Cheryl: In July 2020 unfortunately, an MRI revealed a spinal Thoracic 11-12 benign tumor.
Kelsey: Did you try out physical therapy first before you had surgery on your back?
Cheryl: I was having a cortisone treatment for pain issues to lumbar spine. A new loss of balance, numbness and tingling to the front of my legs with difficulty sitting triggered an MRI.
Kelsey: What was your recovery time after your surgery on your back?
Cheryl: I had a resection of the intradural extramedullary cystic tumor as the mass was impeding on my spinal cord. I had a surgical consult within a week with surgery booked on August 20th. Surgical time was longer with 5 days hospitalization.
Kelsey: How did your family react when you had the news that you needed surgery on your back?
Cheryl: After my doctor’s appointment as a nurse, I knew what I was in for. I went for a drive and cried my eyes out as I realized my life just changed. I shared news with Steve though I kept silence with my girls until I had more details. When we shared the diagnoses with the girls, we cried as a family though I assured them I was going to be ok.
Kelsey: How long was recovery for your back? What did your day look like?
Cheryl: Post op care was a focus of cerebral spinal leak prevention, pain control, bladder function and mobility. These days were intense though my focus was equally intense as I was determined to regain complete presurgery function.
Kelsey: Did you have to take time off work, how long were you off for your back Surgery?
Cheryl: After U of A Hospital discharge I was off work for 5 months. These months were spent with recovery of the surgical implications of this type of surgery. I did very well though spent lots of time sleeping, regaining strength and emotional contemplation.
Kelsey: So, explain how much pain were you in? How is your back pain now?
Cheryl: Unfortunately, I have a history of lumbar back issues. At the time of diagnoses, I was dealing with lumbar spine pain only to reveal a thoracic issue. As spinal compression symptoms increased, I was very nervous as goal was to prevent permanent function loss. Thankfully surgical interventions were given.
Kelsey: How is your back pain now?
Cheryl: 2 years anniversary has come and I’m doing very well. I still have lumbar issues though I have minimal complications from my thoracic tumor removal. MRI’s will be done for monitoring. Blessed beyond words.
Kelsey: Did your daily life change because you had a bad back? Did your doctors give you some stretches for you back after your surgery?
Cheryl: I still have lumbar issues that are chronic. I’m mindful of prevention strategies of an active lifestyle and healthy living for life.
Kelsey: Would you recommend this back surgery to anyone else who has back problems or issues?
Cheryl: Spinal issues are a top Dr. complaint. One needs to mindful of good spinal care for as we age degeneration is a health factor. Emergency back surgeries happen. I’m so grateful at a time of COVID pandemic that I was able to access surgery. Forever blessed.
Here is some information I found on the internet about intradural extramedullary cystic tumors if you would like to learn more:
On Tuesday afternoon we had a BBQ and a social garden party with Centra Cam. We got a flower pin, Centra Cam’s certificate for how many years of services and mine was nine years! There was an dance off and everyone who didn’t stop dancing, got a centerpiece from the tables! There was a special guest Brian Dumont who played music and sang. It was a wonderful day celebrating Centra Cam’s staff and clients. Everyone got a new flower pin, some chocolate kisses and some stickers.
On Thursday afternoon we went to the hall by the outlet store and there’s was tea and goodies with lots of flowers!
On Friday afternoon I went to Edmonton to get fitted for new braces, and they made me casts for my legs and feet.
On Sunday afternoon I got to smell some flowers and went floating in our swimming pool!
On Monday morning I played the big Snakes and Ladders outside game. It’s an actively for the ” fun in the park” for the week.
On Thursday morning we went to the Big valley parade! This is the start of Big valley weekend and we went all three days!
On Friday evening at Big Valley, We saw Dallas Smith, Lone Star and High Valley. I saw my friend Skyler and my friend Melissa.
On Saturday evening at Big Valley, we saw Morgan Wallen and Chase Rice . I got to hold my friend Skyler’s baby girl Sutton!
On Sunday evening at big valley we saw Joe Nichols, Ashley McBryde and Dierks Bentley. That’s was the weekend of big Valley! Everything went very well, Good weather, good singers and good musicians!
On Thursday afternoon I found out that I have a ear infection and got some ear drops.
On Wednesday I was supposed to get my new braces but they got stolen so we had to start all over.
On Friday evening we had birthday bash with Rose Club for the August birthdays. It was Star Wars themed and we played baby Yoda toss!
On Sunday afternoon we made pickles and played bocce ball.
I hope your summer is going really see you in the fall!
I made a poster at Centra Cam on How To Dress For Work. I thought I would share it with you. Comment on how you dress at your job!
If you work in an office, it’s important to dress for your work environment. You should fee comfortable and confident. When it comes to dressing for the office, there are four different categories. Business professional, business formal, business casual and casual.
Business professional – is more high end. Requiring men to wear suits and ties and ladies to wear blazers and knee length skirts.
Business formal – Mainly dressing for more formal events such as a ceremony. Men’s attire would require a silk pocket square and tie.
Business Casual – does not require a suit and tie. Short coats, blazers, polo’s and sweaters are all acceptable with slacks, khakis or skirts.
Casual – although it is casual, it still needs to be appropriate dark or black clean with button down tops or solid color t-shirts is acceptable.
Hygiene – your hair should be washed, combed and styled. Your breath should be clean and teeth brushed. Twice daily wash your face morning/evening. Nails should be cleaned, trimmed and filed down. Deodorant should be applied and be aware of perfumes/colognes.
How to Dress:
Do’s
Clean clothes Nice clothes Pressed (iron) when needed Properly fitted clothes Sweater over tank tops Minimal cleavage Tailored clothing Minimal Jewelry
Don’t
Dirty/stained clothes Wrinkled clothes Baggy clothes Thin strap tops Show too much skin showing, see through or holes Gawdy jewelry
On Saturday afternoon We went to Elsye and David’s wedding at Four Seasons Rotary Park, and then they had the reception, cake cutting and the wedding dance at the Ohaton hall. In between the ceremony and the reception Nikki, Kathleen, and her husband Davin and I went out for Starbucks for coffee. I gave Evelyn a stuffed elephant that she loved to look at. We headed out for the reception at the Ohaton hall. We heard some speeches from the bridal party and the parents of the bride and groom! Then we had dinner. The wedding cake cutting and a game Who knows the bride and groom the best. We danced with everyone and we had a perfect evening to celebrate Elsye and David! Best wishes to the newlyweds.
Then on the Sunday my family celebrated my birthday. We played outside games and had pizza, with homemade lime cheesecake that was amazing, probably the best cheesecake ever! I did not open my birthday presents until my birthday! On my birthday my brother Joel smoked our beef for dinner with some potatoes and salad. Our grandpa came for birthday cake. We decided to finish our lime cheesecake for dessert! For birthday presents I got some butterfly PJS and some shower gel and lotion that has butterflies on the bottle. Joel and Ashley gave me the Shaina Twain CD. My mom gave me a wallet but she’s going to get me a different one. Grandpa and Shandy got a nail gift certificate for studio nails. My friend Kelsey and her boyfriend Joshua with their girls came over on my birthday and I got some jewelry kits that organize stuff for your jewelery. It was a pretty good birthday and I got really spoiled with presents. On Saturday afternoon we went bowling with my friends and my roommates to celebrate my birthday! Then we went to the house for cheesecake and homemade punch. My friend Laura and Catherine from Centra Cam crashed my birthday party. They gave me happy birthday balloons, a birthday necklace and a birthday card. For my birthday presents, I got a Mauiny sand art kit, word search books, bath bombs, solar light that is a butterfly. Some decorating sand in an jar… it was a pretty good day!
On Thursday evening we went to see Ryan Lindsey at the Jeanne & Peter Lougheed Centre. He was really good guitarist and singer.
On Friday afternoon my mom and I went to Wetaskiwin to see my best friend forever Teresa and her mom Victoria. We went out for coffee at Tim’s Horton . It was really good to see them in person after long three years of not getting together. I got her a Christmas mug says “happy pawlidays”, hot chocolate and coffee with an picture of cross stitch with flowers in a heart, and I gave her mom Victoria the same one… crossing my fingers they’re won’t fight over their Christmas presents. My best friend forever Teresa spoiled me with colouring books, word search books, markers, the Anna of Green Gables books, paint, and paint brushes. She also got a really beautiful blanket!
On Friday evening we had birthday bash for June, which was Hawaii themed and in the darkest room ever with glowing lights. We just danced and had a good time.
For Father’s Day we went to Joel and Ashley’s house for dinner gave presents to our grandpa Raymond and our father.
On Wednesday afternoon Centra Cam went to Indigenous Days at the Camrose Museum !
On Thursday morning my mom showed me My dahlia is really growing that I got my mom for Mother’s Day ! On Sunday afternoon my mom and I planted flowers and put my solar light which is a beautiful pink, purple and blue butterfly.
On Monday morning I learned how to play and watched my coworkers to play Pickle Ball, it’s pretty interesting to learn about.
For Canada Day in the morning my dad and I went to the festivals at the museum and we tried to do the scavenger hunt of games , but they were all lower down to the ground and games I couldn’t play because I’m in a power wheelchair. I got to do the egg toss and it landed on my seat belt and broke. I got to play X and O’s and an word searches about Canada day. Then, in the afternoon my dad and I went to the car show downtown and looked at the fancy cars. Later on I coloured some Canada day themed pictures and put them on the window! We printed out some name tags that were maple leafs for our bedroom doors. In the middle of the night I could hear the fire works in my bedroom but I didn’t watch them. Happy Canada Day! My mom showed me my butterfly solar light , lit up in the darkness of the night! It’s so beautiful and pretty lighten up in the darkness sky!
On Monday evening we celebrated our mom’s 59th birthday with chinese food from Skyway. For her birthday cake we had a brownie chocolate cake with peppermint extract inside the icing, which had mint chocolate bars on top. I made my mom a birthday card and she picked out some earrings.
On Friday afternoon Anna and I did my Sand Art from my birthday presents from my friend Karlina and did some cross stitch. On Saturday afternoon Karlina and I went out for coffee outside of Fox and Fable. I bought a Cactus and an hummingbird for my van. After that I planted the Cactuses into the planter outside on our deck.
On Sunday evening we celebrated Luke’s 25 birthday! For his birthday presents he got a blender, bed sheets and some money. Luke’s friend Josiah and his mom Anna-Maire brought him a mug and a game. His birthday cake was brownie with almonds and cream cheese Icing. His birthday was on Tuesday.
On Monday morning we were supposed to have “fun in the park” due to the weather, it was inside the community room as it was a bit rainy outside. We made kites and decorated them with stickers.
On Tuesday morning I finished the poster ” Hearing Impairment”. I will show you it in a future blog! In the afternoon on Tuesday, I got blood work done and I got my ID done, trying to get everything checked off the list. Then, mom and I sat outside enjoying her beautiful flowers. On Thursday afternoon we had a wonderful tour at the art Center by Co-op. I painted the background sky blue colour, then I painted some white clouds, and then we blow dried the crayons on the bottom half of the canvas for stems and hot glued paper flowers. It was an super super fun art craft class and it was pretty easy to do too. That’s June and a bit of July, I can’t wait to see what’s in the next couple of months, I hope you are having wonderful summer so far.
Kelsey: What’s is cellulitis!? Cherilyn: Cellulitis is a bacterial skin infection that causes redness, swelling and pain in the infected area of the skin.
Kelsey: What’s were your symptoms of cellulitis and what did your doctors do? Did your leg hurt bad! Rate your pain 1 to 10. Cherilyn: I woke up feeling just fine and went shopping with my son. We were supposed to go to Edmonton but stopped in the Camrose mall first. I walked into the mall and immediately started to feel sick. We managed to get a couple of shirts and I told him that I needed to go home because I wasn’t feeling well, and I thought I would be better in an hour. I went home and ended up in bed for the rest of the day. I started to shake uncontrollably because I was so cold by my temperature was 41C. I had a heating pad on my bed, and I just couldn’t get warm. It was a rough day, and I finally threw up around supper time and thought I was getting better. I thought it was just the flu. The next morning, I woke up and noticed my leg was red it wasn’t really sore just red. I showed my husband Jason, and he took me to the emerg at St. Mary’s. A doctor seen me told me I had either cellulitis or a blood clot. Did a blood test but decided it was cellulitis gave me a prescription and told me I should feel better in 3 days. My leg started to hurt bad that day and continued to get worse. I was concerned that maybe it was a blood clot and we headed back to emerge. I had an ultrasound done of the leg and it came back fine but they gave me some pain killers to help with the pain. I was in so much pain I could barely walk and taking my leg from the bed to the floor was absolutely excruciating. The pain got to be a 10 anytime I had to move my leg. I went back to the emergency department on day 3 and the Doctor decided I need to be admitted and given antibiotics every 8 hours. I was in the hospital for 6 days and then they decided to test me for COVID so my friends and family had to gown up to see me. I had no COVID symptoms so it was really frustrating and sucked for the nurses to have to gown up to see me. I felt really alone and sad. It was a long 10 days.
Kelsey: Weren’t you in the hospital for a long period of time? What was your recovery like? How many weeks were you off work?! Cherilyn: My first trip to the emerge was on the Sunday and I ended up being admitted on the Wednesday. I was in the hospital for 10 days on antibiotics every 8 hours. When I was admitted I was Sepsis which is when the body’s response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs, my liver was being affected. The pain killers were causing me to have extreme migraines and it also took a few days to figure out that was what was happening. Also, every time they gave me the antibiotics through the IV I would get extremely nauseous and have to have a drug called Zofran after. A nurse finally said why don’t we give you the Zofran first, I was so happy she decided that!
Kelsey: Are you really recovered from your cellulitis, and how many months did it take to overall get back to normal? Cherilyn: I was off work while I was in the hospital and when I came home, I worked from my bed and the couch. It was my busy time of year planning our Charity Auction and I couldn’t just lie around. It was hard. My leg was bad for a long time. It still swells every day and goes down to normal most nights. Kelsey:Did you get physical therapy? How was it treated? Cherilyn: I never had physical therapy, but I did have to go to home care and they would wrap my leg to help with swelling.
Kelsey: What’s would you tell people that are going through this cellulitis? Cherilyn: Apparently cellulitis is a common thing but if you deal with it right away it should be okay. I tried to deal with it right away, but I should have been put on IV antibiotics the first time I went to the hospital. They finally figured out that I had gotten the infection while sitting in Buffalo Lake on the Friday afternoon. I had lawn chair a few metres from shore and was sitting there talking to friends. The bacteria from the lake could have gotten into a hair follicle or something. It usually gets into an open wound, but I didn’t appear to have any. I do have cracks in my heals so it could have been there too. I will never sit in a lawn chair in Buffalo Lake again! If you see any redness mark the area with a marker and see if it grows. Make sure to go to the doctor and make sure to advocate for yourself, my husband made me to do this, and I should have done it sooner. It might not have ended up as bad as I was. When they told me not to expect to better until at least 3 days I believed them, and I shouldn’t have waited that long.
Kelsey: Are you really recovered from your cellulitis, and how many months did it take to overall get back to normal? Cherilyn: I recently had cellulitis again! I am now prone to getting it. I was on antibiotics for 10 days. My leg continues to swell. I just seen the doctor yesterday and she sent me to St. Mary’s to get an ultrasound of my leg, they ruled out a blood clot so that is great news. She is working with me to help solve this swelling problem. I have tried magna wave which is a machine my friend has that she uses for her horses! I am also booked in for acupuncture this week. I will try anything! Kelsey: Did you get swelling, tenderness, pain warmth fever chills spots or blisters? Cherilyn: I did have all these symptoms. This is a picture of my skin shedding after. I got an entire new layer of skin on my leg and foot. It was nasty!
Kelsey: Was it red? Were you throwing up? Were you dizzy? Cherilyn: My leg started just a light red and progressively got worse. I only threw up the Saturday night and that was it. I was never dizzy that I can remember.
If you would like more information on cellulitis I found this on the internet:
On Easter Monday my Mom and I decided to have a Ham dinner unfortunately my van was out of gas and my dad had to work so we could not get supper supplies. I guess that egg hunt on Easter Sunday took two hours to do, no wonder we were out of gas. So instead Mom and I went walking to winners and Dollar Tree. We got a birthday present for my friend Skyler’s baby girl Sutton. We got her a baby book and we bought her some bath toys. Then we found a birthday card and a butterfly gift bag for the birthday presents! Then I got a PJ shirt, some pants and PJ bottoms . Once I tried on the PJ top at home I didn’t like the back of it , so we had to take it back and then I found a pinky and flowery shirt for a wedding in June. We decided to have homemade BBQ chicken pizza for dinner and we watched American Idol.
Unfortunately I had to miss the first birthday party for Sutton because I got a cold/ flu bug on Wednesday, but my friend Courtney who was going to her birthday party kindly delivered her birthday presents from me to her birthday party. My friend Courtney video taped her opening up presents, Skyler sent me pictures from her birthday party that I’ll post here!
On Thursday afternoon I had a school presentation at Sifton school.
On Friday afternoon my friend Courtney and my friend Skyler with their babies and children came over for an visit. I got to finally meet Courtney’s children Joseph and a baby girl named Marley! I loved holding Marley! She was so chill on my knee! I was so surprised to see Sutton wearing the outfit I bought her in February, she was wearing the shirt that I got her. Sutton looked great in the shirt and it fits her perfectly! It made me feel good and happy that she’s enjoying her shirt that I bought her.
On Saturday afternoon I got to go to Starbucks with Kelsey, Melissa, Mary, Alayna and Junior. I got to hold junior! It was a wonderful afternoon catching up with friends and their kids!
On Monday afternoon I had a school presentation at Sifton school this is Mrs. Jutais’ Grade 5 class!
On Thursday afternoon I had two school presentations at the new Chester Ronning school! When I got back home from bocce ball , I got a thank- you note and some flowers from the Camrose Association For Community Living! That was a fabulous surprise and it made it worth the hard work and it paid it off. My favourite part about the job is answering the children’s questions. It was a wonderful year of school presentations! I can’t wait until next year! Thanks so much for the wonderful flowers and thanks to Cherilyn and Victoria for the best super duper support team ever for the school presentations! We made another year of school presentations!
On Friday evening we had bingo and a meeting for events for June, July and August months with Rose Club and I got a mango flavoured face mask for my prize!
On Saturday morning was the fundraiser for the Larry Gibson’s memorial walk and I walked with my friend Kristen, her husband Adam and her newborn Huston, and her sister in law Rebecca! It was wonderful to see everyone from Special Olympics. There was hot dog lunch! They had lunch kits for everyone.
On Tuesday afternoon I got two birthday cards and an Mother’s Day card ready and coloured with coloured envelopes. May long weekend is busy with birthdays! My friend Teresa’s birthday is on Friday, Craig’s birthday is on Saturday and Mother’s Day is on the weekend before. Then my friend Karina and I went for manicures. I got sunflowers, black dots and yellow nails! Karina got a French manicure. It’s so nice to catch up with your girlfriends!
On Friday evening we went swimming with Rose Club. It was lots of fun swimming with our friends from Rose Club and Maryann came as well.
On Thursday morning I did some Mother’s Day water colouring painting pictures at Centra cam and a few months ago I painted a bright rainbow coloured bird house.
For Mother’s Day I helped my mom plant some flower pots in her backyard. Then I helped my brother Joel make a Mint Chocolate Mousse Cake for dessert while my mom, and my brother Luke went to her friend’s Anna Marie’s house so Luke could meet her new puppy Bean! I gave her a water coloured flower picture and an little picture with the words that says I love you mom. She liked her bird house and the flowers were her one of favourite flowers that I bought her.
I finished the word searches book from an Rose Club prize from name that tune or an bingo of some kind.
On Friday morning My Best Friend Forever Teresa sent a picture of herself reading her birthday card, she looked So smart in her glasses studying her birthday card she is still a teacher at heart. She loved her birthday flowers and her birthday card from me. It put a smile in her heart! She said the only birthday presents she got was her birthday flowers from me and her birthday card that I coloured. It’s makes a person feel like she did something extra special for her friend for her birthday. On Friday evening we went neon bowling with Rose Club and had a blast! It’s extra fun when you’re glowing in the dark and there music playing in the background. My staff Anna was dancing on the side.
On Saturday afternoon Rebecca, Kat and I went walking around Mirror lake and got some Starbucks drinks! We were discussing our birthday plans and what we want for our birthdays!
On Sunday afternoon my Mom changed my feeding tube!
Kelsey: Why did you need to get your knee replacement done?
Sheila: My knee was very sore because the knee joint was worn down from osteoarthritis.
Kelsey: What did they replace your knee with?
Sheila: Titanium. Now I will beep when I go through security at the airport.
Kelsey: What was the surgery like?
Sheila: I woke up towards the end of the surgery, but I couldn’t feel any pain. I could feel my body moving while they were hammering, however.
Kelsey: How many days were you in the hospital and what was it like?
Sheila: I was in the hospital for two nights. I would have gone home sooner but I was in too much pain. They had me up walking the day of surgery, which was fine, but the physio made me do some exercises that were very painful, and I nearly passed out.
Kelsey: How was the recovery?
Sheila: Recovery was good. I could tell every day that I was healing a little more. I followed all the rules and healed quite quickly. Exercises, icing, elevating my leg – it was quite time consuming. I only used a walker for a few days, then switched to a cane. I didn’t need it very long either. I did have a reaction to the blood thinners and bruised quite badly.
Kelsey: How bad and for how long did you have pain?
Sheila: The pain was pretty bad doing physio at first. The physio told me I had to straighten my leg before I left the hospital, and there’s no way that was happening! My leg was too swollen. It took weeks before I could completely straighten in. I’m not sure what that physio was thinking. I think I only took something for pain for maybe a week.
Kelsey: Do you think it was worth it?
Sheila: Absolutely!
Kelsey: Do you have pain now?
Sheila: I wouldn’t say my knee is like it was when I was 20, but it’s pretty good. It is sometimes stiff, but I wouldn’t really say it hurts.
Kelsey: How long did it take you to fully recover?
Sheila: I’d say it took a full year to really recover. It’s a big surgery.
Kelsey: How is your other knee?
Sheila: Well, it will need to be replaced also, along with my hip.
Kelsey: Is this a hereditary thing?
Sheila: I’m not sure. My parents never had any joints replaced, nor did my grandparents, but my sister has had both her hips replaced, and my one brother had a hip replaced. Also, my nephew, and he was only 42!
Kelsey: Any advice for someone needing a knee replacement?
Sheila: Don’t wait too long. If you wait too long, you might damage your hips or other knee. The first few days aren’t much fun, but it improves quickly. Also, do your exercises, icing, elevating…all the things physio tells you.
This is what I found on Knee replacements if you want to read more about them:
The 1st week into March Cherilyn , Victoria and I started with in person school presentations!
On Thursday afternoon I sewed a star on a bib for Junior at Centra Cam!
On Friday afternoon I decided to use a card from the book called Colour Your Own Greeting Cards and Envelopes. I made a birthday card for my friend Mary’s birthday and give her a sun catcher that I made at Centra Cam in February. After my mom took me to the dentist appointment we dropped off the birthday present for Mary and the bib for Junior. Mary said she absolutely loved her birthday present and she was very surprised when she opened her birthday present from me! She said it was a perfect surprise birthday present, I totally made her day! Mary also liked the bib that I made for junior! I can’t wait until I get a picture of him wearing his new bib! We had sing along/ karaoke with Rose Club on zoom on Friday evening! I sang “Take Me Home, Country Road”!
Sunday afternoon I interviewed my mom about her knee replacement. I made birthday cards for Joel and Ashley, and a recovery card for an another hip replacement for my Auntie Donna!
I did my presentation in Mrs. Calhoon’s class at OLMP school it was St. Patrick’s Day for them because they didn’t have school on St. Patrick’s Day but they wanted a picture with me!
Thursday Evening before St. Patrick’s day I got my fingernails painted for St. Patrick’s Day. I went with my new friend Amanda and she got light purple with sparkles. I wanted a pot of gold, the nail tech didn’t understand what I wanted, so I got green and gold sparkles tips and some white flowers stickers instead of the pot of gold. It’s kinda perfect with spring coming.
We had birthday bash on St.Patrick’s Day in the evening, We danced and tried to open the piñata which was a yellow box with a question mark. We did that thing where you go under the group of people that are holding their hands and arms up into the air and you have to go under them! That’s was an blast and probably the highlight of the evening! Rebecca had a play list of Irish songs and Spanish songs which was perfect for the themed St. Patrick Day birthday bash! It was a wonderful evening celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with our friends from Rose Club!
We made film clay coasters with Rose Club on zoom while someone was teaching us on an YouTube video on Friday evening, we are waiting for gold paint for the edges. It was neat to learn how to make them.
We celebrated Joel’s 31st birthday on Sunday, with ribs, homemade bread, salad and for dessert we had Mini Egg Cheesecake! I got my bother Joel a mug, it has camping pictures and it’s says Camping With My Gnomies. Joel got some money from parents and Grandpa & Shandy got him golf balls! We discussed about Easter and we decided that we’re going to Grandpa and Shandy’s house for Easter Sunday! Our family usually colour/ dye eggs in food colouring and get some chocolate.
The next weekend, We celebrated Ashley’s 29th birthday, We had her birthday meal and birthday cake. Ashley asked for the brownie cake with cream cheese icing and pecans on top! One of the family’s favourite birthday cakes. We also played Yahtzee together as a family! My friend Mary decorated her a camping mug, says “Camping with my girlies and an camping picture. ” which she loved, she got money too, and a gift card so she and Joel can upgrade their New House in Camrose! Here’s the picture of both of the camping mugs!
End of March we had our last bowling for the season which was neon bowling. Then I coloured some St. Patrick’s Day colouring pages from Tofield school that I got when I was presenting there. I got 100 markers so I could use lots of different shades of green!
On Friday morning my friend Mary told me that Junior always picks the book off the shelf that I bought him, which makes me smile and so happy to hear that he enjoy the book that I bought him.
On Wednesday evening we decided on events for month of May with Rose Club and we dyed Easter eggs.
On Thursday evening my friend Nellie and I got Easter nails done before the Easter weekend!
For Easter Sunday, my family and I went on an outdoor scavenger egg hunt around town, which took two hours to find wooden eggs. We had found a bunch of wooden shaped eggs & take a picture and send them in to the City of Camrose to win a prize. Not even a chocolate egg, or chocolate bunnies in sight. It was a good and different event that everyone enjoyed. It was almost all wheelchair accessible except for one place where I couldn’t get through the snow. Then we went to our grandpa’s house and we painted Easter themed pictures with watercolor pens and paints. Then we had a ham dinner and layered chocolate dessert! It was a very nice day to celebrate Easter as a family!
For New Year’s Day my brother Joel and Ashley, Mom, Dad and I had a turkey dinner in the late afternoon and we played Yahtzee together.
As you already know I got purple dye from Janelle for Christmas! So, the next Saturday I dyed my hair purple in the morning. My friend Nicole and I went for nails and went out for coffee in the afternoon. I got snowflakes, snow man, snow balls and blue trim on my fingernails. My friend Nicole got her favourite colour purple nail polish. It was very nice little spa day!
On the following weekend I got to use my birthday certificate from the bowling alley. I guess when I went bowling with my family, the bowling alley had some issues, so they gave me a little birthday present. A certificate to a free bowling for an hour. I invited team three to go bowling on Saturday evening. Everyone seemed like they had a wonderful time.
On Friday afternoon while I was talking to my friend Mary, She showed me her baby boy Joshua Junior and he enjoys his book that I gave him. She said he wouldn’t stop fussing until she gave him the book, I gave him. Mary decorated his wall with my rainbow picture that I painted for Joshua Junior! On Friday evening we went to the Cheesecake Burlesque, and we enjoyed the outfits, music and there was lots of laughter in the room.
On Saturday morning we went out for brunch at Smitty’s and I got ice tea and blueberry cheesecake with whip cream on top. I needed some floss sticks so Anna and I went to Walmart. Mary showed me Joshua Junior in the moccasins that my mom made for him.
Sunday my Dad and Grandpa were helping me decorate a collage of pictures for my blog.
Friday morning, I had a chiropractor appointment as my back and hips were bothering me. My Chiropractor told me that my hips were out of line. So thankfully he fixed it. Then Mom and I made sourdough cookies and sourdough brownies. Friday evening was birthday bash for birthdays in January. We danced and Rebecca bought a spider man piñata so everyone got an turn to hit it.
Saturday afternoon Kelsey and Melissa took me out for coffee at Starbucks for an hour and a half visit. We have decided we should do a photo shoot in our prom dresses. We even got to FaceTime with Mary on the way to Starbucks. I coloured some of my colouring monthly calendar from an Rose Club prize from bingo or name that tune or something along those lines.
On Sunday afternoon I tried out the keyboard from my Great Gramma Josie. I was in charge of keeping everyone entertained and happy while my mom was making BBQ chicken pizza for supper and then we played the dice game from Christmas.
My friend Emily showed me her baby girl Brielle in the yellow and white dress that I brought her last spring!
Every evening I have started to use a machine that helps my hand that I don’t use that often. It helps it not be too tight! I feel it’s less tight and stiff, I enjoy the feeling in my hand while I use it. It’s like those Doctor Ho’s machines. I get a feeling in my hand and It feels like its tingly.
On Tuesday afternoon I coloured more in the calendar and talked with Mary and baby junior!
On Friday afternoon I cross stitched some of the flowers in the heart. We had Rose Club meeting and Valentine’s Day bingo! We decided on events and activities that should we do for the Rose Club’s March calendar!
On Saturday afternoon we went to Walmart and superstore I needed a iPad charger, new kinds of teas, a mix of hot chocolates which were different kinds of chocolate bars flavours, and some Reinforcements! We bought picture frames for the cross stitches, but they didn’t fit. After shopping, Kathleen, Elyse, Anna and I went out for coffee before baby comes! It was a great afternoon hearing how Elyse got engaged and what the wedding colours are going to be, and of course Kathleen was talking about her baby and her niece Isabel Grace and her issues with sleeping while being pregnant!
On Sunday afternoon My dad found some picture frames on Amazon for my cross stitch hearts and flowers! So, he nicely ordered them. Mom and I bought a baby gift for my friend Skyler’s baby girl Sutton!
On Thursday afternoon the pictures frames arrived. The cross-stitch fits in the picture frames.
On Friday afternoon I finished my colouring monthly calendar from an prize from Rose Club! There are colouring pictures of some flowers and then it’s an calendar on the next page. I also did some word searches. On Friday evening we had birthday bash for the month of February! When you’re comfortable in your brown chair with your comfortable cozy blanket, and just don’t want to move, you can do birthday bash on zoom, but we can still dance and listen to music with our friends.
On Saturday afternoon I wanted to go and shop for Theresa’s birthday presents for her birthday, so Nia and I went to Walmart. I bought her a new mug that’s says *there’s so many reasons to be happy *, hot chocolate and French Vanilla coffee. We put everything in a basket with white paper! Then we drop off the birthday presents at home and went for matching Valentine’s fingernails with Christina.
On Sunday afternoon I took Grandpa and my Dad out for coffee while my Mom took Coco on a walk. My mom was babysitting Coco from Saturday to Wednesday night, as Joel and Ashley went to Arizona for a few days with other couples.
For Valentine’s Day I went to Centra Cam and we had an Valentine’s Day party. We played Valentine’s Day bingo in the morning, then Victoria and I met with Cherilyn and went though the school presentation and how to set up. Unfortunately we found out that the table doesn’t fit with my new power wheelchair so Victoria and I measured my wheelchair for an new table. Then, I danced and coloured some Valentine’s Day colouring pages. In the afternoon I did my fire hall interview blog! Anna and I drove over to my senior Sharon’s apartment and took her an adult colouring calendar book that I coloured and a big book of word searches just in time for an long airplane trip to New Brunswick!
We celebrated our roommate Theresa’s 54th birthday on the next day after Valentine’s Day .
We even went to Special Olympics bowling and everyone sang happy birthday to Theresa. Everyone had Theresa’s favourite birthday cake Black Forest cake for dessert. I got Mini Key Lime Pie. For the birthday presents she got some sweaters from her sister, hot chocolate, French vanilla, and coffee with a mug from me, and some hair stuff from Janelle. She got to FaceTime with her sister and a special friend Maryann on her birthday! We’re looking forward to seeing Rock Of Ages this weekend that Craig and I got her tickets for her birthday!
On Friday afternoon I got to visit my childhood best friend Skyler, meet her baby girl and I gave her baby girl Sutton an outfit for summer. Which my friend Skyler loved. It was a wonderful afternoon to finally get to meet and hold her baby girl Sutton, being able to visit with Skyler and her mom Trina was wonderful too! On Friday evening Theresa and I made Valentine’s Day ‘s crafts a girl and boy gnomes with Rose Club on zoom! Rebecca gave everyone a no sew Valentine craft gnomes craft materials in a bag. And a paper that told you what we needed to make those: we got two Styrofoam cones, felt ( one sheet of red, two light grey and one black craft fur, two gnomes noses which was wood beads and two jewel hearts. We used a hot glue gun, and we needed some scissors! It was super duper fun to make and they’re really cute. It was perfect Valentine’s Day craft!
On Saturday afternoon we went to The Jeanne And Peter Lougheed Center to watch Churchmice presents Rock Of Ages. This was the birthday present from Craig and I for Theresa’s birthday. We all enjoyed the play Rock Of Ages. Everyone had very nice costumes, lovey makeup and the acting was really good!
For Family Day which was Monday my Auntie Gail and Uncle Wayne from Lloydminster came to see us for the afternoon. We went to the Bowling Alley and played a game. Then we went to my parent’s house and made Homemade Bath Bombs that I got from Joel and Ashley for a Christmas present. I got Grandpa to make some Bath Bombs! While we were making bath bombs, my Uncle Wayne and my Dad were playing crib. It was lot of fun, almost perfect day but we missed my cousins Eric and Ian, my brother Joel , sister in law Ashley and brother Luke!
At Centra Cam one of the things I do is informational posters to teach people about different things. I started on this poster a long time ago, and then COVID happened. SO I kind of forgot about it. It was very interesting to learn about the fire hall because I shred paper every week at the Fire Hall. So I wanted to learn about it. I learned a lot on their website. I got to interview G. Parnall a firefighter. I like to color pictures for my poster and make it fancy. It was really neat to learn about the Dalmatian’s at the fire hall and some of the Dalmatians are deaf. I hope people can learn about my poster. I really enjoyed doing it.
Questions for Lieutenant G. Parnall
Kelsey: How many fire calls on average do you get per year?
Lieutenant G. Parnall: It varies from year to year. Right now, we have had about 250 calls.
Kelsey: How many volunteer fire fighters are there?
Lieutenant G. Parnall: About 44 members
Kelsey: How did you get into this job?
Lieutenant G. Parnall: My Dad was a fire fighter, and my best friend is a fire fighter.
Kelsey: What did you do before this job?
Lieutenant G. Parnall: I work as manager at Crystal Glass.
Kelsey: Did you have to go to school for this job?
Lieutenant G. Parnall: I had training in Camrose and other places as well as school.
Kelsey: When holding the hose can it push you over?
Lieutenant G. Parnall: Yes, it can! So, we prepare for that.
Kelsey: What is your favorite part of your job?
Lieutenant G. Parnall: Investigations and finding out how things happened.
Kelsey: How many years have you been a fire fighter?
Lieutenant G. Parnall: Fifteen years
Kelsey: What are your daily activities at work?
Lieutenant G. Parnall: Making sure that trucks are ready for accidents, fires, and medical calls.
Kelsey: What are you most proud of in your job?
Lieutenant G. Parnall: I get to go the children’s hospital to visit. I also get to visit with folks as well as I hope my sons see me as a hero. I enjoy driving red trucks!
All About the Fire Hall
Regularly inspect and clean equipment and vehicles in preparation for fires and practice fire drills.
Fire departments have administration services, training and operations
Administration – Does supervision, budgets, policy and human resources.
Service – Offers protection, safety and education to the public.
Training – Prepares people by educating them to do their jobs.
Operations – Perform tasks to minimize harm to people, property and environment
Fire stations exist in most jurisdictions and have many volunteers to make it function well.
Within the fire department we have :
Fire Chief
Deputy Fire Chief
Captains
Lieutenants
Firefighters
Admin support
The fire department issues fire bans when there is a risk of setting fires.
The city of Camrose pays the fire department to operate.
The service department provides education on:
Carbon monoxide alarms
Fire pit permits
Holiday safety
Home fire escape plan
National fire protection association
Potting soil fire awareness
Safe at home report card
Safe smoking
The service department also provides code enforcement and investigation of complaints, answers questions and helps with fire safety training.
They help with fire by laws and setting fees and fines .
Training department:
The training department does in house training weekly though out the year
They train volunteer fire fighters there are three steps to become a volunteer
Step one – they need a physical evaluation
Step two – medical and applicant checks
Step three – fill out the general information application
They always ask the question “Why do you want to be a fire fighter?”
Just for your information Camrose volunteer fire fighters get paid for the calls they go on plus for weekly training and then at tax time they have a deduction applied.
Dalmations
Interesting information Dalmatians aren’t all deaf. Their association with fire hall was originally because they could keep up with horses now they serve as a mascot.
How do firefighters get involved in our community?
They do pancake breakfasts for charity organizations, MS bike tours, Walk for life, Stollery Children’s hospital, and they speak to kids in schools.
Kelsey's butterfly lifestyle 