Shalom!

Hello everyone!
   So yesterday I got another infusion (number 5 I think?) it went well, it just makes me sleepy. I'm pretty lucky to have a super great boyfriend who takes off the day from work to drive down to Tampa (4 hours) with me because I can't drive after my infusions. And yesterday was free queso day at Moe's! So we went with my pops (who is crazy wonderful!) So I've had this chronic back pain since forever it seems and nothing will make it go away so now we're going to go to a pain management doctor to get cortisone shots in my spine :(

I just got my first Make A Wish wish granter email! I have to pick a kid! I didn't know I would have such a hard time picking someone! There are so many, I want to take on all of them!! And I just submitted my Boggy Creek Family Week form for the arthritis weekend! And I want to do the hemophilla/bleeding disorders one too since the week long I did was both of them, but they are two weeks apart and I think it will just depend on school. Oh and I'm doing some things with the Arthritis Foundation, I'll be at a booth at old people conventions haha! After working at the hospital in the Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP) I feel like most of my friends are over 65 years old! Haha!!

Saturday I'm going to Disney with my boyfriend, and two of my best friends! I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you enjoyed this small update on my life! Sorry it's short, I'm super sleepy. But I'm sure it doesn't seem like it, I use ! too much I think...


Be kind to each other,
Kelley K

My Camp Experience!

Hello friends,

   Sorry I didn't write sooner, I got pretty sick after camp :( silly kids! So I'm going to go by what happened day by day:

-The camp consists for 16 cabins broken up into 4 separate color groups, red, green, yellow and the best, blue! Each color group, or pride, has a different age group, 7-9 y/o, 10-12 y/o, 12-14 y/o and 14-16 y/o. And each pride has two girl and two boy cabins. Each cabin has about 5 counselors and 8-10 campers. Each cabin is split up into two sides, the campers are on one side with a bathroom (including showers) and on the other side is counselors. And each cabin as a mini kitchen with fridge and sink and cabinets and a picnic table with rocking chairs, it's lovely. And it's all screened so no bugs! Well not as many bugs, this camp is out in the middle of no where. And it is completely and totally free for the camper!!! All they pay for is the medicine they bring and if their parents drove they pay for gas too, or a plane ticket. But other than that it is totally free! The camp is funded by Newman's Own products, 100% of the proceeds go to A Hole in the Wall Gang Camps (there are 14 throughout the world!!) and also by private donors. It's pretty spectacular! Each week camp features a different illness, my week was JRA/Bleeding Disorders, but they have week longs for: heart, immune disorders, cancer, epilepsy, sickle cell (which I'm going to in August!) asthma, transplants, IBD, craniofacial and spinia bifida. During the Fall and Spring they have family weekends where its from Friday to Sunday and the whole family can go, and its free for up to something crazy like 6 or 6 family members! So great!!

Sunday:

    Arrive at camp (just staff, no campers yet), sit through lots of meetings and learn about the diseases of the kids we'll be having and we got to meet the other people in our prides, oh and we got a tour of the camp! After we ate some yummy Hawaiian chicken in the dining hall we went on what seemed to be a two hour adventure to the local Walmart, but camp is about 30 min away from all life! I realized that I would have to carry around some stuff, like bug spray, sunscreen, water, schedule, things like that and my clipboard was not going to do. So I bought a wonderful backpack! It was only $4.88 (I hate to spend money) and it was blue and green camo with dino on the front. That dino was the best part of the backpack. I named her Penny, the campers loved her. Anyway so after we bought the backpack and some essential camp snacks like Twizzlers and cheeze it's and peanut mm's, we went back to camp and went to sleep!

Monday!

     KIDS COME!  So we woke up and had breakfast and had some meetings and then between 1-4 our kids came! 4 of ours came on a bus from St. Pete (All Kids and the Arthritis Foundation provided a shuttle for them) and 3 I think came on a bus from West Palm Beach (I assume the kids hospital down there helped with that) so after that we were just waiting on two more girls and they both came well before 4! We had such a great time getting to know each other! Then we met in our prides and then we had dinner! Yum. Everyone always eats with their prides in the dining hall with all of the campers. After dinner we went over to the gym and had our opening camp fire (but not a real one, I'm assuming it would aggravate some of the kids illness) we sung some songs and stuff, it was nice. Then it was off to the cabins for 10:30pm lights out. By the end of the week we could get 8 girls showered and ready for bed in about 40 minutes! And we only had two showers!! Meeting everyone was pretty sweet! Oh and every camper gets a hand made afghan blanket and a homemade bear! So sweet.

Tuesday, Silly Olympics Day!

     Our first full day! So we woke up and had our girls ready by 7:20am to go to Morning Manatee (the pre-breakfast activities) the options were: pool (which was donated by Sea World and is always a lovely 88 degrees!) cooking, mini golf, bows and arrows, the gym (basketball and other games), boating and fishing, wood shop, arts and crafts, theater and horses. Then at 8:30am we had breakfast, yummy, and at 9:30am we went back to our cabins for cabin clean up time! Then at 10:15am we were off to our morning rotation! Today we went to arts and crafts and wood shop (the morning and afternoon rotations are always pre-picked for us so every pride gets a chance at every activity). Wood shop is totally the coolest! One of the boys in our cabin made an awesome dino vs. king kong wood set! At wood shop kids sand, paint, wood burn and stain their projects. They have all kinds of shapes but the staff working wood shop are also able to cut out any shape! The kids also have the option of making a "race car" or box car which everyone can race on Friday, if they want. After our morning rotation we went to lunch, yum, at 12:30. Then we headed back to our cabins at 1:30-3:15 for mandatory rest hour, where for the first 45 minutes of it the kids are required to lay down in their beds. After that they can sit up and read or write or journal about camp, but they must lay down. Kids with chronic illnesses get fatigued very easy, so this wonderful for not only the campers but also the counselors! When we got to our cabin for rest hour we noticed a note on our picnic table outside our cabin from the Cabin Fairy! She told us that our campers did a great job cleaning our cabin and to keep up the good work. Her note was pretty cute and included shinny stickers :) After rest hour our pride went to the camp store (ohh fun!) and then to the pool! At the pool they have this thing called the french fryer which is a room where the kids can go to get warm after they get out of the pool (sometimes the cold and irritate the illness or make it flare up). (There are always 3 at least 3 life guards at the pool and the water goes from inches deep to 6.5 feet, but before going into the deep end the kids must pass a swim test). After the pool we went to dinner! Yum! During dinner they always have awards such as Cleaniest Porch, Most Random Acts of Kindness (camp is big on saying thank you and random or intentional acts of kindness) Best Beds, and things like that. Our pride won Overall Cleaniest! Woo! They also have this thing called the web of kindness which is where you can publicly thank who ever they want and as they do this two people have this massive hula hoop and each night they use a different color string and basically weave a web until everyone has finished with their thank yous. By the end it ends up being very intricate and pretty impressive. After dinner Dorcas (camp director) reads anything put into the "Book of Firsts!" Anyone can write anything that was a first for them or their camper or their counselor as long as it was the first time doing that thing. Some are silly like "Alex tried ketchup on her potato chip for the first time" but some are more serious such as "Brittany passed her swim test for the very first time!" or "Macayla self infused for the very first time!"  

      After dinner we participated in the Silly Olympics! Which is exactly what it sounds like, silly! It was out in the Rec Fields (big open grassy area) and there were 4 different "games" the first was where the counselors had to lay down while the campers took turns giving us a pudding facial and hair treatment, aka they got to rub chocolate and lemon pudding in our hair and all over our face, yum... Then we had to crawl through spaghetti while the kids were throwing spaghetti (cooked of course) on us, gross. This one was probably the least gross, the campers lined up according to cabin and they had to pass a bucket (that had a hole on the bottom) over their heads and pour the remaining liquid into bucket and at the end they got to throw that bucket of watery goo on the counselors for our cabin. The last activity was the nastiest by far. The counselors sat in chair about 10 feet away from the campers and each camper got a spoonful of this nasty concoction called barf. No lie, it was called barf. It was a gooey nasty mix of oatmeal, food coloring and other random food things that you would find in barf. And then one by one they took a large spoonful of it and chucked it at our face. It was so gross, but the kids love love loved it! Blue pride won the award for Messiest... Hooray? And as we headed back to our cabins the fire department came (it was planned) and they squirted us all down with their hoses. Which was pretty fun! I have to say that even after I showered I still found oatmeal in my ear. Nasty!!!

Wednesday, Pride Day!

    Today we got up and went to our morning manatee options of: Boating and fishing, arts and crafts, mini golf, theater, gym, wood shop, nature or music. Then we went to breakfast and then cabin clean up! Today our morning rotation was to horses, nature and bows and arrows. Archery was so much fun! At archery they had targets (easy ones and hard ones) and the staff at archery encouraged the campers to make bets with the counselors. For the boys the bets included having to wear nail polish and/or dresses to the dance Thursday or just to eat lunch and/or dinner without their hands. My campers were of course no exception to this, and I had to eat my lunch without hands, but luck for me it was just sandwiches :) Today we had an aquatic activity on cabin row! Which is just like a water fight but there are no fights at camp, so it is an aquatic activity. So when the sirens sirened(?) everyone came out of their cabins to huge trash can full of water and we just had a massive water fight, I mean, aquatic activity, for 40 minutes. It was so much fun!!!

   After dinner and our web of kindness, we went to the theater for Stage Night! Three of our girls sang songs and all three did amazing jobs! The theater is this huge building, just like a theater! It was all donated by Universal Studios and it has everything that a high school theater or auditorium would have. Lights, sounds, a pit, squishy chairs and a backstage area. Backstage there were at least 4 rooms full of props, costumes and all kinds of fun things to dress up with! So when it was time for our girls to preform some of the other girls in our cabin decided we should go up to the stage so when our girls preformed it would be just like a concert for them. So we lined the stage and hooted and hollared for our girls and sung along and gave them that extra bit of confidence, knowing that we were there supporting them! After stage night when we were in our cabin the girls who preformed thanked everyone for being there, it was so nice to see the love!!

Thursday, Dance Day!

        Today was our day to sleep in! Yay!! We didn't have a morning manatee and had to be at breakfast by 9am, followed by the usual cabin clean up. Then we had some cabin time, just our 9 girls and counselors. It was so nice, everyone just kind of chilled out, some made some string friendship bracelets and others made random notes to give to the other cabins. It was really nice to just hang out and listen to music (camp appropriate music of course!). After our cabin time we went over to adventure! There we were broken up into 4 groups (all of Blue Pride) and each group did different team building activities. One was where there was a bucket in the middle and 5 posts surrounding the outside in the large circle and everyone had to work together to pick up the items around the bucket to put into the bucket, but the catch was that they couldn't talk and they each post was tied together so they had to figure out how to pick up the items and put it in the bucket and pick up the next time. It was pretty funny to watch because they were not allowed to talk! Another activity was one camper at a time had to walk across this steel cable that was about 2 feet off the ground using these ropes that were hanging out, but each rope got further and further away until you reached the end. But everyone in the group had to cheer on the one camper who was trying to cross. They also had to provide a "safety net" in case the camper crossing somehow fell off the cable. It was fun! There were two other team building things but you get the idea. After lunch and rest hour we went to the pool for a nice swim!

      Tonight we got to have dinner in the cabins! (So everyone could have a little bit extra time to shower and get ready for the dance) The lovely kitchen staff came around and gave everyone home made pizza, salad and brownies :) Yum! And drinks of course! After we all ate and got ready to go, we headed over to the "beauty salon" where the campers had the option of putting on make up, getting their nails painted, getting temporary tattoos, temporary hair color spray (or just sparkles) and some little prizes such as rings and necklaces. During this time the boys who had lost some archery bets were forced to get their nails painted or wear make up. It was pretty funny! Some of the boy counselors who had to wear dresses went down to the theater and borrowed some really um, beautiful, dresses. I told one of the boys who was hesitant on getting his nails painted (a bunch of the girls wanted him to get his nails done) that this was the beginning of him doing crazy things for the ladies and that he should just get used to it. He shruged his shoulders and agreed to the nail polish. It was so funny!

     Finally we're ready for the dance! It was a blast!! The dining hall was decorated and they even had a DJ. It was so much fun to just sing at the top of our lungs with our campers and dance around. One of the boys actually knew almost every Justin Bieber song and renamed himself "The Biebs". If the campers did not want to dance, on the porch of the dining hall they had the option of playing board games, cards or watching a movie (with their counselors of course). After about 2 hours of singing and dancing it was time to head back to our cabins and our girls very quickly fell asleep (as did the counselors!) 

      Tonight we had our first cabin chat, where you all sit in a circle on the floor and take a bear (or any item) and put it in the middle and start with one question, ours was "You have two stars and one wish, the two stars being a shout out or thank you and your wish is a wish that you have." There are rules and it is that you cannot talk unless you have the bear (or other item) and you do not have to talk if you don't want to, no pressure. This was one of my favorite times of all camp. At first it was not too deep but about 30 minutes into it got really deep and everyone was in tears. The girls were talking about how they get made fun of at school for always having to sit out of p.e class and stuff. I had no idea how depressed they got, the majority were on some kind of depression medicine. It makes sense, but it is so awful. But when one girl would mention something about having to eat lunch alone at school or something like that another girl would give her words of wisdom to empower her. It was such a beautiful thing to witness, so much love in that room. Lights out were supposed to be at 10:30 but we were up until 12:30 just talking then we had to end it, I am sure that they could have gone all night. I really do hope that the girls took everything that was said during cabin chat and use it when they start high school in August. 

Friday, Grand Finale Day: 

     So this morning instead of morning manatee all of camp met in the gym for the Gator Grand Prix! The campers who chose to make a wooden race car in woodshop now how the opportunity to have their car race down the home made track! It was so fun to see all of the kid's race cars. After all the cars raced (they went one by one down the track, so everyone was a winner) the camp director Dorcas took the race car she made and lit it on fire and sent it down the track. (I was told this was something that they do every time, who doesn't love fire!!) The kids were all shocked when it happened and it made for some awesome pictures! All of the campers who raced their cars got a plaque saying that they successfully competed in the Gator Grand Prix! Oh the kids also got to name their cars before it went down the track, kids come up with the strangest names, but they were cute. All of the activity staff working this event borrowed race track suits from the theater so it was like being at a real race track! 

    After this we went back to the pool, then to lunch and rest hour. Then it was time for aquatic activity number two! Same as the first one, a massive water fight!! Our campers got me really good this time, it was so much fun! But after that the campers had time to pack up their belongings before we went to the strolling art show. The art show is just a long line of all of the crafts the campers made all week long. They had tye dye, pottery, wood shop projects, and everything in between. It was really cool to see all of the projects, some of those kids are really really really talented! 

    Tonight for dinner was a fancy meal for the closing banquet. We had some fancy chicken and rolls and mashed potatoes I think. As a whole camp we watched a slideshow of all of the amazing pictures taken throughout the week. (I wish I could share them, but we don't have access to them because of the medical confidentiality stuff and child privacy) And of course as always after dinner we had our web of kindness.

           This web of kindness was at least an hour and a half long! (They are usually about 30 min but because this was the last night of camp everyone had something to say, some even went up to speak 4 or 5 times!) I have to say that my two favorite thank yous were: "Thank you Boggy Creek for not making me feel like "that sick girl" and for making me feel like a kid again" that was from a 9 year old girl. I cried. And my second favorite was "Thank you Boggy for giving me a home when I did not have one" that was from a 16 year old boy who has been bounced around to many foster homes in the past few years. I cried again for that one. I had no idea how much camp meant to these kids, for some of them they had been going to Boggy for 5 years and now they are 16 years old and will never be a camper again (16 is the oldest you can be as a camper but at 17 you can do the "camper in training/leader in training" program and then when you're 18 you can volunteer as a counselor) It was heartbreaking to hear these kids talk about how they didn't feel like kids before due to their illness but that camp has made them feel like kids again. I feel so privileged to be where I am today and that I was able to have a real childhood, one that was not spent in the hospital. It breaks my heart! But I am so happy that there is a place like camp that is able to really help these kids out and put the child back into their childhood. 

       So after singing some songs and some evening announcements we went to the arts and crafts building as a whole pride and had our own closing ceremony. It was fun and involved brownies :) Yum! After that we went to our cabin and pretended like we were just going to get ready for bed, have a nice cabin chat and go to bed since it was already late (we lied about the time, none of them had watches). After we were all settled in our pajamas one of the counselors said “I brought you all s’mores but I accidently left them in the dining hall” so then the campers wanted to go get them but we told the campers that we couldn’t leave because our pride leader would be coming by to make sure everyone was in for the night. But then we decided to have the campers dress up as counselors and we were going to sneak over to the dining hall, grab our s’more stuff and come back as soon as we could! So we let the campers wear some of the counselors t-shirts, one girl wears my dino backpack and we plan our mission. So after our pride leader came by to check on us we sneaked (sneaked is actually the correct word, snuck is not a word. Thank you NPR) out and along our way we heard someone coming so we hid in the laundry room! Then as me and another counselor are standing outside “just talking” our pride leader says “Hey someone over the walkie talkie said they saw one of the blue cabins sneaking out and I was just making sure it wasn’t us.” It some convincing but it worked and then our pride leader left us alone. Then we finally make our way over to the dining hall and go into the mailroom (which is off limits to campers, but since we dressed up our campers as counselors it was ok) so we’re the mailroom and one of the girls decides to sit down on the couch in there and as she sits it pulls down the curtain from the window! We were exposed!! I quickly wedged it back up and we were safe! We got our goodies and headed back. But on our way back we passed another staff member! So we looked away pretending to be star gazing. It worked, the staff member didn’t even think twice about it. Finally we make it back to our cabin and have yummy s’mores! Well, melted marshmallows on graham crackers with chocolate on them. (One of our girls never had s’mores before!)

        As you read that you might have thought it was cheesey but it was of course all planned and every cabin was doing their own sneak out. The campers thought it was for real though! It was a lot of fun.

Saturday, Departure Day L

       Today was pretty slow, we got up and got all of our girls packed and ready to go by 7:45am and then headed over to breakfast. After breakfast the parents came and picked up the kids and they all left between 9-11am. Then we had our last volunteer meeting, packed up and left. It was sad to see how empty and quiet camp was :(

Random information about camp:

   During this week the nurses and doctors offered self infusion classes for the kids who needed infusions, mainly the bleeding disorder kids. This is a huge huge huge step for those kids because usually when they got an internal bleed (that could be causes from anything from walking to getting hit or playing too rough) or if they needed an infusion for any reason they would have to go to the doctor, hospital or have to go home from school or their friend's house to get this infusion. So some campers went to this class and successfully got their "first stick!" and they then got the "First Stick Award!" and the kids who already do self infusions had the option of learning how to do it in an alternate site. (The usual infusion goes into one site, but if something happened and they couldn't use that one site they would have to go to someone (a parent or doctor) to get help to start it) This was a huge freedom step for those kids and I could not be more proud of those campers who got their first sticks! 

If you are curious about what camp looks like or just want more information: boggycreek.org

Also if you are or someone you know is a bike rider and wants to participate in a 40 or 60 mile bike ride there is one that will be raising money for camp in September! The information is on the homepage of the camp website. 

Shout outs to: Blue pride! B13! And to, Alex (you are the bestest!!) Brittany, Meghan, Katie and Kayla! You all are the best counselors ever! 

Thank you so so much for reading this all of the way! You rock! I hope you got a sneak peak (well a long sneak peak) of what life at camp is like! You should think about volunteering or donating if you can! It can definitely be a life changing experience!!

Until next time kiddo!

-Kelley K

Hello world!

Hi Friends!
  So I've been taking this class at the hospital and I pretty much just go around and talk to the elderly people (65 and older) and a lot of them feel the need to tell me their entireeee life story including medical history. Which is kinda funny. I've meet some really awesome people! Including one who looked like Santa Clause, a retired secret service man and cute old ladies. I've also been asked many times how many years left of high school I had... I definitely already graduated college once and I'm 23 years old. But it's great to know I look good! I also get hit on a lot, it's very uncomfortable. But funny.

So I'm going to Camp soon, actually tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!! YAY! I can't even wait, I wonder if I'll be able to sleep tonight. I'll definitely update you all when I get back. I brought a journal so I can write down everything, provided I have time haha!

My infusion is going well, it works really well for 2-3 weeks but after that it starts to decrease in effectiveness. The hospital is really hurting my back, I'm there 2-4 hours twice a week, but it's not too bad. I'm even wearing nursing shoes and it still hurts, but I am standing from the second I get out of my car until I get back in it! But it's fun!!

Well I must leave now, I'm going to Tampa to go to the Rays baseball game with my family to celebrate Father's day. (Happy Fathers Day Pops! Love you!) I hope you all have a wonderful week! See ya later!!

-Kelley


ps- I cut 7 inches off my hair.. AH but it's cute :)

Hello again!

Hello world!!!
  I bet you thought I forgot about you! I didn't! Let me update you on my life! (Feel free to get a snack or something, this is going to be a long one)

Ok so, in January I started nursing school at The Florida State University and I love love love it! But in February I got sick and ended up missing a little over a week of school, which in the accelerated program was about 3 weeks of class missed. The doctors think it might have been costalchondritis (inflammation of the intercoastal spaces in the rib cage) and a mix of an arthritis flare up but with a 70% airway blockage. It was no fun! I did get an angiogram though which was neat! (it's like an x-ray but they inject a dye in you that makes your insides glow so they can see if there are any blood clots). When the dye goes through your veins it starts from the top up by your head and you can feel it go through your body and when it gets to your butt area it feels like you pee in your pants because the dye is warm. It's an odd feeling! But anyway, I got better after lots of inhalers, antibiotics, breathing treatments and pain killers.
 I also started a new arthritis medicine too! It is an IV infusion, so I am hooked up to an IV for 3.5 hours every 8 weeks in my doctor's office. So far it is working pretty well, it is just annoying to have to drive 4 hours each way to go to my doctor's office in Tampa. But I have an appointment in August for Shand's Hospital in Jacksonville, which is only 2 hours away! I think that is all of the excitement for February!

Onto March, April and May! I turned 23, woooo! I started working part time as a babysitter for a now 10 month old baby boy. He's pretty cool! I found out that I get to go back to Camp Boggy Creek for the arthritis week! I CAN'T WAIT! So excited! And I am going to do another one for sickle cell anemia in August! I can't wait!!!! So stoked. In May I flew out to Arizona to visit my cousin Kristen and her fiance Rob, I do not like Arizona, but I do like my cousin. It was so nice to see her! (thank you Aunt Karen for buying my plane ticket)

June! I have decided that I want to do something great and I want to do it now! So here's my list of places I've applied to volunteer with:
Red Cross
Make a Wish Foundation
    I'm going to be a Wish Granter!!!
Hospice
Tallahassee Memorial Hospital
    It's part of a class I am taking, it's with the Hospital Elder Life Program (story later)
Big Brother Big Sister
   I got rejected to be a big sister because there are not enough little girls :( but I hope to help with something
   else
The Arthritis Foundation
Someone told me that most hospitals have a thing where you can hang out with the little kids while they wait for surgery or are just bored, I want to do that!

I think that is all, let me know if you have any other ideas!

Ok so today at the hospital one of my patients was sooo amazing! She told me that I was an inspiration to her because of how I power through my arthritis pain. She was so funny and wonderful! We talked for almost an hour. But she's getting discharged in two days, I'm kinda sad, I liked her. I also got mistaken for a nurse a lot today, which was kinda nice.

My bones are doing well, instead of hurting all over all the time, it's limited to just certain areas. And my morning achiness has gone down to only 1-2 hours after I wake up instead of 2-3!

I'm still dating my boyfriend Henry, it's been over a year! Crazy. I like him


I think that is all that is going on in my life at the moment. Until next time friends!

Love everyone, even yourself.
-Kelley

FOOT SURGERY TIME!

Well kids, it's foot surgery time! Wish me luck!!

Sorry it's been so long!!

Hello!!!
   So sorry it's been so long since I've written! The working life is crazy! But here's an update on my bones!

On Dec 10 (Friday!) I'm having foot surgery, I've got a bunion, so they're going to take bone off the side and top of my foot then on my big toe they're going to cut out a wedge (triangle shaped) and put in some pins so my toe is more normal. But because of all of that I've had to stop taking my arthritis medicine! I haven't taken any in 4 weeks!! That on top on cold weather plus I have been putting different pressures on my joints when I walk from my bunion has been a not so pain free few weeks. But it's ok. I can take my medicine again around Christmas. But we're switching from the biweekly injectable (Humira) to a 4-8 weeks IV infusion. Which I'm soooo excited for! And they can adjust the dosage based on your pain! How cool! Hopefully this will work! Oh and for my surgery I'll have a nasty big boot for 6-8 weeks! Which means no driving then!! Terrible. I know. But I'll only be on crutches for about two weeks, until Christmas! So I've decided to decorate my boot and crutches! I've already got mini bows and fun ribbon! I can't wait!

So other than my little surgery I've just been working about 40-45 hours a week with a little girl named Olivia. I've taught her to count 1-5 and half of her ABC's and she's only 19 months! And I've also taught her to say "Merry Christmas" and when you ask her what Santa says she says "Ho Ho Ho!" and then when you ask her what she is going to give Santa she says "Milk and Cooks" (cookies) and then when you ask her what Santa is going to give her she says "presents" Which is all super cute! Her parents are impressed! I think, well at least that's what they tell me!!

Oh last weekend The Arthritis Foundation had its annual Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis! We had sooo much fun!! Team Kelley raised over $1,600!!!! And we're still going! If you want to donate click this link and then "Donate" and click Team Kelley!! http://www.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=427714&supId=300572736&msource=boundlessfundraising

Well I'm sorry this is short but I have lots to do before I'm reduced to one working foot! I'm sure I'll post lots while I'm recovering!!! Toods kiddo!!
-Kelley K

Rheumar Has It: Camp Boggy Creek is the best thing EVER!

Hello everyone!
  So today's rheumar is completely not a rumor! I went to the Arthritis Family Weekend at Camp Boggy Creek in Eustis Florida this weekend and has the best time ever!!!!!!!!!!! It's hard to explain everything I felt and what it was like but I'll try! First I'll tell you about camp!

So Camp Boggy Creek is part of the "Hole in the Wall Camps" which was started by Paul Newman (and some other guy) and it is a camp for children with serious or terminal illness. They started it so that the kids who are sick could have a camp to go to like the other kids. It also gives the kids and parents to talk to other people going through the same things they are! And it's a place for the kid to not get picked on by bullies at school and get away from being stereotyped as "the sick kid" or "the kid with cancer". I watched a video (http://www.boggycreek.org/2006/video.asp?file=/2006/boggy.flv&title=A%20Little%20Piece%20Of%20Magic) about Boggy that had a bunch of kids talking about how Boggy is what gets them through the tough times. They think about how great it is and push through so that they can go again. They have 9 camps in the United States, Washington, California, Colorado, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, New York and Connecticut. And they also have camps around the world! Ireland, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Hungry, Israel, Vietman, Cambodia, Uganda, Ethipoia, Malawi, Swasiland, Lesotho (the last 5 are in Africa). The camp is funded by Newman's Own products, like salad dressing, juice, salsa, pizza, popcorn, cereal and sauces, they've given 295 Million since 1982!! How amazing!!! So who can go to these camps?

During the school year they have what's called Family Weekends (which is what I did) and each weekend is specific to a certain illness or disease. They have camps for Spina Bifida, heart, diabetes, cancer, kidney/IDB/immune deficiency, asthma, sickle cell, craniofacial (like cleft palate), and KOVAC (kids on ventillated assisted care) bleeding disorders/hemophilia, rheumatic/arthritis. During the family weekends the family can bring their whole family!! Mom, dad, kids, guardian! And the best part is is that it is completely and 100% FREE for the family! (Minus travel expenses like gas) Which is totally amazing because these families have to pay soooooooooo much for their medical bills in addition to this terrible economic climate.

Ok so, during family weekend when you volunteer there you're either a family pal or an activity pal. (Every pal gets paired with a family) A family pal is with an assigned family all weekend. Wherever the family is, that's where they are. But an activity pal is at an assigned area (boating and fishing, archery, woodshop, pool,

Then during the summer they offer week long camps for kids with the same illnesses in addition to epilepsy and transplant kids. But this time it's just the kids who go! Ages 7-16!

It was soo amazing! Everyone should go and volunteer! It's totally worth it!! My rambling on about camp doesn't do it justice! You need to check it out for yourself!! Id like to throw out a special shout out to my Iowa friends, Eric, Joseph and Jacob! You all are fabulous!! And another shout out to my fantastic family but I can't say their name for privacy things but they were wonderful and amazing!! I can't wait to see them again!!

That's all for now! Sorry it took me forever to post, it's been pretty busy around! Until next time!!
-Kelley K