HeatherN
Dreaming of Disney
- Joined
- May 8, 2008
Hello all. I felt a bit silly starting a trip report this soon(one month and 22 days until our trip, but who is counting)But after becoming addicted to these boards I thought it might be a nice way to pass the time.I have been reading everything about Disney I can get my hands on and have been having a ball dreaming about it.
Cast of Characters:
me-My name is Heather. I am 37(did I really just type that??)I am Mom to two wonderful kids and married to a great guy for 12 years(this Sunday, Fathers day to be exact).Paul and I have been together since high school. I always seem to have an obsession of the moment and right now this trip is it.I love to scrapbook and have been enjoying getting crafty ideas from these boards.I am a stay at home Mom.
Husband-Paul. He will be 40 this October.He is a great guy, pretty easy going.He is a bit of an adreniline Junkie. He works for the state highway dept.On weekends he is a white water rafting guide and in the winter he is a snowboard instructor.
Hannah -nine years old. The wish girl and the light of my life.I will explain all about her a little later.Hannah has Down syndrome.She really is an amazing kid.She struggles with some things but really has quite a spirit about her.She makes me slow down and appreciate the important things.She is funny, silly, stubborn, hard working and a complete girly -girl.
Logan-five years old.Logan is the comedian of the family. He is a complete loose cannon. You never know what he is going to do or say.I often hold my breath in social situations when he is around.He is a ball of energy and a ton of love.He still isn't too old to let his mom smooch on him.He and Hannah are the best of friends.
So I guess I should start from the beginning. Hannah was born nine years ago.We found out after she was born that she had Down syndrome. She had a very difficult delivery and had to be resussitated after she was born. We had no idea but that soon took a back seat to learning that she had a heart defect. A pretty serious one. She had AV canal, a VSD and Mitral valve issues.Esentually that meant she had four HUGE holes between the chambers of her heart and a valve that didn't work correctly.She went home from the hospital after six days which was wonderful but immediately went into congestive heart failure.I won't go into all the details but that was a very difficult time for us.We worked hard to get her to eat and gain weight and to keep her healthy for surgery.In fact things got so bad at one point that I had to take Hannah and live with my parents for a while because Paul had a HORRIBLE virus.It was a good thing in the long run though as My parents really helped out a lot and in fact I credit my mom with saving her life during that time as she did CPR on Hannah when she stopped breathing...so at seven weeks old it was determined that she could not wait for surgery any more and we went five hours away to Boston Childrens hospital (did I mention we are from upstate NY?) She underwent life saving surgery and it was deemed a complete sucess! Now nine years later her heart status is considered stable although she still does have some leakage from her mitral valve.Hannah deals with some other health issues too, but nothing that we can't handle. She has had chronic sinus infections for years but we did find a wonderful DR that did sinus surgery and helped her issues GREATLY.She has severe acid reflux that medication keeps to a dull roar. She also has sleep apnea and has to wear a CPAP mask to sleep. Paul has this too and I am often referred to lovingly as the "sleep nazi" as I prowl the house at night making sure everyone is sleeping with their CPAP's on and still breathing.Yeah, I need a new hobby.
So I never really considered Make a wish for Hannah. I though she is medically stable right now and never thought she would qualify. I had a lot of people ask over the years why not, but always brushed it off.Finally I had one of her DR's ask me and he told me that Make a Wish is is not just for kids that are terminal.Finally I emailed them on a whim and filled out the online application figuring I would never hear from them.A few days later I got a phone call from a person from Make a wish.She asked a few questions and explained that the criteria for the orginization had loosened up a bit and that the child must have or had have in the past a life threatening illness.She promised to send some paperwork to Hannah's cardiologist and see what they had to say. Two weeks later I got a thick envelope in the mail from Make a Wish. My heart was bursting out of my chest when I realized it said "congratulations, we are granting Hannah her wish".
Well it looks like we are heading for a bad thunderstorm, so at risk of electrocution I will end here for now.More to follow.....
FOR THOSE THAT WISH TO SKIP THE CHIT CHAT AND GET RIGHT TO THE TRIP REPORT, FOLLOW THE LINKS BELOW:
DAY 1-A LIMO RIDE AND A PLANE TRIP http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=16
DAY 1-PART 2. ARRIVAL AT GKTW AND A VISIT WITH FRIENDS http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=17
DAY2-SEA WORLD Part 1 &2- http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=17
Day 3-FIRST CHARACTER MEET:Mickey, Minnie, Belle, Goofy, and Pluto!!!- http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=26865703#post26865703
MORE PICTURES AND HANNAH'S STAR http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=19
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS -Part 1 and 2 http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=20
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS PART 3 http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=21
ANIMAL KINGDOM PART 1 http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=22
MORE ANIMAL KINGDOM http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=23
EPCOT http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=24
MAGIC KINGDOM PART 1 http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=24
MAGIC KINGDOM PART 2-meeting Cinderella http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=25
CINDERELLA'S ROYAL TABLE http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=27070170&posted=1#post27070170
MAGIC KINGDOM CONT & SPLASH MOUNTAIN- http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=27109316&posted=1#post27109316
SPECTROMAGIC PARADE AND WISHES- http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=26
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS/ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE- http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=27
CHRISTMAS IN AUGUST/ A RABBIT IS TUCKING ME IN????- http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=28
LAST DAY http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=27319995#post27319995
Cast of Characters:
me-My name is Heather. I am 37(did I really just type that??)I am Mom to two wonderful kids and married to a great guy for 12 years(this Sunday, Fathers day to be exact).Paul and I have been together since high school. I always seem to have an obsession of the moment and right now this trip is it.I love to scrapbook and have been enjoying getting crafty ideas from these boards.I am a stay at home Mom.
Husband-Paul. He will be 40 this October.He is a great guy, pretty easy going.He is a bit of an adreniline Junkie. He works for the state highway dept.On weekends he is a white water rafting guide and in the winter he is a snowboard instructor.
Hannah -nine years old. The wish girl and the light of my life.I will explain all about her a little later.Hannah has Down syndrome.She really is an amazing kid.She struggles with some things but really has quite a spirit about her.She makes me slow down and appreciate the important things.She is funny, silly, stubborn, hard working and a complete girly -girl.
Logan-five years old.Logan is the comedian of the family. He is a complete loose cannon. You never know what he is going to do or say.I often hold my breath in social situations when he is around.He is a ball of energy and a ton of love.He still isn't too old to let his mom smooch on him.He and Hannah are the best of friends.
So I guess I should start from the beginning. Hannah was born nine years ago.We found out after she was born that she had Down syndrome. She had a very difficult delivery and had to be resussitated after she was born. We had no idea but that soon took a back seat to learning that she had a heart defect. A pretty serious one. She had AV canal, a VSD and Mitral valve issues.Esentually that meant she had four HUGE holes between the chambers of her heart and a valve that didn't work correctly.She went home from the hospital after six days which was wonderful but immediately went into congestive heart failure.I won't go into all the details but that was a very difficult time for us.We worked hard to get her to eat and gain weight and to keep her healthy for surgery.In fact things got so bad at one point that I had to take Hannah and live with my parents for a while because Paul had a HORRIBLE virus.It was a good thing in the long run though as My parents really helped out a lot and in fact I credit my mom with saving her life during that time as she did CPR on Hannah when she stopped breathing...so at seven weeks old it was determined that she could not wait for surgery any more and we went five hours away to Boston Childrens hospital (did I mention we are from upstate NY?) She underwent life saving surgery and it was deemed a complete sucess! Now nine years later her heart status is considered stable although she still does have some leakage from her mitral valve.Hannah deals with some other health issues too, but nothing that we can't handle. She has had chronic sinus infections for years but we did find a wonderful DR that did sinus surgery and helped her issues GREATLY.She has severe acid reflux that medication keeps to a dull roar. She also has sleep apnea and has to wear a CPAP mask to sleep. Paul has this too and I am often referred to lovingly as the "sleep nazi" as I prowl the house at night making sure everyone is sleeping with their CPAP's on and still breathing.Yeah, I need a new hobby.
So I never really considered Make a wish for Hannah. I though she is medically stable right now and never thought she would qualify. I had a lot of people ask over the years why not, but always brushed it off.Finally I had one of her DR's ask me and he told me that Make a Wish is is not just for kids that are terminal.Finally I emailed them on a whim and filled out the online application figuring I would never hear from them.A few days later I got a phone call from a person from Make a wish.She asked a few questions and explained that the criteria for the orginization had loosened up a bit and that the child must have or had have in the past a life threatening illness.She promised to send some paperwork to Hannah's cardiologist and see what they had to say. Two weeks later I got a thick envelope in the mail from Make a Wish. My heart was bursting out of my chest when I realized it said "congratulations, we are granting Hannah her wish".
Well it looks like we are heading for a bad thunderstorm, so at risk of electrocution I will end here for now.More to follow.....
FOR THOSE THAT WISH TO SKIP THE CHIT CHAT AND GET RIGHT TO THE TRIP REPORT, FOLLOW THE LINKS BELOW:
DAY 1-A LIMO RIDE AND A PLANE TRIP http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=16
DAY 1-PART 2. ARRIVAL AT GKTW AND A VISIT WITH FRIENDS http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=17
DAY2-SEA WORLD Part 1 &2- http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=17
Day 3-FIRST CHARACTER MEET:Mickey, Minnie, Belle, Goofy, and Pluto!!!- http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=26865703#post26865703
MORE PICTURES AND HANNAH'S STAR http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=19
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS -Part 1 and 2 http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=20
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS PART 3 http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=21
ANIMAL KINGDOM PART 1 http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=22
MORE ANIMAL KINGDOM http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=23
EPCOT http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=24
MAGIC KINGDOM PART 1 http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=24
MAGIC KINGDOM PART 2-meeting Cinderella http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=25
CINDERELLA'S ROYAL TABLE http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=27070170&posted=1#post27070170
MAGIC KINGDOM CONT & SPLASH MOUNTAIN- http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=27109316&posted=1#post27109316
SPECTROMAGIC PARADE AND WISHES- http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=26
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS/ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE- http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=27
CHRISTMAS IN AUGUST/ A RABBIT IS TUCKING ME IN????- http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1852434&page=28
LAST DAY http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=27319995#post27319995