Jackiemarie21
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2012
- Messages
- 1,109
Hello and 
To yet another Jackiemarie PTR!
Alright, so I am back with yet another PTR! I know what some of you are thinking To yet another Jackiemarie PTR!
she is starting another PTR, the last two went nowhere, she is crazy! Well, it may be true, I may be crazy, but my last few trips have been canceled/postponed due to the insane year my family has had. A quick recap: A May trip was postponed due to a very snowy winter extending my DH's school year by 4 days, so we planned a Sept trip which was postponed because we had major storm damage on our home this summer and my DH was nervous about taking three personal days in a row. That led us to plan a March cruise that we ended up canceling because we found out our 2nd child would be arriving in April! So, like I said 2014 has been crazy, with ups and downs.
But, nothing and I mean nothing could have prepared me for how insanely awful Oct. was going to be. The first week of Oct. my mom started complaining about feeling ill normal stuff, upset stomach, dizzy, headache. After one week of her saying she had a "bug" and doing nothing, literally nothing all day long. My dad called me he had other concerns. He could no longer read her handwriting and was staying up all night long and sleeping all day. I talk to her every night between 9-10 and had not seen her in person since she did not want us to catch her bug, so I had no idea of these changes. I decided to urge her to go to the doctor. It did not go well. I knew something serious was wrong with her. I started thinking back over the last year. Looking back I saw things change about mom, she was angry and moody. Her personality changed in a major way. When you add that to the fact that she was keeping strange hours and could no longer write, I was worried that she had a brain tumor or had a stroke. Things went on for another week and finally on Saturday, Oct. 18 my dad decided that something must really be wrong. He forced her to go to the ER and this is where things went bad. That Sunday she was diagnosed with advanced stage lung cancer, which at the time did not seem too bad. The Doctor though they would be able to remove the cancer and she would most likely go into remission. The next step would be more in depth scans of the body to make sure there was no more cancer. In a MRI that Monday they discovered two large brain tumors. So, instead of just lung cancer she now has advanced stage lung and brain cancer. At this point its tough to say what kind of time she has left. She is doing radiation and starts chemo tomorrow. Doctors think she will be lucky to have a year, however the rest of her body is in great shape so if anyone can fight it, she can. My dad has taken extended leave from work and is her primary caregiver. However, it is a 24/7 job. She can not be left alone as she is very dizzy and will fall if left to walk on her own. Right now, she can do nothing for herself, bath use the restroom etc. Hopefully, after the treatments she can get a little more independent and dad can go back to work. I have been going in the late evenings to help so my dad can have a little break. He insists he doesn't need it, but one can go on like this for months. Needless to say, this has been devastating to me. Mom and I are very close, she is my best friend. We live 5 minutes apart and do nearly everything together. I am 32 and expecting my 2nd baby, I am most defiantly not ready to lose my mom. So, when life gets rough, I do what many people would think is crazy (but I am willing to bet some of you do the same thing
) and I picture myself in my happy place. Right in front of Cinderella's castle, because right there, all is right with the world and the real world drifts away! I need a little less real world and a lot more fantasy right now!So, how does this equal a PTR? Well, that is where things are a bit more pleasant for me. I was joking around one day with DH and said lets just take off and go to Disney for a long weekend, and he said, okay lets do it. So we started looking at potential dates when we could take a quick trip before we get to close to my due date and we were thisclose to booking a trip over Martin Luther King weekend. Then I started thinking how sad I was we didn't get to do the Halloween party this year, and how hard it was going to be in Disney and not get to ride the new SDMT or SM so I shelved the idea of a quick trip. Then, a few days later DH came home with some great news! He has been campaigning his school district for a fall break. He and a few other staff members have been trying to get people on board mostly so they could go to Disney in the fall. The district came back and said they were not ready to give a week long fall break, but they were willing to try a long weekend in Oct. to see how people like the fall break concept. So, my DH is not on board with taking three personal days, but he is okay with taking one along with his fall break! So the two fall break days, with one personal day and a weekend=a short trip next October!
This will also help us have a better idea of what to expect with mom and to be sure I am comfortable traveling at that time. This little trip is providing me with a great deal of happiness as well as a mental release from all the really big heavy things I am dealing with at this time.So some trips details, so far we know the when and the who, but everything else is up in the air. This time around I am going to try something new. I am not going to start hammering out the details. I am going to give myself time to really think about choices like resort and park days. (We'll see how long that lasts
, but its a goal) So what we know:
When: October 2015
Who:
Me:
Jackie, a stay at home mom. I used to be a FACS teacher in my first life. I mostly taught sewing. Which is my favorite hobby. Sewing custom outfits for DD for Disney is my most favorite thing in the world! This will be my 7th trip to the world!
DH:
Bob, a teacher STUCO sponsor, part time college professor he does a little of everything a school! He enjoys St. Louis sports the Cardinals and Rams, in addition to working and Disney. He was kind of slow to come around to the Disney love, but he now loves it as much as me! This will be his 6th trip to the world.
DD:
Charlotte, a silly, smart, and sassy three year old! She loves all things Disney, especially Doc McStuffins and Tangled or any princess really! This will be her second trip.
Baby #2:
He or she is going to make their grand arrival in April. He/she will be 6 months at the time of the trip. I think it will be a piece of cake to take them with us. Charlotte's first vacation (non-Disney) was around this age and it was perfect! I am dying to know this kiddos gender so I can get on some custom outfits!
So that's us! I promise if you read along you will learn so much more about us! I am sure there will be some ups and downs, but this trip is happening! I may lean on some of you for some moral support through this difficult time, but I am going to try and keep this a happy place...I need one! I hope you read along!
If you ever need to vent, scream, cry or just plain get away from it all, you know where to find your STL Disfriends!! And we will always be here! 
She says she is not in any pain and has not been too sick yet from the chemo. Mom is also very positive! She is fighting hard for life and that is good news to me!
or flying? That is the question? I am still not sure. Flights from STL to Orlando are pretty expensive, there is only one airline that flies direct so the prices are always about the same and they are high. It is a big savings to drive. Plus, we kind of like driving and having our own car once we get there However, this is a short trip and I hate to spend precious time in the car! Bob always wants to drive and prefers that option. But, he pretty much goes along with what ever I want to do. I am still very torn about this issue. We have always had pretty good luck driving through the night with Charlotte, but baby #2 maybe totally different.
POFQ is one of my favorite resorts I have ever stayed in and it really isn't that much more Pop and we can probably swing it while staying comfortably in our budget driving or flying. So POFQ is defiantly on the short list!
And I am so flipping excited!
At this point I wanted to make sure it was a reputable agency and not too good to be true. All I could find was positive feedback, it seemed like most people were very happy with their service. They were also an official Disney agency. So, I brought the idea up to Bob and he seemed to think it would be fine! So today I booked with a 
haha
She is still extremely weak and can not do anything for herself. Her doctor was concerned about this, so he prescribed physical therapy for her. I think this will be really great for her.
But it was fun! We spent Sunday decorating the tree and the rest of the house. We had an amazing holiday!
