[Photo description: Ollie sits in his seat in the van resting his hand on Hope beside him when being picked up from school. The red seatbelt cover has a Medic Alert symbol on it and inside contains details on Ollie' s medical conditions in case of an accident.]
It's hard to believe that we are now less than two weeks away until Christmas again! Getting everyone here into the Christmas spirit has been a bit of an uphill battle again this year, but we've slowly gotten there.
As usual, Ollie was most like me, so was actually interested in celebrating the holidays and helped me to drag Abby and Mario into the spirit. We decorated the last weekend in November - earlier than we ever have. Mario thought I was crazy, but went along with it and tried to get Abby into it. She was reluctant. Digging deeper by talking about things revealed that everyone is now reminded somewhat about Ollie being diagnosed this time of year and having those first rounds of chemo in the weeks before, during and after the holidays. No matter how far away we get from active treatment, there are constant reminders of what we went through in those early days.
We talked about reclaiming Christmas and trying to think more about how grateful we are that we're all together and he's well instead. It hasn't been easy and there have been arguments and tears to get past this PTSD, but we're getting there. Abby and Ollie are now getting excited that Christmas is almost here as evidenced by them trying to guess what their gifts under the tree are.
When he has his moments, Ollie has this incredible way of being able to talk about how he feels when he's feeling big angry or sad feelings and then to just recover quickly after hugging it out and appreciating the good moments that follow. Hope helps him a lot with this process. He calls her especially when he is sad after his anger has dissipated and he needs to move from sadness to acceptance to readiness to be happy again. He just hugs her and within moments he feels ready to face whatever the world throws at him next. As his mama my level of gratitude and love for this gorgeous and sweet-natured canine (who honestly seems to think she's human) knows no bounds. She spends most of her days very close to me at home. Mario laughs that I was the one who didn't want a dog before Ollie went blind and she is now super attached to me and I to her.
So it was our great pleasure to be invited to participate in the Carleton Place Christmas Parade with the CNIB Guide Dogs Program and show our gratitude for being part of something so life changing for us all. Ollie was so excited to be part of it and showed incredible patience while waiting for the parade to begin. Hope was so well-behaved despite all of the distractions, especially with so many other dogs around.
We met several other volunteers who boarded Hope during her time at the CNIB Canine Training Centre. They were all overjoyed to see her and commented on how wonderful she looked, how well-behaved she was, and how well Ollie was doing with her. They are all incredibly warm and kind people who open their hearts and homes to help train guide dogs for blind and low vision people. It's incredibly hard for them to love these dogs and then let them go, but they do it selflessly to make lives like Ollie's better.
[Photo description: The CNIB float for the Carleton Place Christmas Parade is covered in Christmas lights and featured a blow up Snoopy riding a scooter and a decorated Christmas tree pulled by a yellow, white and black CNIB Guide Dogs van. Dawn, Ollie (in orange coat) and Hope are sitting on the float with the program lead of the CNIB Buddy Dog/Ambassador Dog Program, Buddy Dog duo Connor and June with mom Julie and other CNIB volunteers. CNIB Dog Trainers and Guide Dogs in training walked behind the float. Photo courtesy of Allison Noseworthy Warren]
The parade was incredibly well attended with approximately 5,000 people lining the streets. On the one hand this made me grateful to be on the float safely isolated from the masses, but on the other I felt so grateful for this little bit of normal for everyone. Pretty exciting for a 9 year old to be in a parade and we hope to be invited to do it again in future!
I haven't written that separate blog post about Ollie skateboarding yet, but he's making great progress and it's fun to watch him do something he loves so much and I love the respect that other kids at the skate park show him when they realize he's doing it blind.
CBC Radio taped an interview at The Yard with him and Jordan yesterday, so listen this week for him on Ottawa Morning!
Last spring, Make-A-Wish Eastern Ontario asked if Ollie would be willing to be part of the 24 Days of Wishes. Each day in December leading up to Christmas, a Wish kid is featured on Ottawa's CTV News to encourage people to donate to help make Wishes come true for other critically ill children in 2022.
Ollie's Door Day was December 10th and you can watch the CTV News segment on him here. We remain so thankful for the Wish that he was granted in March 2021 to have an epic playroom and he has literally used it EVERY day since then. It really is the Wish that keeps on giving and he helped the sponsor of his Wish, eQ Homes to make a video to encourage others to help them to Wish It Forward to help another deserving kid in 2022. They just posted today that they met their $10,000 goal to make this happen, so we continue to be grateful to eQ Homes and their supporters who have helped to inspire kids like Ollie with critical illnesses to keep going through all of the hard stuff to get their Wishes.
[Photo description: Ollie gets his first COVID-19 vaccine from a CHEO nurse while stuffie Llama Llama Blue Pajamas is hugged for courage. This red and white shirt reads, " Be a changeable - #sgeochangemaker - St. George Catholic School"]
On November 28, 2021, Ollie was psyched to finally get his first COVID-19 vaccine at CHEO! Honestly when CHEO called me to schedule it I was teary and when he got it I breathed a deep breath of relief. It's not enough yet and he's scheduled to get his second in January and will get a third after that given his transplant makes him higher risk for COVID, but it is an incredible first step towards all of us feeling less anxiety about him being out in public, including school. Ollie felt no pain (my arm after my booster last week hurt for 4 days, but he says he felt nothing!) and aside from being a bit more tired for 24 hours and asking to go to bed early, he had no side effects.
I have tried to explain to the naysayers online who cry that parents are "torturing" their children by vaccinating them with an "untested" vaccine that they have no idea what really torturing your child is like. That putting chemo, radiation and truly untested in children drugs into their little bodies to save their lives is torture for them and for you as the parent. And all are in the interest of saving their lives. Just like this COVID vaccine is for Ollie. That both of my very bright and aware children BEGGED to get this vaccine in the interest of protecting each other and trying to live a more normal, less scary life. That if my then 12 year old daughter could legally consent (and she was physically and mentally assessed to ensure that she was okay to consent) to give her stem cells to save her brother's life, she and others like her are very capable of deciding to get a vaccine.
A few of Ollie's friends who were nervous about the vaccine or scared of needles told us that despite this they were going to get the vaccine anyways because they could be brave like Ollie. And then they sent us messages celebrating that they had done it! Again and again people help us and amaze us with their kindness. To-date in Ottawa 50% of eligible kids have been vaccinated in the first three weeks of vaccination clinics and we are thrilled to live in this community where people take care of each other.
On December 1st, Ollie had another appointment with his retina specialist, Dr. Dollin at The Ottawa Hospital at the Riverside Campus Eye Centre. First time ever for us at Riverside! Have to say, that we preferred it! Smaller hospital and less people at the clinic there as well as more modern facilities! Dr. Dollin verified that the pressure in his eyes is manageable with drops, but that ultimately we'd likely eventually have to do at least the lasering of his eyes to correct the pressure issues and stop unwanted blood vessels from growing and admitted that waiting to see if the blood from his vitreous detachment would dissipate on its own did not work. So the only way to clear out the blood pool and try to recover any of Ollie's peripheral vision in his right eye was to do the vitrectomy surgery. At my encouragement he and Dr. O'Connor at CHEO confirmed later that day that Ollie would have the surgery and to my surprise scheduled him for December 15th (tomorrow).
He's actually having both surgeries (vitrectomy and lasering) on the right eye. It's just day surgery with the prep and recovery after taking longer than the 1 hour 45 minute surgery itself. He'll be sedated and they have promised they'll manage any pain he might have, but said generally there is more discomfort like a scratchy feeling than pain. Recovery is about 2 weeks, so it's good that we'd just planned a quiet Christmas with just us this year. Ollie is upbeat about the surgery and hopeful that it will allow him to recover a bit more vision. He knows better than anyone that there are no guarantees when it comes to medical procedures and the pursuit of wellness, but despite everything remains his hopeful, positive self and believes it will be worth it. We all feel confident, but would totally appreciate your prayers anyways that all goes well and is easy for Ollie. I'll try to at least write a short update when I can.
In the meantime, we hope that you are having a wonderful holiday season despite COVID-19 and the cases rising again. We all know too well now that while there is nothing like being together in person, there are many safe ways to stay connected to those we love whether near or far. Please get your COVID-19 booster when you are eligible to keep yourself as safe as possible and to help us to keep Ollie and other vulnerable people like him safer.
The thought of eye surgery and the prep are by far the hardest part. I’m optimistic all will go smoothly for Ollie today. Stay well.
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