Make a Wish (and other organizations!) - Wish Trippers...UNITE!! Volume 2!

[maroo]

Good news is that I got a call from the Dr this afternoon and hey say that the blood test says that her lead levels are normal.

This is fantastic news!! Awesome!

 

[ndloewen]

Just popping in to say hi and thanks for all the prayers! Thankfully Noah's central line was able to be repaired quickly and it is working well. We just had to keep life interesting over here. Never a dull moment!

 

[maroo]

I am it isn't getting any worse and you can just plan/think about your trip. Our week was very similar, we got the appointment/problem taken car of and now we can think about the trip which is in 4 weeks and 4 days..

So, does that mean that you guys are clear from any complications, etc? That everything is good to go?

If so, that is fantastic!!!

 

[maroo]

Just popping in to say hi and thanks for all the prayers! Thankfully Noah's central line was able to be repaired quickly and it is working well. We just had to keep life interesting over here. Never a dull moment!

I am so glad Noah is doing so much better!


You are so right...one day you are writing about a calm Mother's Day and the next you are at the hospital living in a very tense moment.

I love the calm times for you and I love that you relish in them so much!

And I have learned to check Noah's blog often...

 

[maroo]

Will you guys, if you don't mind, say a little prayer (or lots of prayers!) for Lauren, Lisa and I. We will be traveling on a week long mission trip to the inner city and jailed population of Chicago.

Anytime we travel with Lauren, it is honestly difficult to be out of the routine and without the comforts of home for her (and for those of us taking care of her)...we have hotels and even sleeping a in a church to contend with.

Lisa and I will both be helping her, which will be a huge help to both of us! It is always easier with two folks!

We are also concerned about the swine flu. I know it is mild and "overblown" by the media. But Chicago literally has the MOST confirmed cases of any city in the world (almost 500 cases in the city and suburb of Chicago) and we are going to be around a population that is not known for great healthy habits.

Lauren's doctor has signed off and we are prepared with Tamiflu and a plan if she gets sick...but I am asking you guys to pray that she doesn't get sick. We would like to keep all of us well for the trip.

We also want to keep the other 150 teenagers safe and well, because they get to ride back together in a bus for 12 or so hours and we don't want to spread this flu to Mississippi, where we currently have ZERO cases (thankyouverymuch!). Mississippi is pretty much the last at EVERYTHING! Even getting the new flu!

Thanks for praying.

 

[maroo]

I am so excited to introduce our next familiy!

Meet Princess Mya! (Not to be confused with our other Princess Mya!) Now we have TWO!!

Here is the link to the Pre-Trippie for our most recent addition to the Wish Trippers! You guys can go over there and say hello. :wave2

And she already posted some cute pics!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=31832819

 

[merneric]

I think I finally figured out how to post pictures. I put a picture of our wish kid on my pre-trip report.

 

[tastycollector]

Dev had a great check up today. His kidneys are growing and functioning okay right now and his bladder has STOPPED growing! It is getting so large that the dr. was considering doing surgery to reduce the size because it was effecting his other organs. NO BLADDER SURGERY THIS SUMMER!!!

Now, I can really put my heart into shopping on Saturday with DD9! We so need the mother/daughter time.

 

[josabbimommy]

Joseph has pneumonia! He was diagnosed last night at the hospital. He was started on antibiotics and was not admitted. He's resting at home.
His MAW Party is tomorrow. We leave on the 22nd. He should be better by Friday. Should we go or try to postpone?

 

[maroo]

Joseph has pneumonia! He was diagnosed last night at the hospital. He was started on antibiotics and was not admitted. He's resting at home.
His MAW Party is tomorrow. We leave on the 22nd. He should be better by Friday. Should we go or try to postpone?

I would go with your mommy gut!

What does the dr think? Would a dr even "sign off" for you guys to postpone?

I will pray for Joseph that he feels better very soon!

 

[chcmama]

Have you guys had much problem with your non-wish kids and jealousy? My 8yo dd is definately feeling a little left out. My 12yo dd had her send off party on Tuesday and her birthday on Wed. So she has been getting a lot of attention. The teachers at the grade school even put together a bag of stuff and brought it to her on her birthday with even more spending money, on top of what she got from MAW. I have always worried about my 8yo because she is the middle child and both her siblings have cf while she is the healthy one. I also just got a call from MAW that a jewelry company is sponsering dd's wish and want to have a welcome back party for her and spoil her with jewelry related to our trip (dolphins, palm trees etc..) when we get back. It is very exciting but I think that my 8yo is just going to be more jealous. In some ways it makes me mad that she can't be happy for her sister, but at the same time I can understand how she feels. How have the rest of you dealt with this?

 

[myasma]

I only have one child but grew up a middle child with a younger special needs sister. Your 8 yo daughter is probanly happy for her older sister but may also feel a bit left out are unimportant. You may try taking time out to have a special outing with just her and you. You can also help this trip be about her too. Explain that the whole family is getting a vacation not just because her big sis is sick but also to recognize that the whole family needs a break and to feel special. No matter what though shower her with love and she probably will start to come around. I mean who can stay glum when there is a trip to Disney in the works?!

 

[maroo]

Have you guys had much problem with your non-wish kids and jealousy? My 8yo dd is definately feeling a little left out. My 12yo dd had her send off party on Tuesday and her birthday on Wed. So she has been getting a lot of attention. The teachers at the grade school even put together a bag of stuff and brought it to her on her birthday with even more spending money, on top of what she got from MAW. I have always worried about my 8yo because she is the middle child and both her siblings have cf while she is the healthy one. I also just got a call from MAW that a jewelry company is sponsering dd's wish and want to have a welcome back party for her and spoil her with jewelry related to our trip (dolphins, palm trees etc..) when we get back. It is very exciting but I think that my 8yo is just going to be more jealous. In some ways it makes me mad that she can't be happy for her sister, but at the same time I can understand how she feels. How have the rest of you dealt with this?

I don't have kids...but I watched this from the outside (which may be a clearer perspective) with Lauren and William. They tried to impress upon William that this WAS Lauren's trip...but that she chose to "share" her wish with him, too, so that he could enjoy it. We reminded him, on occasion, that she could have picked a shopping spree and left him out altogether...but that she wanted him to have a wonderful trip, too.

Then they made a big point to include him on decisions about which parks, where to go, etc. They had a special meal that was just for him...he got to pick where, etc. (He chose the Pirate Show.) And, of course, he got to use "her button" a few times when Lauren was sick so that he could get some stuff done while she was down and out anyway...so that was impressed upon him how special that was.

But, this still did not help much when MAW brought over a TON of presents for Lauren and nothing for William (I was even sad about that). MAW was very hard about it being FOR LAUREN and that we should emphasize that. I think both kids should be involved, honestly...because they both ARE involved in the illness/disability. So, I can certainly see how she could be jealous.

Plus, in William's case...HE has been sick, too...spent days in the hospital himself with issues and has had lots of tests, etc...so he kept saying things like, "But I am sick, too?!?"


I would honestly tell the people throwing the party about the situation...I am sure they would understand...and maybe they can soften the blow some. By giving her something, too...Still make it about your wish child (who deserves the special treatment for all she has been through) but to recognize the sacrifices of the sibling, too... I wonder if they would do that?


And for those going to GKTW...they are very "even" at GKTW...they treat the whole family special.

I know you guys are doing a cruise...but I wanted to throw that in there for any other families struggling with the same issue...even you lurkers out there.

 

[tastycollector]

Have you guys had much problem with your non-wish kids and jealousy? My 8yo dd is definately feeling a little left out. My 12yo dd had her send off party on Tuesday and her birthday on Wed. So she has been getting a lot of attention. The teachers at the grade school even put together a bag of stuff and brought it to her on her birthday with even more spending money, on top of what she got from MAW. I have always worried about my 8yo because she is the middle child and both her siblings have cf while she is the healthy one. I also just got a call from MAW that a jewelry company is sponsering dd's wish and want to have a welcome back party for her and spoil her with jewelry related to our trip (dolphins, palm trees etc..) when we get back. It is very exciting but I think that my 8yo is just going to be more jealous. In some ways it makes me mad that she can't be happy for her sister, but at the same time I can understand how she feels. How have the rest of you dealt with this?

Yeah, have some of that around here. My DD9 has some trouble with her little brother. He is our wish child and we are going to DL and legoland. She gets really angry!! The hormones don't help. We are planning a special mother/daughter shopping trip to get clothes for the trip. We don't have a lot of money, but I have set aside some money to go get her some clothes from her favorite store. I was the older sibling to a brother with major health needs and felt left out.

 

[kmparrish5]

Have you guys had much problem with your non-wish kids and jealousy? My 8yo dd is definately feeling a little left out. My 12yo dd had her send off party on Tuesday and her birthday on Wed. So she has been getting a lot of attention. The teachers at the grade school even put together a bag of stuff and brought it to her on her birthday with even more spending money, on top of what she got from MAW. I have always worried about my 8yo because she is the middle child and both her siblings have cf while she is the healthy one. I also just got a call from MAW that a jewelry company is sponsering dd's wish and want to have a welcome back party for her and spoil her with jewelry related to our trip (dolphins, palm trees etc..) when we get back. It is very exciting but I think that my 8yo is just going to be more jealous. In some ways it makes me mad that she can't be happy for her sister, but at the same time I can understand how she feels. How have the rest of you dealt with this?

In our case we have made this a wish trip for the "whole family". This is a trip granted to Bailee. Caroline, our 6 year old, knows it is Bailee's wish trip. We are continuing to talk about this being our family trip. We did plan the trip during Caroline's birthday on purpose. We are having lunch with the Princesses for her birthday. Our MAW chapter seems to keep things pretty even. Caroline has some issues with jealousy, but we try to make sure she gets special attention. Landon our youngest has health issues also. All three kids have the same exact chromosome deletion, but Caroline is the least effected medically by it.
My husband and I were just talking about the welcome back party for your daughter. We think we would only allow it if all of the kids could be included and showered with gifts.

 

[Andreaswish]

So far my son hasn't been really jealous. We have been treating our trip as a family trip also, and the reason we are going on it is because it is Andrea's wish. We are trying to include everyone in the planning and they let us know what they want to do.

I have added some new pictures to Andrea's pretrip post, you click on the link below.

Diane

 

[chcmama]

Thanks all for your suggestions. We have been treating it as a family trip too, and she hasn't been jealous until now, when my 12yo was given so much stuff by people right before we leave.
Well, we are all packed and the limo comes to pick us up at 10 tomorrow morning. The kids don't know that it is a limo, can't wait to see their reaction.

 

[LindaBabe]

I think it's a tough balancing act you ladies are dealing with, because by default, your ill little ones require more time, more attention, and more of the family resources. Your well ones would have to be saints not to resent their self perceived "second place" status at least once in a while. It's just one more straw in your already heavy bundles, and I don't see any magic answers. You can just do what you can do to make them feel special too. Hugs to you all!

 

[WishMom09]

WE ARE HOME! We had an awesome time! SOOOOO much to share!
I plan on starting my trip report today!!
I have some tips to pass along!!
It's amazing how fast 7 days can go!!!

 

[Andreaswish]

WE ARE HOME! We had an awesome time! SOOOOO much to share!
I plan on starting my trip report today!!
I have some tips to pass along!!
It's amazing how fast 7 days can go!!!

Glad to see you guys are home - I hope you had a great trip. I have read your trip report and can't wait to hear and see more.

Diane