Yippee! Our much needed MAW trip at GKTW Dec. 5-16

kimmg

Mouseketeer
Joined
Dec 1, 2010
Hello, everyone! I started reading though tips on this board a couple years ago and posted from time to time but then lost my account information so I'm starting again.

We are busy planning a trip with MAW that may end up being as early as the first week of May:eek: or possibly in the fall. We will be staying at GKTW and will most likely extend our trip at least a couple days. DH- 'J' and I have been to DW 3 times now- once on our honeymoon, one time right before becoming pregnant with DS and once when he was 10 months old with DVC. We have been to DL many times since I'm a SoCal native.

Now on to a little about our family. I'm Kim, 34 and have been married to 'J', 39 for over 14 years. We started trying to have a family 2 years into our marriage but it didn't come easily to us. 8 years later, with by then a very strong, healthy marriage we finally had our dreams come true when I gave birth to our DS 'E'. He was a very difficult baby though and cried constantly, uncomfortable and needing to be held/worn in a carrier constantly. After many hard months we figured out he had a severe gluten intolerance and as soon as we changed everything in his food and environment we started to learn what a happy, easygoing little guy we had. :lovestruc

He was a shy but extremely kind, thoughtful little boy. We had some of the happiest times of our lives his second and third year of life. We decided we would love to add another member to our family. After some fertility issues again we finally became pregnant with our DD 'K'. When K was born she had some problems with blood sugar and she ended up with a 5 day NICU stay about an hour from home. We disagreed with some of the choices the hospital was making and it was one of the most stressful times in our life. Luckily because of an angel of a nurse we were released and we went home, trying to rebuild our life and pick up the pieces.

Oh, let me backtrack- during our pregnancy J lost his job after 12 years in the same company. He had before that taken 2 paycuts that cut our income in half and we lost our home. It was a very difficult time but we pulled together and were making it work.

When K was 2 months old, E one day happened to pee in front of J and it was tea colored. We took him to the pediatrician and were extremely worried. He had never had anything wrong before. While we were with the Dr. he felt a large mass in his abdomen and sent us next door to the ER for an ultrasound. He looked very concerned and J and I had all sorts of horrible scenarios in our heads. When we got next door, they didn't run an ultrasound but and X-ray. The Dr. concluded it was constipation and a UTI and sent us home after consulting with another Dr. We felt unsure but accepted his diagnosis since two Dr.'s had come to the same conclusion. We began many traumatic things to clear out E that lasted several weeks without much change. We felt in our hearts something was wrong and continued testing and going to the Ped. Nothing was showing up and we were assured the original diagnosis was correct.:confused:

One day E peed straight blood. We rushed him back to the ER and they ran a CT and found a huge mass and sent us to a children's hospital 3 hours north. In the worst time of our life, they told us E most likely had a Kidney cancer called Wilm's and they would need to remove it right away. After a 5 hour surgery, they removed the tumor and one of his Kidneys. We spent a couple weeks in the hospital then they let us come home for a couple days. We then came back for 7 days of radiation and to continue what would be 6 months of chemo. He was stage 3. :sad1:

We are now done with treatment and E is turning 5 tomorrow:bday:. It was a difficult road but he is doing so much better now. We have scans on Monday and a hearing test. So far his scans have come out really well. Our little K turned 1 a few weeks ago and is full of life and laughter. :cutie:She along with the grace of God helped us get through this with as much hope as we could.

Thank you so much for reading and I'll try to update with pics and more about our trip soon!
 
I posted this in the Wish Tripper's Unite thread but I was wondering if anyone had visited GKTW with food allergies/intolerances? I called them and they assured me they could accommodate but since chemo E has been having very limited likes and I just want to make sure we have some things he will like to eat. If not I will have to prepare by bringing some of his favorites or making a stop to get some things.

I have some pictures ready. Sorry for the overload, I just love photography.

Our sweet little guy E-7 months
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E- pre-cancer
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In the hospital
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After chemo
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Our family Kim, J, E, and K
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Our sweet lil' K
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Best buds
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And one last one of our wish kid:)
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Thank you for following in our very exciting adventure!
 



Only time for a Quick note ( I am cooking dinner). I wanted you to know someone is here! I will be back. :goodvibes
 
Thanks for sharing your story and can't wait to read more. Our dates are May 6-12th. We will be traveling with baby too..Well,10/11months old. Happy St. Patrick's day and late Happy birthday to E
 


Oh My.... they are just so cute! What a gorgeous family you have.

My brother and nephew were at WDW not that long ago. My nephew is Gluten free, Wheat free, Non-dairy and they were great to him. My bro said anytime they went to eat they told their server about his allergies and the Chef usually came out to actually talk to them.

Can't wait to hear more! :)
 
Wow! Thanks so much to everyone for the warm welcome and for following us.:love:

Thanks for sharing your story and can't wait to read more. Our dates are May 6-12th. We will be traveling with baby too..Well,10/11months old. Happy St. Patrick's day and late Happy birthday to E
How exciting! Maybe we will end up seeing you there? I'm still trying to figure out how things will be with my active little girl but regardless I'm sure we'll have fun. I took DS at 10/11 months and we had a blast! We had a couple good baby carriers and just wore him all around.

Oh My.... they are just so cute! What a gorgeous family you have.

My brother and nephew were at WDW not that long ago. My nephew is Gluten free, Wheat free, Non-dairy and they were great to him. My bro said anytime they went to eat they told their server about his allergies and the Chef usually came out to actually talk to them.

Can't wait to hear more! :)

Thank you so much for sharing that. It seems like it will go really smoothly. I know we've always had really good luck with Disneyland and I've been reading DW is even better.


I thought I would share a few of my favorite DL photos from over the years(I apologize if I get to pic heavy- let me know if you get tired of them) I realized looking through my favorites- so many include something to do with Disney.

An earlier trip to CA when we bought E's first Mickey ears
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Enjoying all the Mickey's
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All wore out in the DL hotel after a full day and Halloween party
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We have one of these pictures almost every year near E's birthday and he's always starstuck
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E's favorite costumed character has always been Pluto. pluto: He was extremely shy at a young age and despite that still RAN to pluto as a toddler and wouldn't stop hugging him. Somewhere I have pics of a day where he saw Pluto multiple times and Pluto worked lots of pixie dust throughout the day.:tinker:
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E's dream gluten free Car's cake with Frank chasing LM
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Post chemo with Minnie. This was K's first meeting and she loved her- even picked out a stuffed Minnie the night before.::MinnieMo
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Thanks again for following and letting me share. I'm so excited! We're still waiting to hear from our wish coordinator on dates. E has scans on Monday and Tuesday next week so we're making a drive up to the Children's hospital. I'm hoping and praying they continue to be clear.
 
Loved reading about your family and all the beautiful pictures! My son also had Wilms and had his kidney removed. I can't wait to follow along with your planning :)
 
Loved reading about your family and all the beautiful pictures! My son also had Wilms and had his kidney removed. I can't wait to follow along with your planning :)

Oh wow! I've met very few people that have had it. I will definitely have to read your TR for your little guy. :grouphug:

We are making the trip for scans tomorrow and a hearing test(he seems to be suffering from hearing loss at times due to the chemo). We will be staying in a hotel since it will be a two day affair. Hopefully all this CA rain lets up for the drive. Thank you for following along!
 
Scans were clear! :dance3: We are so relieved since he has been complaining about stomach pain a lot lately. He also had his hearing test and that came out positive as well. Now just an appointment for physical therapy in the morning and we can will be on our way.:)

Kim did you use to be on SG and the Pin?

Good luck with his tests tomorrow. :love:

Thank you! Yes I was on SG. What a small world. I was never on the Pin though- but I do have friends that were. Your screen-name looks familiar- is it the same at SG?
 
I recognized E from one of your pictures :lovestruc
Yes I have the same name on here and sg ;)
So glad you found Dis everyone here is so helpful :cloud9:
 
subbing, I can't wait to see how E's trip goes! Thanks for sending me here too, I am going to read through everyone's trips, I think dd would love wdw, like I told you though, not sure if I can get the dh on board with flying.:(
 

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