The Vacation that ALMOST wasn't....

domesticdiva

I'm a Disney addict :) .... and proud of it!!!
Joined
Sep 3, 2004
It's a loooong story but I'll try to turn it from a novel to a short story....lol. We have booked 2 WDW vacations in the past and had to cancel both of them for different reasons, one being 9/11 and we were scared to death of the possibilities and another because of a sudden job change. Both times we paid in full and received most of our money back, but did loose quite a substantial amount the first time because our insurance company said that acts of war and terrorism are not covered, go figure, but oh welll. This time I thought nothing was going to stop us and I refused to buy insurance because then there would be NO way we would miss it, right?? WE also decided to keep our kids in the dark and not tell them until the day before, that way it would be a total shock and if by chance there was something that came up they wouldn't be disappointed for a 3rd time, :blush: Since about 6 months of age my ds (aged 23 months) has suffered from Obstructive sleep apnea, it has gone through its own ups and downs sometimes its really bad and sometimes its not so bad. Last Sunday he went to sleep and I just couldn't shake this feeling that I had to take him to the ER. In the past 16 months I have spoke in great length to my family doctor about his condition and he reffered me to an ENT, an allergist and a pediatrician all telling me that he was fine despite his OSA. Anywho, I took him into the ER and they were totally freaked out by the way he was indrawing and his oxygen saturation being so low. They did x-rays, gave him loads of meds and transferred me to a hospital about 2 hours away by ambulance. I was out of my mind by this point and I had no idea what was wrong with him. I had one pediatrician ask my permission to video tape him while he sleeps for his teaching classes because he had never seen anything like it. Every nurse that saw him while he slept said that they had never seen anybody like that and his condition was very serious. He saw a pediatric ENT and he said that his tonsils were huge and they needed to be removed. WE had his adenoids out to improve his breathing situation 9 months prior but it was only a temporary fix. We spent 4 nights in the step down NICU before his surgery because of his oxygen intake and terrible indrawn breathing(it was so bad it looked as though his sternum was touching his spine with each breath he took)he had to stay on oxygen while he slept. On the day of his surgery they found his adenoids had grown back and so they took those out as well as his tonsils and new tubes put in his ears. They were very skeptical about whether or not this would be the cure all for him because it looked so bad prior, he may have needed more surgery to make his air passage even bigger. We spent another 2 nights in the step down NICU because he was unable to keep his oxygen up without the assistance of an oxygen mask. On the 3rd night he made huge leaps and bounds and slept without oxygen, no indrawing and aside from the pain of his surgery seemed to be a whole new little sleeper!! I was so preoccupied with my little guy that I was oblivious to our vacation, I just thought "Oh well, 3 strikes were out". I never thought for a moment that we would still be able to go, he spent a week in NICU on oxygen and we were set to leave 11 days after his surgery.My dh and I were discussing it with one another and our doctor over heard us saying how we need to cancel or post pone it. He asked why and we said, well, the obvious things I mentioned above. He said that my ds was doing great and that he should be totally recovered from the surgery in 6-10 days and that we shouldn't cancel because of concern for him. He said that it was a blessing that he was really bad the night we brought him in and that if he hadn't had his surgery when he did we could have taken him and he could have gotten really bad on our vacation, imagine that.?? :guilty: He said he is better off (health wise) now after this surgery than he has been since his OSA began 16 months ago. All of the nurses and doctors could not believe the change in him from before surgery to after, his OSA totally disappeared and finally he can get a good nights sleep!! One thing I found VERY interesting is that one of his pediatricians said that I shouldn't be surprised if he becomes a genius! I laughed, but when he explained it to me it seemed really interesting. He said that because our brains grow the most during REM sleep and since he has developed normally and to capacity without REM now that he will get it his brain will grow really fast and he'll be trying to keep up with its rapid growth. :rolleyes: :crazy: Who knows?? The only thing I know is that in 7 days we are going (knock on wood) on our first ever (3rd attempt) WDW vacation!! It will be our first family vacation ever too, so we are really excited! Could you all send out some happy vibes to us, my ds is recovering nicely but he is still in pain from it all. Maybe some feel better vibes too?? :goodvibes
 
I'm so glad to hear that your son is doing so well!!! You (and he) certainly deserve to go to WDW after everything you've been through! Hope he feels better soon! :goodvibes
 

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