"Do You Mind?" - Disney Adventures with Teens August Trip Report

[reyasmommy]

Great TR, I'm really enjoying it. Your daughter is beautiful ! Can't wait to hear more.

 

[swwake]

So very cool that you guys got to visit Paxton and that she was able to go to WDW with MAW. I know you treasure this visit even more now.

I am so glad that you and Katie were able to visit with Paxton!

It's so great that you and Katie were able to visit Paxton. I'm sure that visit meant a lot to her and her mom.

Yes, we were very thankful to get to visit with Paxton, and she and her family were really glad we stopped by. Paxton woke up so much while we were there. She said Katie's name several times and talked to her. So sweet.

Im all caught up! Love the report so far!

the visit to to see Paxton almost made me cry! I wish there were something I could do to ease the pain for these little kids. They sure are strong! Alot stronger than I would be Im sure. Im so glad you stopped to see her.

Another hospital visit??????????????????????????

Thanks! I didn't mean to make anyone cry. It was very sweet though. I try to do my part by supporting Make-A-Wish. I was once a wishgrantor and event planner for them. It was such a fulfilling experience!

Yes, another (scarier) hospital visit!

How did I miss the start of this? Ok I'm here now and I'll catch up very soon!

I'm not sure. I have missed you. Glad you could join!

We keep going back and forth about whether we would ever do a cruise or not, tbh. I'm not sure if a flowrider is necessary, but dh thinks it was the best part of the water park for ds. Of course, he managed to have fun a couple days later at the local Y's pool for a friend's birthday party without nearly as much stuff there, so I think he'll manage if he doesn't get to ride one for a while.

Of course, he *was* all excited to find out that WDW had waterparks. We hadn't even mentioned them when we were there, since it was January and our first trip, so had plenty of other things to keep us busy. I've said that if we did a spring break trip, we'd try the water park(s) - maybe 2010? (2009 won't work for us, I don't think. For one thing, I really need to do dd's 5th birthday party the 2nd weekend of spring break, to avoid it being Easter weekend, and she really wants to invite her pre-school friends for the 1st time. I was just putting the school calendar in my datebook and realized all of that...)

Cruises are very fun. You will have to read my chapter coming up about one of the WDW water parks. School year calendars get very busy very quickly.

just found your report. can't wait to hear more. Now i need to go back and read pre-trip

Glad you could join us. Warning - the PTR is loooonnnng and often veers off topic. We had alot of fun with that one. Jen and I had some late nights over alcohol chatting about various hot celebrity men. You can skip those parts.

The pictures with Paxton made me cry. She looks so happy. I am so glad Katie was able to stop and see her one last time.

I love Schlitterbahn! I remember going every summer as a child (my grandparents lived in San Antonio and my dad would drive me and my cousins over). In fact I remember it before Boogie Bahn. And I adore Master Blaster and the circular wave pool. It might not have Disney theming but I have a hard time believing any water park comes close.

And to Grandma Bonnie I used to do Latch hooking as a child, in fact I used to do it on the plane on my way to visit my dad every month. They probably wouldn't allow it now, the hook would probably be considered a weapon.

-Becca-

Oh, I'm so sorry to make you cry. Paxton was very happy in those pics. A very light-hearted kid. She has had far more than her fair share of pain and heartache. A really strong girl.

Schlitterbahn really rocks!! We go about once a year. It is so crowded. We like the "old" side. We find we have wasted half the day once we wait in a 3-hour line to ride Master Blaster one time. It's crazy. I wish they had fastpass!

I wonder if a latch hook needle is illegal by TSA standards.

The visit to Paxton was really sweet!

Yes, it was a sweet time!

Great TR, I'm really enjoying it. Your daughter is beautiful ! Can't wait to hear more.

Thanks for joining! How did you find me? I think it's so cool that you married at the Poly! Now I have to subscribe to another TR and catch up!

 

[swwake]

Part I, Chapter 5
Friday, August 8
Like Saltwater Taffy​

We left the Arkansas Children’s Hospital at about 5pm headed eastbound to Memphis. Not only was today Mom’s birthday, it was also my step-mom, Sierra’s, birthday. Yes, my Dad has one rule for “the marrying type”: they must be born on August 8th. He has married three times to two women, both born on August 8th.

But, I digress. We had planned to take Sierra out for a birthday dinner, since we would be in town. However, when we left the hospital at 5pm, we realized that we were all hungry, and that an 8:30 or 9pm dinner would be very late and would get us back to our friends’ house in Memphis after 10pm. At this point, it had already been a long, emotional day and we were looking forward to a nice, comfortable bed.

So I called Dad and Sierra and asked them if it was ok to skip dinner. We would get dinner on the road and do something else special for Sierra’s birthday later. Since he rises at 5am each day to run the boarding kennel and is typically asleep in his recliner by 8:30pm, of course he was fine with this.

The trip to Memphis was quite uneventful. We grabbed a bite of fast food on the road and dropped Mom off at her house. She hadn’t been home for almost three weeks and needed to shuffle some packing and do laundry for the Disney trip. We made good time and got to Jackson about 8pm. Here’s a map of our progress:

​

That’s 737 miles traveled so far. We will have 62 miles to travel back to our friends’ home in Memphis before the night is over.

Magic and Harry played with Dad’s border collie, Bumper. They drank a little water and were ready to settle down for the evening. We got the dogs all settled in a single large indoor air-conditioned run in the kennel annex just behind my Dad’s house (closer than the actual kennel business).

Dad worked a little obedience with Bumper (a hobby for him), and we noticed that Magic suddenly was acting ill. She would find the nearest corner to curl up in. She was dry-heaving, whimpering, and curling into the tightest ball she could make of her 84-lb self. As we watched her, her stomach became very bloated and tight and we knew something was wrong.

Dad looked at Sierra with a strangely haunting look in his eye (he was trying not to scare me, his beloved daughter) and said “classic symptoms of gastric torsion. We have to get her to a vet now. What do you think?” Sierra replied “absolutely. Let’s go.”

At this point, things moved so quickly that they were a blur to me. We left Harry in his kennel run. (He is a rescue who has separation anxiety issues, so I am positive he was petrified to be alone without his 2-legged family or his sister Magic.) Chris, Katie, Caitlin, Magic, Sierra, Dad and I all climbed into the Denali and took off for the overnight emergency veterinary hospital.

Along the way, I asked Dad what all this meant. He said not to worry and it may not be what he suspected. We just need to have her checked out to be sure. He didn’t want to share with me the potential issues and outcome.

The vet on duty was Dr. Webb. She called us back to her exam room and asked why we were there. I started into the whole “this is our dog, Magic and she is 9 years old and she was from a show litter but she is a pet and she and I did agility training for a few years and she’s never had babies and we live in Austin but we’re going to Disneyworld and my Dad runs a kennel and she’s acting funny and her tummy is bloated……”

About 3 of my words into the conversation, Dad interrupted with this: “Magic is uncomfortable, and the unproductive vomiting and abdominal distention really concern me.”

Now, why couldn’t I have come up with that? Perhaps because it was all literally GREEK to me?!?! That’s my dad. Mister Concise. I kid you not.

Dr. Webb immediately understood. She calmly explained to Chris, Dad and me that this might be a condition called “gastric torsion” whereby the stomach has twisted upon itself. She needed to take an x-ray to determine if this was, indeed true.

We left Magic in the back and waited in the lobby. A very few minutes later, Dr. Webb returned to the waiting room and invited us back, saying “who wants to see some x-rays?”. Dad, Chris, Katie and I went back. When she put the x-ray up, even my untrained eye could easily spot the twist in the stomach. I liken it to the wrapping of a saltwater taffy.

Dr. Webb showed us how Magic’s belly was completely full of gas, and getting worse. She said that the next step would be to insert a tube through the esophagus to relieve the gas, followed by emergency surgery to untwist the stomach and tack it to the ribcage wall in attempt to prevent future gastric torsion.

She explained that, although there are multiple theories (eating quickly, gulping water really fast, playing hard, etc.), there is no known cause of gastric torsion. The commonalities that have been determined are three:

1 – large breeds
2 – deep chest cavities
3 – older dogs

Bingo! (no pun intended) Magic fit all three of these!

I asked a few more questions. Katie broke down in tears and hugged Miss Magic. Dr. Webb strongly encouraged us to go ahead and leave so she could do her job. She stated that this is a very serious condition and it needed to be treated sooner rather than later and that there were no guarantees whatsoever. She said the alternative was euthanasia and that time is of the essence. She had to get started on the first procedure.

Katie and Sierra went back to visit Magic just before she was sedated. Chris and I couldn’t bring ourselves to go see her. I just couldn’t see a point. I didn’t want to remember her like this. Chris said “I feel like if I go to see her, I am saying ‘goodbye’.” He just wasn’t ready for that.

So we reluctantly, but trustingly, left Magic in the able hands of Dr. Webb and went back to Dad’s house. There, we gave Harry a big ole hug and said goodbye. We couldn’t do anymore by staying in Jackson. At one point, we considered calling on our trip insurance (assuming they would accept a canine illness as an insurable event of trip cancellation – ha!) and canceling our vacation. Dad knowingly encouraged us not to do this. He said the outcome would be the same, whether we were with Magic or not, and we shouldn’t miss our vacation. It would be just what we needed.

So we headed to our friends, Troy and Jen’s, home in Arlington, TN, to visit with them for a bit, and to get some rest – or so we thought. We had to wait for the call from Dr. Webb to tell us how the tube procedure went.

Next up: Overnight phone calls

 

[Grandma Bonnie]

And to Grandma Bonnie I used to do Latch hooking as a child, in fact I used to do it on the plane on my way to visit my dad every month. They probably wouldn't allow it now, the hook would probably be considered a weapon.

-Becca-

I think perhaps latch hooks are accepted on air planes. I've seen ladies take knitting needles on board in the last few months. But I'm not going to test my theory. Lord knows I'd hate to miss a flight with the cost of tickets now.

 

[winkers]

Oh no! Poor Magic! You can't leave us hanging like that!

 

[Grandma Bonnie]

Part I, Chapter 5
Friday, August 8
Like Saltwater Taffy​

He has married three times to two women, both born on August 8th.

We grabbed a bite of fast food on the road and dropped Mom off at her house. She hadn’t been home for almost three weeks and needed to shuffle some packing and do laundry for the Disney trip.

Magic and Harry played with Dad’s border collie, Bumper.

Sorry to interrupt here, but after all this IS a tag-team TR as was the PTR.

I just want to point out that I was the "first" and Sierra (my wife-in-law) was the "second" and "third" wife. Draw your own conclusions.

Also, I barely got my suitcase emptied from our WDW trip and the laundry done before I booked another flight tonight.

I'm going to Colorado for Labor Day Weekend. We have a family wedding in Ft. Collins. So we are making it a mini-family reunion.

I wasn't going to go because my flights kept getting cancelled thanks to Frontier and American Airlines. But my sister and brother-in-law kept calling at all hours of the day and NIGHT begging me to go. So......needing my rest to catch up from last week's trip, I decided to go so I could get some sleep!

 

[winkers]

I just want to point out that I was the "first" and Sierra (my wife-in-law) was the "second" and "third" wife. Draw your own conclusions.
:

that's hillarious! wife-in-law!!

I don't think I've ever met someone over the age of 25 named sierra.

 

[Lady Lallie]

Oh, poor Magic! I just hate hearing about animals in pain.

 

[jessily]

Poor Magic! Hearing about animals in pain makes me so sad Your trip to FL certainly didn't lack in excitement...

Another latch hook fan here! I haven't worked on a project probably since I was 15. My last one was Tigger and Winnie the Pooh! I should look for my old stuff and see if I still enjoy it.

 

[Marshay]

Oh, I can't imagine what you all were going through with Magic, right before your vacation.

 

[DisneyJen]

Oh poor Magic!! And Poor Harry!!! How hard it must have been on all of you

 

[dreamer17555]

Poor Magic. I know that is a terrible way to start your vacation. It must have been so scary.

-Becca-

 

[cajunfan]

Okay, I can deal with cliffhangers in trip reports, but I am not doing so well with the doggie cliffhanger! Please let us know what happenned...as the parent of two large breed dogs this is one of my worst nightmares!

Lynn

 

[katiebug86]

Aw this is making me so sad. So far this TR made me tear up twice so I guess you are doing a good job. I'm usually not a cryer, but my two weeknesses are children and animals. When is the happy stuff coming. (Oh and I hope magic was okay )

 

[swwake]

Ok, until I can get to the next update, there's a way for you to find out what happened.

You can check out the last few pages of my PTR, Page 85, starting at post #1263.

But beware! There are some spoilers in there.

I will try to finish the Magic story tonight and get us on the plane to Orlando, but we have a celebratory dinner and I can't make any promises.

Celebrations:
1 - My sister's Memphis house sold today!
2 - Today is Chris's last day before retiring from his current position/career.
3 - Monday (if not sooner), Chris starts two new businesses of his own.

I lobbied for Melting Pot but lost. We are going for Italian at Roccos! Still will be fabulous!

 

[irene_dsc]

Ok, until I can get to the next update, there's a way for you to find out what happened.

You can check out the last few pages of my PTR, Page 85, starting at post #1263.

But beware! There are some spoilers in there.

I will try to finish the Magic story tonight and get us on the plane to Orlando, but we have a celebratory dinner and I can't make any promises.

Celebrations:
1 - My sister's Memphis house sold today!
2 - Today is Chris's last day before retiring from his current position/career.
3 - Monday (if not sooner), Chris starts two new businesses of his own.

I lobbied for Melting Pot but lost. We are going for Italian at Roccos! Still will be fabulous!

I was starting to wonder if I should link people myself! Glad you did it so I don't have to.

Have fun celebrating!!!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Have a great time tonight!!!

 

[heath-and-javens-mom]

great updat!
Poor baby- i hope everything went okay!

 

[dddisrunner]

I'm here, I'm here! Sorry my life has gotten CRAZY the last week! I kind of knew the openeing from your pre-tr! I am so happy for Katie that she got to visit with Paxton 1 last time. It is so hard to deal with that. We had a neighbor whose 4 yr. old daughter died from brain cancer on 8/8 and she had only been sick since May! It was devastating. I am so glad to hear about Magic....how scary! Looking forward to more!

 

[swwake]

Oh no! Poor Magic! You can't leave us hanging like that!

I'm so sorry to leave you hanging for so long. I think I gave you the link later to the PTR so you could find the outcome. My guilt was getting the best of me.

that's hillarious! wife-in-law!!

I don't think I've ever met someone over the age of 25 named sierra.

Mom and Sierra have always called each other "wife-in-law". I don't know where her mom got that name. She is only over 25 physically. She's young at heart!

Oh, poor Magic! I just hate hearing about animals in pain.

I know - it's never easy. Luckily, (well, read on)...

Poor Magic! Hearing about animals in pain makes me so sad Your trip to FL certainly didn't lack in excitement...

Another latch hook fan here! I haven't worked on a project probably since I was 15. My last one was Tigger and Winnie the Pooh! I should look for my old stuff and see if I still enjoy it.

Yeah - we had plenty of excitement on the front end of the trip.

Oh, I can't imagine what you all were going through with Magic, right before your vacation.

It was crazy! We even discussed postponing the trip!

Oh poor Magic!! And Poor Harry!!! How hard it must have been on all of you

We made it through!

Poor Magic. I know that is a terrible way to start your vacation. It must have been so scary.

-Becca-

It was very scary!

Okay, I can deal with cliffhangers in trip reports, but I am not doing so well with the doggie cliffhanger! Please let us know what happenned...as the parent of two large breed dogs this is one of my worst nightmares!

Lynn

Did you get a chance to go back to my PTR when I linked it? Hug your furbabies!!

Aw this is making me so sad. So far this TR made me tear up twice so I guess you are doing a good job. I'm usually not a cryer, but my two weeknesses are children and animals. When is the happy stuff coming. (Oh and I hope magic was okay )

I am sorry to make you cry. I promise to provide more laughter than tears for the rest of the TR.

I was starting to wonder if I should link people myself! Glad you did it so I don't have to.

Have fun celebrating!!!!

Glad you thought to do that. I wouldn't have minded. We had a great dinner Friday night! Thanks!

Have a great time tonight!!!

Great Italian! Thanks!