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 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.
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.
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.
We are now done with treatment and E is turning 5 tomorrow. 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. 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!
We are busy planning a trip with MAW that may end up being as early as the first week of May 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.
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.
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.
We are now done with treatment and E is turning 5 tomorrow. 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. 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!