"Fine! We can go to Disney, but I'm not happy about it!" **08/21 X5** Complete
- Thread starter MarieLightning
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MarieLightning
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Awesome update!
Thank you!
You're still a goose for being scaredAnd yes, you'll probably have to ride again.
I am not a goose XD If I were a goose, I would be even more justified for being scared - how many bites do you think it takes for a dinosaur to eat a goose? Probably like .5!
Muuuurrrrrr I knoooow cause everybody else will be like, sure, let's just get on!
MarieLightning
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I'm afraid I wouldn't necessarily be the best judge as I'm not a travel agent per say, and I mostly see cruises. Also, I've only ever taken Air Canada, so I don't know for sure what the comparison is with other airlines. I do know Air Canada tends to be a bit pricier, because it's not really at the same level than any other airlines in Canada
Basically, flight pricing is all a matter of when. When you are going, and when you book it. Unfortunately there's no deadproof rule as to when is the best time to book a flight, but I've seen many flights to Orlando for 400$ with taxes in. Those are mostly around low season, maybe bought two months or so in advance.
If you're touching March break, Christmas season, even July sometimes, yes, the price will go up very fast. Ironically enough, those are seasons that are generally better off not booked too far in advance. What happens is most airlines (this is not limited to AC) know that's busy season, so the prices they post a year in advance are, yes, ridiculously high. But some people will book them, because they want to book in advance to ensure a seat, and are willing to pay the price.
Then, for March break for example, at some point they'll hit a low, because really, not that many people want to pay 800$ to fly from Montreal to Florida. So around maybe November, December, they'll start lowering the prices.
Like I said, there's no fool proof plan in this. It's very hard to predict what pricing on airfare will or won't do, regardless of what industry you work in, because it's never the same from year to year. Airline pricing is based on demand. If there's a lot of seats sold, the price will go up. If their plane is half empty and they need to fill it up, the price will go down.
It's a matter of monitoring. There's a risk to it - when I was booking my own Disney trip, I saw the price go up 100$ from one day to another when it didn't even look like there was limited availability. Luckily I was able to do Sunday to Sunday for the same original price rather than the now more expensive Saturday to Saturday
But that's my advice - keep checking back. Compare with other airlines. If you're planning on going during busy season, keep in mind it'll be a gamble. And as soon as you see a price that works for you and your budget, book it. Does that mean 100% that two months later there won't be a cheaper price that you, unfortunately, won't be able to adjust to? No, and I agree, that sucks. But there's just as much of a chance of it going higher than of it going down
Also, seasons like early January, April, early May, early December, October, those tend to be quieter months for Orlando and will have more last minute deals.
Sorry the novel, I hope it helped nonetheless XD
MarieLightning
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I didn't want to leave this hanging, so I'm writing a quick update.
I will not be updating this for a while.
Amber was taken to the ER on Monday night, due to some issues breathing. They did xrays, a catscan and a few more things. They detected a mass in her chest. They did a biopsy Tuesday, but on Wednesday they found they didn't have enough to be sure of what it was. They did a surgery on Thursday morning through her side to get a bigger sample. They had her intubated for the surgery, and once it was done, they removed the tube. Then her oxygen level went down and her airways started closing up
They reintubated her, and gave her an urgent and aggressive dose of radiation. Otherwise she would not have made it - as it was, there were still chances of her not making it through the night
Thanks to God, she has been stable since Friday morning. They've found that it's type B lymphoma, a rare and aggressive type. It is, however, highly treatable - 98% survival rate. And she is *so* strong.
For now, she's in a sleep induced type of coma, so that she doesn't wake up and disturb the breathing tube, as it could compromise her breathing. She has still woken up a few times though, because she's a stubborn one and she's tired of all of this, and every time she does she gets upset and her stats go down, so they're currently making sure nobody talks to her too much or touches her so not to stimulate her.
Things aren't great, but they seem to be on an upward path. Thursday was probably the worst night of my life, and her family's as well. There is hope they may be able to take the tube out either tomorrow or Monday - it all depends on the tumor, which had gone and wrapped itself around her esophagus. They are already showing dead cells on it after the first two radiations, and her face which had greatly swollen up is looking more and more normal.
I know I'm not overly present on this board, and I haven't been around to make a lot of friends. Regardless, if you can all send a little prayer her way, we need all the help we can get, even though she has lots of people thinking of her and lots of guardian angels watching over her.
I hope soon she'll be awake and well enough to order me to keep going with this so that she can keep herself entertained.
I will not be updating this for a while.
Amber was taken to the ER on Monday night, due to some issues breathing. They did xrays, a catscan and a few more things. They detected a mass in her chest. They did a biopsy Tuesday, but on Wednesday they found they didn't have enough to be sure of what it was. They did a surgery on Thursday morning through her side to get a bigger sample. They had her intubated for the surgery, and once it was done, they removed the tube. Then her oxygen level went down and her airways started closing up
They reintubated her, and gave her an urgent and aggressive dose of radiation. Otherwise she would not have made it - as it was, there were still chances of her not making it through the night
Thanks to God, she has been stable since Friday morning. They've found that it's type B lymphoma, a rare and aggressive type. It is, however, highly treatable - 98% survival rate. And she is *so* strong.
For now, she's in a sleep induced type of coma, so that she doesn't wake up and disturb the breathing tube, as it could compromise her breathing. She has still woken up a few times though, because she's a stubborn one and she's tired of all of this, and every time she does she gets upset and her stats go down, so they're currently making sure nobody talks to her too much or touches her so not to stimulate her.
Things aren't great, but they seem to be on an upward path. Thursday was probably the worst night of my life, and her family's as well. There is hope they may be able to take the tube out either tomorrow or Monday - it all depends on the tumor, which had gone and wrapped itself around her esophagus. They are already showing dead cells on it after the first two radiations, and her face which had greatly swollen up is looking more and more normal.
I know I'm not overly present on this board, and I haven't been around to make a lot of friends. Regardless, if you can all send a little prayer her way, we need all the help we can get, even though she has lots of people thinking of her and lots of guardian angels watching over her.
I hope soon she'll be awake and well enough to order me to keep going with this so that she can keep herself entertained.
Angelrose
But I LIKE boring!
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Of course you have my heartfelt prayers for Amber and her family and you too. I'm so sorry you have to go though this. But as you say, she is strong, and I'm sure her Guardian Angel will see her through.
Sending you all hugs too.
Please keep us updated on her recovery.
Sending you all hugs too.
Please keep us updated on her recovery.
/
1000HappyWishes
I know every mile will be my worth my while.
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So sorry to hear about Amber. My wishes will be with you and her throughout this, and I'm strongly willingly for her safe recovery!
MarieLightning
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Thank you all so much for the thoughts and prayers.
She's been stable and they say more air is getting through to her lungs at this point, which we hope does mean everything is starting to clear up in her throat.
We're all just waiting to know for sure that she will be able to breathe on her own. Once that's taken care of, everything will be much better
She's been stable and they say more air is getting through to her lungs at this point, which we hope does mean everything is starting to clear up in her throat.
We're all just waiting to know for sure that she will be able to breathe on her own. Once that's taken care of, everything will be much better
MarieLightning
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- May 23, 2012
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Thank you, and thanks to everyone who's had thoughts and prayers for us!
Amber is doing better. She has been awake for a couple of weeks now, after they removed the breathing tube. They had to do a tracheotomy on her, which she was not overly pleased with upon waking up entirely, but it was really the best course of action in her case - she had been on a respirator for two weeks, and doctors don't like leaving people on those for a long amount of time as it can cause to other problems, like pneumonia. And her throat was so swollen and irritated that she couldn't keep up her own breathing well enough, so they just had to go ahead and do it.
It is not a permanent thing - it's only to give her throat a chance to heal up, as her airways are now clear and the doctors are very pleased with her breathing. The hardest thing for her is the fact that she is not able to talk with it, though they are planning on changing it to a smaller one on which they will be able to install a speaking valve. And then, we're hoping it won't be much longer after that before they can take it out altogether.
There's been many ups and downs, quite a few bumps in the road, but we're on an upward path. Right now the worst of it is the pain she's in from having had three chest tubes put in the same side over the past month, including two within a week, so there's a few scars that are still healing and very sore.
She's done two rounds of chemo so far, and the doctor said they are expecting to have her do 4 or 5 more at this point, every three weeks. At this point, we're hoping that she'll be able to go home a week from now - just in time for the 4th of July!
I've got no clue when I'll resume this trip report, but it'll hopefully be soon. Right now I'm just focusing on being there for her for whatever she needs.
Amber is doing better. She has been awake for a couple of weeks now, after they removed the breathing tube. They had to do a tracheotomy on her, which she was not overly pleased with upon waking up entirely, but it was really the best course of action in her case - she had been on a respirator for two weeks, and doctors don't like leaving people on those for a long amount of time as it can cause to other problems, like pneumonia. And her throat was so swollen and irritated that she couldn't keep up her own breathing well enough, so they just had to go ahead and do it.
It is not a permanent thing - it's only to give her throat a chance to heal up, as her airways are now clear and the doctors are very pleased with her breathing. The hardest thing for her is the fact that she is not able to talk with it, though they are planning on changing it to a smaller one on which they will be able to install a speaking valve. And then, we're hoping it won't be much longer after that before they can take it out altogether.
There's been many ups and downs, quite a few bumps in the road, but we're on an upward path. Right now the worst of it is the pain she's in from having had three chest tubes put in the same side over the past month, including two within a week, so there's a few scars that are still healing and very sore.
She's done two rounds of chemo so far, and the doctor said they are expecting to have her do 4 or 5 more at this point, every three weeks. At this point, we're hoping that she'll be able to go home a week from now - just in time for the 4th of July!
I've got no clue when I'll resume this trip report, but it'll hopefully be soon. Right now I'm just focusing on being there for her for whatever she needs.
MarieLightning
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Thank you
She's doing great now
There's still some pretty rough days, and tomorrow we find out if she has two or four chemo treatments left, but so far everything is going well. The tracheo tube was removed a few weeks ago as she didn't need it anymore, and the hole is mostly healed up. Her hair has even started growing back a little
MarieLightning
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Yikes! I need to get back on track with this!
Things have been getting much better. Amber finished her chemotherapy, and as such, we just got back from an 11 day celebration trip! And since I'm clearly not very consistent with keeping on track of the writing, she's writing that trip report
You can follow along with her by clicking on the following link!
"It's So Much Fun Not Knowin Where You're Goin"
In the meantime, I figure I ought to start back up with my own updates if I want to finish the trip report for last year's trip before she finishes the one for this year's trip! Not to mention we have another trip coming up in May, so we gotta get a move on!
So here it is - the next chapter for this trip report!
November 14: Part 2 - "Look, dragons are real too!"
Once we were done hanging out with our pre-historical friends, we took a trip over to Asia with a specific destination in mind
Expedition Everest, of course!
And with this kind of a wait, why not?!
Five whole minutes!
So we strolled along the queue and took our time to snatch a few pictures, even though there was pretty much nobody in front of us until we got to the end of the line
Oh Disney. You put so much attention in your queue. Too bad we couldn't wait long enough to enjoy it all
So we pretty much walked on the ride, and managed to get a picture (though not the best quality - I can't wait for PP+ in May!) of our ride photo!
As you can tell, we were both very nervous!
After the ride, we took the opportunity to get a couple of photo ops outside the queue
We then pretty much just started wandering around. We didn't have anything specific planned at that time, so we took it easy for a little bit, just enjoying the rest of the morning EMHs and taking pictures of the stuff around us!
At that point, we ran into my Aunt and Uncle for the first time of the day! In spite of Animal Kingdom being the biggest of the four theme parks, that day gave me the impression that it was the smallest, because we ran into them several times that day, but never anywhere else.
They took a picture for us
And then we parted ways once more!
We kept going our merry way around Asia
Hello monkey friend! Good to see you hanging
By that point, we started having a bit more of a specific idea of where we were headed
The Maharajah Trail was our next destination!
Look, it's a dragon! (okay, it's a komodo dragon but what's your point)
Click for next post
Things have been getting much better. Amber finished her chemotherapy, and as such, we just got back from an 11 day celebration trip! And since I'm clearly not very consistent with keeping on track of the writing, she's writing that trip report
You can follow along with her by clicking on the following link!
"It's So Much Fun Not Knowin Where You're Goin"
In the meantime, I figure I ought to start back up with my own updates if I want to finish the trip report for last year's trip before she finishes the one for this year's trip! Not to mention we have another trip coming up in May, so we gotta get a move on!
So here it is - the next chapter for this trip report!
November 14: Part 2 - "Look, dragons are real too!"
Once we were done hanging out with our pre-historical friends, we took a trip over to Asia with a specific destination in mind
Expedition Everest, of course!
And with this kind of a wait, why not?!
Five whole minutes!
So we strolled along the queue and took our time to snatch a few pictures, even though there was pretty much nobody in front of us until we got to the end of the line
Oh Disney. You put so much attention in your queue. Too bad we couldn't wait long enough to enjoy it all
So we pretty much walked on the ride, and managed to get a picture (though not the best quality - I can't wait for PP+ in May!) of our ride photo!
As you can tell, we were both very nervous!
After the ride, we took the opportunity to get a couple of photo ops outside the queue
We then pretty much just started wandering around. We didn't have anything specific planned at that time, so we took it easy for a little bit, just enjoying the rest of the morning EMHs and taking pictures of the stuff around us!
At that point, we ran into my Aunt and Uncle for the first time of the day! In spite of Animal Kingdom being the biggest of the four theme parks, that day gave me the impression that it was the smallest, because we ran into them several times that day, but never anywhere else.
They took a picture for us
And then we parted ways once more!
We kept going our merry way around Asia
Hello monkey friend! Good to see you hanging
By that point, we started having a bit more of a specific idea of where we were headed
The Maharajah Trail was our next destination!
Look, it's a dragon! (okay, it's a komodo dragon but what's your point)
Click for next post
JAMIESMITH
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I read your entire trip report (so far) this morning. I swear my heart skipped a beat when I read about your wife's sudden health problems! That is so scary!
MarieLightning
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It was definitely a crazy and scary summer, but thank God we're mostly past it now! She still has some radiation treatments to receive, but that'll be less than a month, and then she should be clear
We had a celebration trip in October for no more chemo, and we're going back in May so I guess we can make that our cancer free celebration! Thank you for reading, too! I've been very bad at posting lately, but I need to get back into it - especially if I want to write a trip report for our May trip! Good thing my wife is taking care of October or else it would never get done!
MarieLightning
DIS Veteran
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Marie, I swear I'm going to take over this TR again if you don't get a move on it
Also, good job sweetie. You're such a good TR writer. <3
But seriously, get a move on
I TRY BUT WORK AND STUFF
I will work on updating. Tonight. This week. SOON.
MarieLightning
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Well. It's been a while.
I feel the shame, I promise. I've got no good excuse, really - except for the fact that I'm particularly lazy when I get off of work, and so since I've been home, I've just not really done much - except for planning for Amber's return, and our upcoming May trip!
Which is really my main motivation to working on this right now, aside from my wife's prodding! I mean, I can't just work on a May 2014 trip report when I haven't even completed a trip report for a November 2012 visit!
So I'll cut to the chase, and try to get myself back into the writing mindset! (And see how much I remember from stuff that happened over a year ago. I should have taken notes)
November 14: Part 3 - "He's just showing off"
When I last left off, we had just started our exploration of the Maharajah Trail, encountering our dragon friend (I will stand by the fact that if someone out there decided to give me the right to call something that actually exists a dragon, I will keep on doing so) and sticking by for a few minutes before we moved on to the actual trail!
It started out pretty tame, with some bird sighting - though that bird in the back does look fierce I'll admit.
However, as birdies are a common sight throughout Disney, and especially Animal Kingdom, we went on our way and came upon another kind of winged beasties - the nighttime kind!
Bats are some pretty awesome creatures - but some people didn't seem too thrilled that there was no window or screen or anything to separate them from the nocturnal hosts!
I'm pretty sure bats have fairly limited interest in humans so long as they just keep hangin' there and eat their bug meals, though, so I wasn't phased. Amber was a bit more iffy and took a step back when she noticed the lack of separation, but she still stuck around while we kept checking them out.
Eventually, we left the bat house and moved along the trail some more.
Turtle!
Soon we reached the resident big cats of the trail. They look a bit less fuzzy than Tigger, don't they?
And if your first thought when you saw that picture was "That tiger looks like it's squatting down to... ya know", you would be right.
He pooped.
ON PURPOSE.
Seriously. The lady who was there, talking tiger facts and such, literally said "He's just showing off right now. Normally he's a rotten defecator"
That's the kind of knowledge Disney brings you, guys.
It's alright though. So long as you don't step in it, right?
The decor through that trail is one of my favorite things in Animal Kingdom, though. Even though we didn't do this walk when we went back last October, looking at those pictures now just makes me eager to do it again in May!
Amber is excited to do it, too! And maybe the Gorilla trail as well, seeing as we never actually gave that a look.
Tigers are so pretty. I wish I could cuddle up with one, like a bit purring cat. And you know, stay alive in the process.
I don't know what these are. But they look cool.
Peacock! It was just chilling down there though, and although we stuck around for a while waiting for it to start flaunting and trotting its stuff, it remained chill.
It's like those animals are just, you know, living their own lives there rather than serving as entertainment factors to us humans. THE NERVE.
(Yes. I am kidding. No, I'm not funny. But please let me pretend)
Wonder who took that picture? That's right. My Aunt and Uncle.
We came across them. Again. And that is why I maintain the only reason Animal Kingdom is the biggest park is solely because of the safari area.
Pretty tiger. Such majestic. I'm sure that one was a lady tiger.
Now, can we take a moment to talk about the birdhouses among that trail?
They are fancier than my house.
But then, I guess you've gotta have a fancy house if you're such a fancy bird.
Like, that bird looks like it would turn down anything not fancy enough. "Pfft, if you think I'm gonna clean my feathers in anything less than a golden birdhouse, you are badly mistaken human keeper".
In other news, our friend Cassandra who's coming with us in May is afraid of birds. This will be interesting.
Thus concluded our trailing adventure, and then we were off to explore Asia some more!
I'm not sure why, but I really love this picture. Maybe it's the Animal Kingdom version of balloon bouquet pictures from Magic Kingdom?
Click for next post
I feel the shame, I promise. I've got no good excuse, really - except for the fact that I'm particularly lazy when I get off of work, and so since I've been home, I've just not really done much - except for planning for Amber's return, and our upcoming May trip!
Which is really my main motivation to working on this right now, aside from my wife's prodding! I mean, I can't just work on a May 2014 trip report when I haven't even completed a trip report for a November 2012 visit!
So I'll cut to the chase, and try to get myself back into the writing mindset! (And see how much I remember from stuff that happened over a year ago. I should have taken notes)
November 14: Part 3 - "He's just showing off"
When I last left off, we had just started our exploration of the Maharajah Trail, encountering our dragon friend (I will stand by the fact that if someone out there decided to give me the right to call something that actually exists a dragon, I will keep on doing so) and sticking by for a few minutes before we moved on to the actual trail!
It started out pretty tame, with some bird sighting - though that bird in the back does look fierce I'll admit.
However, as birdies are a common sight throughout Disney, and especially Animal Kingdom, we went on our way and came upon another kind of winged beasties - the nighttime kind!
Bats are some pretty awesome creatures - but some people didn't seem too thrilled that there was no window or screen or anything to separate them from the nocturnal hosts!
I'm pretty sure bats have fairly limited interest in humans so long as they just keep hangin' there and eat their bug meals, though, so I wasn't phased. Amber was a bit more iffy and took a step back when she noticed the lack of separation, but she still stuck around while we kept checking them out.
Eventually, we left the bat house and moved along the trail some more.
Turtle!
Soon we reached the resident big cats of the trail. They look a bit less fuzzy than Tigger, don't they?
And if your first thought when you saw that picture was "That tiger looks like it's squatting down to... ya know", you would be right.
He pooped.
ON PURPOSE.
Seriously. The lady who was there, talking tiger facts and such, literally said "He's just showing off right now. Normally he's a rotten defecator"
That's the kind of knowledge Disney brings you, guys.
It's alright though. So long as you don't step in it, right?
The decor through that trail is one of my favorite things in Animal Kingdom, though. Even though we didn't do this walk when we went back last October, looking at those pictures now just makes me eager to do it again in May!
Amber is excited to do it, too! And maybe the Gorilla trail as well, seeing as we never actually gave that a look.
Tigers are so pretty. I wish I could cuddle up with one, like a bit purring cat. And you know, stay alive in the process.
I don't know what these are. But they look cool.
Peacock! It was just chilling down there though, and although we stuck around for a while waiting for it to start flaunting and trotting its stuff, it remained chill.
It's like those animals are just, you know, living their own lives there rather than serving as entertainment factors to us humans. THE NERVE.
(Yes. I am kidding. No, I'm not funny. But please let me pretend)
Wonder who took that picture? That's right. My Aunt and Uncle.
We came across them. Again. And that is why I maintain the only reason Animal Kingdom is the biggest park is solely because of the safari area.
Pretty tiger. Such majestic. I'm sure that one was a lady tiger.
Now, can we take a moment to talk about the birdhouses among that trail?
They are fancier than my house.
But then, I guess you've gotta have a fancy house if you're such a fancy bird.
Like, that bird looks like it would turn down anything not fancy enough. "Pfft, if you think I'm gonna clean my feathers in anything less than a golden birdhouse, you are badly mistaken human keeper".
In other news, our friend Cassandra who's coming with us in May is afraid of birds. This will be interesting.
Thus concluded our trailing adventure, and then we were off to explore Asia some more!
I'm not sure why, but I really love this picture. Maybe it's the Animal Kingdom version of balloon bouquet pictures from Magic Kingdom?
Click for next post
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