The Rocky Mountaineer

We were so lucky to be chosen by Starlight Children's Foundation to be one of the 15 families to go on this once of a lifetime trip on the Rocky Mountaineer. 

On Tuesday we flew from Vancouver to Calgary courtesy of the Air Canada Foundation.

This was a nice easy day. We checked into the hotel and the kids played in the pool. The next day, Wednesday morning, the adventure started! We met all the other families and the amazing Starlight staff, including Captain Starlight and L'il John, for breakfast and the kids got to make their own stuffed animals.

After breakfast, we got on a bus headed for Banff. In Banff, the kids were each given $50 gift cards to Ardene who are a sponsor and fundraiser for Starlight. The kids chose fidgets and gel markers. Next the kids were each given a $50 gift card to the Banff Sweet Shoppe which was pure chaos and so much fun for all the kids. The kids managed to spend $94 on candy, leaving $6 for a single piece of fudge for Chuck and I to share.

Next we got back on the busses and headed to the Banff Gondola which took us up the top of Sulphur Mountain where we walked across the Boardwalk and enjoyed some amazing views. The top of the mountain is just under 8000 feet of elevation and Eric did struggle a bit with the thinner air. 

We headed back to the hotel for dinner and we were so exhausted after the busy day, we just chilled in the room for a bit before an early bedtime. Early because we had to meet in the lobby at 6:45am MOUNTAIN TIME to catch the bus to the Rocky Mountaineer train. There was surprise rain in Banff that morning, but we got a phenomenal rainbow later in the morning that is one of my favourite images of the trip. 

The first day we took the train from Banff to Kamloops and were on the train about 16 hours before catching a bus to our hotel for the night. It was a very short night before we had to wake up and get back on the bus to head back to the train for the second and final leg of the trip from Banff to Vancouver. On Day 2 we were on the train about 10 hours. It is difficult to describe how amazing these 2 days on the train were. Obviously, the views were incredible and the pictures really don't do them justice. We saw a deer and a lot of eagles. Some people also saw an elk, but we missed it. We saw lakes, rivers, mountains, trees, desert, cliffs in different colours from oxidizing minerals, bridges and canyons. The seats on the train were super comfy; they had heated seats, lumbar support, recline and foot rest. The food was incredible, all made to order: eggs benny, steak, steelhead, handmade gnocchi and the most amazing grilled cheese and mac and cheese for the kids. The hosts on the Rocky Mountaineer were phenomenal. They were kind and accommodating, funny, energetic, and amazing story tellers. And of course there was all kinds of swag - Polariod cameras! - and activities from Starlight; the kids used their Polariod cameras to create scrapbooks, they played a get to know the other kids on the train bingo game, and Disney trivia, with prizes for everything of course. The most amazing part of the trip, though, was the other 14 families on the train. These are all families with critically ill children getting to be "normal" among other families that understand the day to day challenges of life with a critically ill child. Everyone, including the Rocky Mountaineer hosts, was crying as the train came into the station in Vancouver. Eric is such a social kid, so "go with the flow" and so incredibly strong and resilient, but he still needs this connection with kids who have experienced the same kinds of challenges he has. It isn't that the kids actually talk about their challenges, but Eric said how nice it was to have kids that he could relate to and could relate to him. 

Getting off the train, Eric perfectly captured the magic of the trip saying "so, what, we are just supposed to go on our with lives now?"

We absolutely loved every minute of the trip, but we were also exhausted when we got home. It's been wonderful having the long weekend to recover, especially since I came home with a cold, but luckily no one else has caught it. Most of us have been in ours pjs all weekend; though Eric had a busy Sunday with swimming, skating and a birthday party.  

September

I can't believe it's mid-September already and we're back into the routine of school lunches and waking up early. 

Eric had a check up at clinic yesterday. His platelet count has dropped a little but is not unexpected with his current treatment. Everything else, most importantly, those germ fighting white cells, are still looking decent. He's 9 days into a 28 day cycle of chemo and handling it well so far🤞After having his port flush, bloodwork and check up with his Oncologist at clinic, we headed to the Respirology clinic where he completed 2 breathing tests. In between tests, one of the clowns came to hang out in the waiting room. 

That plate on Eric's finger is actually spinning!

We are still awaiting those results, but the tests were fast, so I expect he's done okay because they didn't have to ask him to repeat the tests multiple times. We are also waiting for chimerism results; the blood was drawn for that yesterday and it will take approximately 2 weeks for full results as it is a lab in Seattle that does the analysis. The chimerism test is to check if Eric's blood (and therefore bone marrow) is made of healthy donor DNA, which is what we are hoping for. In the meantime, we got the all clear to go on our train trip, and don't have to be back at the clinic for almost 2.5 weeks. 

Even though Eric is still undergoing treatment, he is quite stable. As a result, we were able to enroll him in swimming lessons (at a private pool) and skating lessons which he hasn't been able to do for a couple of years and he is super happy! 

Did I mention a train trip? Thanks to Starlight Children's Foundation, our family gets to go on the Rocky Mountaineer next week. We fly from here to Calgary and then the next morning, we take a bus to Banff with 14 other Starlight families. In Banff they have some surprises and activities for the families. The next morning (way too early) we get on the train through the Rockies to Kamloops. In Kamloops we stay overnight at a hotel and the next day get back on the train to finish the trip back to Vancouver. It is 15 Starlight families in one train car with dining on the bottom and glass dome seating above; we even have our own outdoor viewing platform. It's going to be so fun (and exhausting!)

My PSA for the month: September is childhood cancer awareness month! It is actually shocking how little funding and research goes toward pediatric cancers. Follow me on Instagram or Facebook to learn more this month. 

If you want to support pediatric cancer research directly, please check out the Michael Cuccione Foundation Michael Cuccione Foundation

If you would like to support pediatric cancer families, please check out West Coast Kids Cancer Foundation WCK or Balding for Dollars Balding for Dollars

As always, donating blood is free and very necessary to support those in treatment Canadian Blood Services

Back to School!

First, Eric had a check up at clinic today. The nice, light summer traffic is over :( But luckily the blood lab wasn't very busy so that was a win. Eric finished his 28 day cycle of oral chemo yesterday and his blood counts are still looking good. Since it didn't hit him as hard, and his blood counts remained relatively stable, he just gets a one week break and starts the next round on September 10. We are back in the clinic on the 18th at which time he has an appointment with Respirology to check his lung function. It seems stable to me, but certainly isn't 100%; they want to make sure it isn't deteriorating. At that appointment they'll do an extra blood draw to check his chimerism (DNA) from peripheral blood to ensure the treatment is still working. Everything seems fine and no reason to worry, but this kind of thing always causes a little heightened anxiety. I've learned this is called (by the other oncology families at least) "scanxiety."

In other news, we finished off the summer strong with a bunch of activities. First we stayed overnight at the River Rock to play in the pool and on the slide. We drove from there to Big Splash in Tsawwassen because when asked what else they wanted to do this summer, both boys answered "WATER SLIDES!" 

The next day, we drove out to Harrison and went on the inflatable water park there. I've seen it before, but didn't really know what to expect. It was a BLAST! Chuck and I were a little worse for wear after (sore and bruised) but we still had a good time and the kids absolutely loved it. As we were leaving, Eric asked when we could go back. 

Next Uncle Jon and Auntie Becky came to visit for the long weekend and we went to the PNE; Eric went on a few rides, we sampled all the food, watched the Super Dogs and met (Super) Mario. 

Finally, it was time to go back to school! We had such a fun summer and I'm not sure any of us were ready for it to end, but we're all also looking forward to being back to routine and the kids to seeing their friends at school. Joel's in the same class as last year, this time as a Grade 7, but with a new teacher because his amazing teacher left the school last year. Eric doesn't know his teacher/class yet; hopefully we will find out Friday, but for now he's happy to be back with his friends from last year and to be starting Grade 4. 

Now that the kids are back at school, it is time for a break for Mama. I am taking a quick 5 day trip to California all by myself for a little R&R.