July and October reports...and in December, the end of this era

[bumbershoot]

The pirate singers had a kid!

Gosh I wonder who the boy is related to?

Listening to them was fun, as usual.


Even though it was later in the day, E got me over to PLOTSI. That's Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island, at least in my head.

I thought he wouldn't mind the tunnels (not the tiny tunnels that panic me, but the others), but as we entered we nearly got pranked by a group of siblings that thought it was appropriate to hide and try to scare total strangers. Thankfully I managed to notice that the behaviour of the oldest sister was "off", in that she said "Hi!" in a suspiciously overly friendly "there's nothing weird going on here!" sort of way, and I peeked behind her to see an older boy hiding. Since we caught them, they couldn't jump out. But the idea spooked Eamon, and when we got to the window where you put your hand out and something pops up, E couldn't get out of there fast enough.

But the rest of the island was fun for him. And I can't even tell you how much easier it is to walk around there with some weight off. E had fun...

They still have the meet 'n greet area up. Sigh. Hey, does Jack show up for the Halloween party like he does at WDW?

Silliness behind him.

For most of the time we spent there, E was running around by himself, coming back every 5 minutes or so to check in. It was quite a lot of freedom, and very exciting for both of us. I mean, it was a bored sense of excitement for me, but still, considering that he still has a hard time falling to sleep without someone in his room (which has gotten worse since they showed an ADT ad during the Olympics which depicts people coming home while burglars are in the house), the other ways he shows his independence are exciting! Because I do NOT want to have to attend college with him!


While I waited along the river, the canoes kept coming by. One of the guides called out to me "oh, no pictures ma'am, this group is awful, they aren't worth it" or something like that. And then I saw "our" guide, the one who (did I tell this story?) said (at just about that point on the river) "OK everyone give me a big smile! And if you don't want to, just grimace in pain; they look the same from a distance. [grimacing] I love my job, I love my job..." So that guy did that again, and hey, grimacing like that DOES look like you're smiling!


As we started to leave the island E walked me by this area:

I had never noticed it before. As we were looking at it, a younger boy came up and started telling us how each and every person in the "graveyard" had died. At first it seemed simple; the one with the house-shaped tombstone had died because a house fell on the person. But then it got worse and worse, with more and more gruesome ways of dying being mentioned. Ew.


Nearly forgot the treehouse.

At some point I should find all the pictures similar to that in my albums and put them together to show his growth. Also, the pictures at the little door at the hat shop in Fantasyland.


Time and rafts wait for no one, and so we left PLOTSI.

 

[bumbershoot]

We headed over towards Riverbelle Terrace to meet Robert. He was late; working had gone way long. That's what happens, he gets caught up in things and when he's on his own, sometimes misses a proper dinnertime. So while waiting, we climbed the treehouse.

Is this new? I don't remember a videoscreen.

Playing around at the base of the tree.

There are "bellows" on the guest side of the fence. When you press them with your foot, it makes a flame effect and causes the pots and pans to move around like they are steaming and boiling. It's really neat.

Neon...

At some point in there I remember going on Buzz and getting just sick and tired of people who are attached at the hip to their families. Not little kids, that's not what I'm talking about, but fully grown people who can't wait just a few minutes to enter the line,or can't wait in line 30 seconds behind their main group, or can't go *back* in line to meet the family that just came through. It's just SO frustrating. I could tell that I was getting tired b/c I was really grumping about it.


The only answer to grumpiness is...more NEON!

See the little blue lights? See? Awesome.

We headed over to DCA.

 

[bumbershoot]

We were headed over to DCA in order to ride the Tires, Mater, and to just look around. I was telling Robert that Mater really swings you over HARD, and since E and I had only experienced a hard swing going *one* way, I counseled Robert to sit on that side, so he didn't squish Eamon. They thought that was a good idea.

Luigi's was too long, so we went to Mater's Jamboree. The line....

Robert noticed that the tops of the poles that hold the chains of the queue are themed.

At last we could hear Mater saying the safety spiel in Spanish, which meant we were through the line!

You can see the fireworks from the Jamboree! Perhaps I was a bit silly taking these while ON the Jamboree, but oh well.

The ride came to an end, and I expected joy! Instead, I saw tears.

As I had noticed on that ride, the cars actually swing hard in BOTH directions. R&E had noticed it too, and were trying to control it, but on one swing then swing the other way, E had rebounded HARD onto and off of the side of the seat, right on his cheekbone.

Alas they've moved First Aid to the front of the park, so off we went. And found ourselves being asked very similar questions to the ones we got to answer twice in as many months when E was 3, when he went to the ER. (once for a dinner-making burn and once for a fall at Target and NO he was not in the cart at the time of the fall, he was standing on the ground) They are thorough, when a kid comes in with something that could be a punch, let me tell you!

But at the end of it all, he had this.

We were done. Even though they had checked out his cheek to make sure it didn't crackle (making sure it wasn't broken, which I had wondered and had been peppering him with "on a scale of 1 to 10 how much does it hurt" types of questions while walking to First Aid), I figured the hit was HARD and there should be no more rides that night. So we went to Starbucks (fiddler, fife, and something?), got some chocolate-containing drinks, then went on the long way home. (this might have been the night we took the cab...not sure)

It was a longish night with me worrying about his wittle face, and hoping we'd gotten the ice pack on it in time to prevent a black eye (with him hoping fervently that he WAS going to get a black eye so the pain would have been worth it). But we made it through.

 

[bumbershoot]

That night I got a survey request as we were leaving. E was OK so I did it, and when they expressed surprise that we had only gone on one ride that evening, I explained why. And made her write in there that they NEED to pad the seats. I had mentioned it to the First Aid nurses, who were NOT surprised by this injury, and they made special note of what ride it happened on (trying to document how many injuries those seats cause), I mentioned it to two CMs as we left, and to the survey lady. I'm trying to get them to put at least a little padding on it.

The non-nurse adults expressed surprise that they weren't padded, and hadn't thought about kids being at face height; they only thought about their own adult bodies. Well I'd taken a pretty good hit to the "point" of my shoulder on a side during my first ride, so I know it's not just tiny kids.

I really do not think the ride designers or the people in charge of seeing if rides are safe gave a thought to people smacking into the sides, and I think that was a rotten oversight. If E had hit harder, it would have definitely turned into concussion-land.

Disney, pad those seat-sides!

 

[kaoden39]

PLOTSI! I love it!!

Don't you love kids that go out of their way to make the experience "fun" by trying to scare you? And some of those commercials? Please? I do not like them and I don't like the way that they try to scare people!

I have never been a fan of the canoes. I need to actually check them out on our next trip if they are running.

Molly, I get really grumpy aout grown ups acting that way.

Poor E!! How typically male to want a black eye!! Poor Molly having the worry!!

Hopefully, they do something aout it. I am guessing that the nurses have seen this before. Which tells me that Disney is aware and the first time a child gets seriously hurt they are in for a lawsuit.

 

[bumbershoot]

Hi Michele!


Well we were trying to have a little weekend here, and went down to Portland. Got here Sat, got bubble tea (the places in tacoma and Seattle make them with dairy milk but Fat Straw in Portland uses coconut milk which is just THE best), had dinner at the restaurant associated with where we got married, then went to an evening baseball game. The Salem-Keizer Volcanoes to be exact. It's a class A short season (whatever that means) farm team for the Giants. Lincecum played for them for about a month before moving to Fresno then on up, for example. It was a cute park, good game with young players, and I'm glad we went.

This morning we lazed then went back to get bubble tea, and the I left the guys to see if I could get my hair chopped. While I walked to the aveda place (Dosha, which is where I had wedding hair and makeup done 9+ years ago) and was able to get a walk up, Robert was fielding phone calls regarding his mom being in the hospital, again! As the hours went by, we found out more info and it wasn't as scary as it first sounded....honestly she just overdoes it and i think she might have vasovagal syndrome, and she gets tired and very fainty really easily, but today she was at temple doing the big huge Buddhist bows during prayer and went unconscious. Ay Ay Ay.

She was actually released as we were packing up, so we're staying until the morning. Nothing we could do for her tonight, especially not while exhausted from driving at night.

Hopefully she'll be ok and it's just more of the same stuff, just over reacted to by the temple-goers.

In other news, I had about a foot of hair cut off. Woo! I have all that in a ponytail to send in to locks of love, and boy did my curls go sproing! Luckily I know my hair, so we she said "it will be to *here* after the cut" I knew better.

I feel like I'll have to have Botox on my forehead now, since I don't have all that hair pulling my forehead smooth anymore!


Hope the MIL is OK. She keeps saying that she is ready to go and wants to know that her kids are doing well first(and everyone is doing much better), but hey, she has three grand kids total that aren't ready for her to head out yet!

 

[kaoden39]

Hi Molly!!


I am sorry to hear about your MIL. My dad had a heart condition and he had troubles until they got his medicines under control.


It sounds like you had a fun weekend. I thought about you when I heard that the Bumbershoot festival was this weekend in Seattle. I love minor league baseball games. To me it is a much more pure game.


I wanted to cut my hair for locks of love and I was diligently growing it out for that but I don't have enough hair. I am at 8 inches of what I will willingly cut so it is out and I need to get it cut a wedding on the 8th. Now if I could just find a shrug to wear with my dress I would be happy.

 

[bumbershoot]

If only they could combine my 12" with your 8" to make two 20" ponytails!


So...MIL. It was not anything simple at all. Could not be more complicated. Note to health care providers: when you have "transient" in the name, it means it *comes and goes*. So just because she looks fine NOW doesn't mean there's nothing going on. It means it has gone. For now.

Yeah, a series of "mini strokes" or, more specifically, small Transient Ischemic Attacks, caused by an "embolic shower" throwing little tiny clots (or maybe bits of calcium) up into her brain vessels from *all over*. Hit Sunday, hit Wednesday, and probably hit again on Friday 2 hours after being released from a hospital (released against my and the family's wishes, but in compliance with HER wishes, and based on the super-heroic measures she had gone to to show them how READY she was to be home). No obvious clot anywhere, so it's probably coming from, oh, who knows, and might be from the plaque in various arteries, probably around her heart. NOTHING surgical to be done.

So now she's on coumadin, which is a stinkin' nightmare for me, as that's how my mom died, from the combo of that drug and an undetected (though it should have been, the symptoms were all there in their faces, and they laughed them off) bleeding ulcer. My BIL's partner is also scared, since he used to work in a blood bank, and knows the risks of the drug. But there's really no other choice. If this continues to happen, it won't be one big final stroke...it'll be lots of tiny little TIAs that slowly eat away her memory (she has already lost at least 3 specific bits of time, and at least 1 very specific set of memories about something in the past, and that's what we're aware of...and she now only has half-vision in one eye) and other things her brain controls, and result in her living what she would feel to be a half-life that she most definitely wants to avoid. So there's NO choice.


Once things calm down, we get to write up an official complaint against one of the hospitals as well as the ambulance company that transported her, twice, to her "local" hospital (that has absolutely NO facilities for appropriate stroke care). The first time they just chastised Robert for having called 911 (once again, let's define "transient"); the second time they REFUSED to take her back to the hospital that had just released her, insisting that they had to go to the one closer by. Even though they had no stroke-care facilities (and, in fact, quite nearly killed her with their actions, but DEFINITELY aged her grown children, causing SEVERE emotional distress to them for no good reason). And even though going through town to that hospital isn't any shorter of a distance than getting right on the highway (a minute away from her apartment) and zipping down to Tacoma. Especially since *we beat her to the hospital*, leaving from Tacoma, AFTER the EMTs were already at her apartment in her town.


It's all quite a little, um, yeah, mess-up on the part of some healthcare providers.


But she's back in the appropriate hospital (and that's a story that is too much for my fingers now), she's NOT begging to go home (which is a first...I think she's finally realizing that this isn't a good situation), and hopefully maybe tomorrow they'll figure out another way to get more answers (though we've been told that it's possible we will never know *where* these "embolic showers" are coming from).

And hopefully she won't develop a bleeding ulcer, or have a knife drop on her foot, or whatever. I surprised the heck out of myself by *crying* when talking to 911, getting help when she collapsed on Friday, thinking (we ALL thought, 100%, she was THAT far gone during the attack) that she was going to die, and being surprisingly sad about it.


We are all stinkin' exhausted.

 

[kaoden39]

Oh Molly how awful. I am keeping you all in my thoughts and prayers. This has got to be hard on R and his brother. Thankfully she is in the hospital, and hopefully they will figure this out.

 

[bumbershoot]

Thanks Michele!


Well, it's not calcium making up the emboli, but just clots. So the Coumadin continues. As expected. They chose to not do a followup MRI, because she's had a LOT of dye recently, and it wouldn't change the treatment.

She's still in the hospital since Friday; she might have gone home today but her blood pressure went wonky yesterday morning and it won't calm down. Yesterday the doctor there was somewhat condescending to me, and REALLY upset poor Robert, but today he had been able to review MIL's info and was a whole lot more empathetic and understanding of our stress and fears. So that was good. He was willing to slow down so I could write things down, and he actually explained to me what the medications were and WHY he was choosing them, and why he would be choosing drugs for when she's discharged.

She charmed the care manager and her nurse by saying a word in...Tagalog? The language spoken in the Philippines, right? It was cute. They loved it. (just like she loves it when a non-Korean speaks Korean)

She now has a walker (with a seat!), which makes her happy. Or will, once she's using it.


Sorry to bore you guys with all of this, but I had to get it out!

 

[kaoden39]

It's so hard when a loved one is sick. The fact that the DR was condescending just ticks me off. Poor Robert, he doesn't need the added stress of that because I know he is worried about his mom already. Maybe he was just having a bad day. I think it is a good idea to take notes and write things down. I know that if I have the chance to go back read what was said I sometimes understand it better because I have had a chance to calm down.


That's great that she is trying to converse with the care manager and nurses in that manner. The old dog has a new trick or two still.


I think the the walkers with the seats are a great idea. There isn't always a place to grab a seat, so she can bring one with her.


How is E handling grandma being sick? E is a pretty sharp kid so I know he has to be paying attention.



Vent away.

 

[bumbershoot]

Home again home again! She was released today, which is GOOD because she was aging rapidly the longer she was there. Hospital delirium was setting in (a real thing, according to today's nurse), and she was getting a tremor that made her seem much older than before.

She is now on something like 9 pills, though 1 will go away in 3 days and another will likely be dumped soon. I bought her a one-week pill holder, but I have to figure out a good way to help her remember what pills are taken when.


In the last 2.5 days the staff there became much more respectful and kind to us. I think it's because they had a chance to really read the charts and reports. The people who knew her from her Friday's discharge KNEW what was going on, so she was taken very seriously when she came back. Then she was put on a different floor, with people not as familiar with her, and I think they thought we were exaggerating on the first daytime she was there with them. But by the next day it was all different. They knew how odd her situation was, and understood what she, and we (we aren't as important, but we aren't irrelevant, either), had been through.

I've had so many really good convos with the medicos over the last couple days that it has brought them up in my esteem. I've had some lousy, stupid, bottom of the class MDs and nurses in my time, so this was very healing for me (though again, I'm not as important in this situation as she is). One doctor, upon hearing of my Exercise Science degree, Chiropractic background, and interest in nutrition, said "I would be very interested to hear your opinion on this new 'Primal' diet that's popular now". He wants MY opinion? Wow. That might not come through as big and important as it was in person, but trust me, it was a pretty neat moment!


So she's home. Sleeping, without anyone taking her blood pressure 5 times a night. Which must be a relief!



And now I have to figure out a good, simple, pirate costume for E on the Halloween Party day, and figure out something for us, too. (hoping, of course, nothing happens on the MIL-front) Robert and Eamon are signed up for the Pirates League, but now R doesn't want it, so I'll do it instead. The problem is that we're signed up at 2, and the party doesn't get even close to started until 4, so...I really have to call to see if there are later appts. We'd love to sleep in, then have Goofy's Kitchen for a late breakfast that day, then swim a bit, before heading over to the appointments and then the party.

And let's not even think about wondering if she'll be joining us on the cruise. My mind boggles and gets really sad to think about it!

 

[kaoden39]

I am glad to hear that your MIL is out of the hospital. It does age you and you begin to feel helpless in there. I know it well.

One thing my mom does to help her self to remember which pill to take when is to have different color pill boxes for her pills. She takes pills twice a day so she has a white pill box for morning and a blue one for her night pills. My mom made a list of her pills and followed the list ro put the pills in until she memorized it.


Remember that thrift stores are your friend when shopping for costumes.

 

[bumbershoot]

Thanks for continuing to read, Michele. You're the best.

Tomorrow is her first Home Health visit where they'll check her "INR" level. That's what they use to see if the coumadin/warfarin is at the correct level. Sigh. We'll be up there for that, of course, and on Tuesday I'll take her to her GP visit so he can take that over and get her into the anticoagulation clinic. Man oh man has her life changed... Poor chica.




Assuming things go fine at that visit and we get some homeschool in, tomorrow afternoon I'll have a chance to work on finishing up this report. Pinky swear!

 

[kaoden39]

I'm always around.


Your life has changed too, for better or worse.


I'll still be here!!

 

[bumbershoot]

You know what, Michele, you're totally right. Life has changed for all of us.

Side thought: despite the fact that I miss my mom terribly, I've often felt that I, in a tiny way, got lucky because I never had to watch her age (she was only 55). I realized last night while trying to sleep (and having horrifyingly frightening dreams about being in a shared hospital room with a psychotic person) that MIL was 62 when I met her. Not old at all. And now she's 74 and everything is so different. I tend to live life one day at a time (except for the vacation planning stuff), and it just hadn't hit me that everyone is aging and changing. That last full day MIL was in the hospital, when I saw that head/neck tremor for the first time...I knew she had to get out of there. I don't like the shaking thing. Not one little bit.



E and I are finishing up HP3 aka Azkaban, so while we do that I'll post some pix. Not much story to go with them, most likely, but pictures are fun all the same. Next post!

 

[bumbershoot]

If you see this sign, feel free to believe it, but check in every so often. We went back around 11am and the line was LONG; it had been open for awhile. VERY frustrating. I wish we had checked!!!!!






I'd never noticed this until E did. There's a little peephole overlooking the 3D glasses at TSMM.

Your basic Buzz Blaster.

Except for the dial.

It goes to 11.


Birdie.

Look what I caught!

RSR.

E was in the front with 2 other kids. I was in the back with their moms.

 

[bumbershoot]

Now that he has taken rock wall classes, he kinda freaked out the attendant at the end. He was just up high. But I wasn't in a position to take that picture.

He loves the Wilderness Explorer ceremony. I have a lot of pictures with a LOT of other kids facing the camera, and I'm not comfy posting other kids with their faces that clear. Alas.

 

[bumbershoot]

Yep, he ate that whole thing.

I love this list.

Eamon and I noticed the fullness of the stroller parking signs one day.

We also noticed that the PP flying ships have cannons.

Freckles!

I'm getting better at not feeling sick on Dumbo. It really does give you a great view!

Loved looking at all the little things in the Star Tours ride, but only got this picture.

Eventually we did have to go, and for some reason this was the last picture I took.

E and I had that last half day in the parks together, after Robert took his company-arranged flight back home. Since he gets a bunch of free checked bags, though, and we don't, he took our big bag. That was rough for him, but lots easier for us!


And here we are, on the brink of our next trip. With the cruise rearing its ugly head so relatively soon after that (February). Way too soon, given MIL's health stuff. For some reason, the thought of her not going makes me super-sad, but the thought of her going scares the pants offa me! But on the other other hand, I don't want her life to consist of just sitting at home all the time...I want her to LIVE life! Other other other hand...I don't want her to be helicoptered off the ship to a hospital in the Bahamas or die or anything like that, while on the cruise.

It's nothing we'll bring up with her right now...that's what we paid the big bucks for the cruise insurance for, you know? But Robert and I talk about it.

 

[kaoden39]

My dad died at the age of 66, so he really wasn't very old. On the otherhand my grandpa was almost 99 when he died. Watching my grandpa age was hard for me because he will always be the man that I would sit in the kitchen with him while he cooked talking his ear off. My mom is 75 and I have seen her age a lot over the last few years. It's hard to watch our loved ones age. I am not sure if it is because they are not who they once were or if it is because it proves that we are aging. I am sorry you lost your mom so early.

Wow E is getting that teenage appetite! Fun!


I wondered about taking your MIL on the cruise. I think that it might be good for her, but I understand your concern.