round of chemo.



He has - Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma. It's a Non-Hodgkins Cancer and
also, is not to be confused with the adult version. We are learning a lot
and one thing we have learnt is that cancers in children and adults behave
very differently. Basically the kids because their cells are so young can
fight and respond to cancer and treatment a lot better than adults. We are
likely to be at Starship until at least Christmas at this stage, because of
the intensive chemo that Sean will be getting. With this type of cancer,
which accounts for about 5% of childhood cancers, you can sometimes get
malignant cells in the spinal fluid which shows that it's also in the
nervous system as well the lymph system. So this means he also gets regular
chemo direct into his spine. But he is responding really well to treatment.



So look forward to hearing from you, keep well,



Love Catherine and Family