Our Last Minute CANCER SUCKS Trip

[RVGal]

Thanks for all the kind words everybody. They mean more than I can possibly express. Carol is much more than just my sister. She's my friend too, in every sense of the word. We laugh together at things that nobody else gets. It's a special relationship. It wasn't hard to drop everything and plan and then go because it was for Carol. She asked (and she never asks for anything) and I did it. We all did. That's what loved ones do, right?

I'm spending most of today with Carol and some of the family. Her operation is fast approaching and with recovery and chemo after that, well, we're trying to get in all the time we can now.

I'll be back with an update soon!

 

[TraceyDisney2008]

I am so glad you all could drop everything and do this for your sister.

 

[tlinus]

Tricia,

Just letting you know that you are a wonderful sister/friend to Carol. You all continue to be in my thoughts and prayers. I am so happy that the trip worked out - will wait for more.

Hug Carol for us today, okay??

 

[bubba's mom]

I'm here too!


You know I wouldn't miss this!

 

[pawn626]

sorry to hear of your bad news, i just lost my baby brother (37) to cancer also on july 12th. god i miss him so. this is incredible that you and your family are doing this for her, it is all that matters now believe me. and i don't like to talk about this , but here goes, if in the end you are able to be with your sister, be there the whole way through, it matters to her and you may not realize it now, and it is one of the hardest things you will ever have to do but it matters to you too, you are in my prayers.

 

[GoofTroop]

I'm looking forward to reading your report. You have two handsome little boys!

I'm so sorry to hear about your sister. What an awesome thing you have all done to make things "better". can't wait to read all about it.

You and your family will be in my prayers.

Elizabeth

 

[CHEK]

Wow what a great family and what a fantastic support you must all be to your sister , I really hope your trip was soooo special for all of you
Your DS's look so cute and adorable

 

[FreFam5]

what a wonderful sister you are. I cannot wait to hear all about your trip. My heart goes out to you and your entire family while you travel this road with your sister. My thoughts and prayers are with her as she faces her surgery.

 

[Disney Spaz]

Add me to the list of those who are sending out prayers for your sister and family. So far this sounds like a magical trip.

 

[madcoco]

Wow was just visiting the message boards to take my mind off a things and came across this thread Nothing like feeling happy and crying a river at the same time. RollerCoaster of Emotions. Have never posted anything like this before but just feel the need to open up

Lost my father one year ago this week to lung cancer. He went much quicker than expected. Could not talk to nor did I make it to the hospital in time to say I love you one last time. Now just had a bombshell dropped on me last night that my Mom(65) has inoperable abdominal carcinomotosis. She had a clear CT scan in April She has been losing alot of weight and little appetite due to abdominal pain that she has been complaining about for quite a while. Tests earlier this summer again negative for any cancer but was diagnosed with colitus. She was going to be fine Spirits lifted. She was so worried she had cancer. Sounded great and was planning on coming to FL to stay with us for the fall. She loves visiting WDW.
She had another CT scan earlier this week and I get a phone call from her while being two thousand miles away on a trip. She is scared. They found a mass(es) in the abdominal region. Rollercoaster of Emotions. Now they just did a PET scan Thursday and a biopsy yesterday. The PET scan came back with the grim diagnosis of carcinomotosis(they don't know the source yet) Can't get a flight out until tomorrow. My brother is keeping me posted. She is having a port put in for chemo/meds in the AM and hoping here to see the oncologist tomorrow evening with hopefully the results of the biopsy and the treatment plan. Why didn't it show up earlier. Why didn't they do the "better" PET scan earlier. Why this? Why that? Why? Why? Why? Stop the second guessing.
Go back a couple of years
Spent the last week around the clock with my grandmother in a hospice The last words I heard her mouth were to "take care of your Mom" and "false teeth." She wanted them in before my grandfather got there. It was one of the sadest yet most wonderful experiences. Events happened there that you just can't explain.

RollerCoaster of emotions She's my mom. Everyone goes through this They say it's life but it doesn't make it any easier. Sorry for overtaking the thread with my issues Hope is this is curable. Reality is,no it is not. There is no cure. Try not to take your loved ones for granted and never hesitate to say I Love you. Trying to prepare for the worst and hoping for the best. Maybe she will be strong enough after some treatment to come see our favorite mouse once more.

Thoughts and prayers are with the OP. Again sorry to steal your thread. Cherish your time left together. Have a wonderful trip and looking forward to reading updates For those of you here who have recently lost love ones my deepest sympathies in dealing with your loss.You will see them again. Mike

 

[RVGal]

Friday, August 1st -

We were up and about at a decent time. Everyone met in the food court for breakfast.

Your first views of Carol. She is the one in the pink baseball cap over her sparse hair that has barely grown back since chemo.

Darryl & Karen were expecting to arrive at the hotel around noon, so they said they would call and meet up with us wherever we were at that time.

Which park today? That's all up to Carol. She picked AK. So, everyone herded into the lobby to wait while I checked Mom & I out of our one night only room and into our package room so that we would have our room keys that are also park tickets. I have no idea what the girl at check in did, but boy did we have a mess on our hands. I told her our room number for check out and then told her that we needed to check in on our package. I offered her our reservation number, the printout of the confirmation I got from the link in the email they sent, and our Grand Gathering number. She just kept looking more and more confused. "You're part of a Grand Gathering?" "Yes." Then she would tap-tap at her computer some more. Finally she asked me for the ages of my sons. "Joshua is 6 and Daniel is 3. Why?" "I'm having to re-book your room."

Hold the phone. We booked last minute. The entire package was charged to the credit card at the time we booked. Guess what is going to happen if you re-book? It's going to get charged again! She looked confused again and went into the back room. She was gone quite awhile. I hated making everyone in the group wait for us and I kept trying to tell them they could go on without us, but they said they would stick it out. What should have taken minutes was now creeping dangerously close to an hour.

She comes back out and tells me that the ticketing system is down and she can't attach the tickets to our room that she JUST BOOKED. Geez. If she had found the original reservation and used that, the tickets were already attached.

I am a very patient person and I don't get upset with anyone easily or needlessly, but this was heading into ridiculous territory. I think she realized that I was at my breaking point because she headed back into the room behind the desk again. When she came back, two men were with her. One was the manager. I don't know who the other guy was. The manager started apologizing immediately, took my documentation, looked at the computer screen, frowned, and then started apologizing more. There was a mix up, this should never have happened, blah, blah. Ya think?

Within minutes he gave us contingency tickets to get us into the parks that day and printed room keys that he said would be good for park admission starting the next day. He also promised to personally handle the credit card charges to make sure that there was no double billing (I have his name and phone number just in case). The last thing he did was give us Fast Passes. I dubbed them the "we're kissing your butt because we screwed up" Fast Passes. They were good for our entire party for any 2 rides that day. I've never seen anything like it. It was a yellow piece of paper that he signed and dated and all that. Let me tell you, CMs hop to attention when they see that at the FP lines, but I'll get to that later.

I've stayed onsite at Disney dozens of times over the years and never experienced anything like that. All I can say is that once the manager was involved, he did everything he could to get us out quickly and to make up for lost time.

So, with tickets finally in hand, we head out to the bus stop.

I spent a few hours researching our options after we had our trip booked and I asked a few people here on the DIS for help. Carol tires very, very quickly and she is in some pain all the time. I knew she would need an ECV for the trip. One very good friend here on the DIS pointed me to a company in Orlando called Walker Mobility. They provide a great service. You can reserve an ECV from them. They deliver it directly to your hotel so that it is waiting for you when you check in. When you are done, you call and they come pick it up from your hotel. The bonus is that it is cheaper to rent from them and have the ECV all the time, than it is to rent from Disney and only have it at the parks.

We've never traveled with an ECV before, so I asked the CM on the sidewalks where we should wait for the bus. He told us to go around the chains and put the ECV right up in front of the sign so that the bus driver can see that he needs to load it in first. If you ever see a wheelchair or ECV heading to the sidewalk in front of the line, please please understand that they are doing what they are supposed to do. They want them where the bus driver can see them. We were told that repeatedly. I kept asking because we would get that look from some of the people in line. You know... that look. The one that says they think that we are breaking in line or something.

The bus came and Carol was loaded on for the trip to AK.

Our first stop after arriving at AK was the stroller and wheelchair rentals. Mom is 76, so she needs to get off her feet often. I'm sure we were a nightmare herd for some of the people out there with *ahem* issues about strollers, wheelchairs, and ECVs. Our group had all three!

We decided to have a group picture made right inside the park.

In the very front are my two sons, Joshua and Daniel. Middle row, left to right are: Mom, Melanie (in sunglasses), Me (holding Daniel), and Deb (with sun visor). Back row, left to right are: Paul, Susan, Aaron, and Carol (with baseball hat).

Carol wanted to head to the Safari first.

I showed our yellow paper Fast Pass at the FP entrance. The CM said, "Follow me" and we were escorted to the front of the line. Okay, I was expecting a standard Fast Pass, but this works!

We parked our assorted wheeled devices and boarded our truck.

First up, "Look Mommy! That deer is peeing!"

It's not a deer, but yes it was answering the call of nature.

Daniel was really funny on this ride. You know how they have the pictures of the animals posted above your head so you have some idea of what you are looking for? I pointed it out to him when we first got on to try and give him some idea of what to expect. As we saw each animal, he would look up at the board and call out, "Giraffe. Check!" "Elephant. Check!" Like he was checking them off the list.

Next up: Rain at AK and The Herd Splits Up.

 

[kaysmommie]

Love your trip report so far. Way to go planning 4 days before you arrived. So sorry about your sister's cancer. Thoughts and prayers to your family. I lost my brother 13 years ago, he was only 26 when he passed away. It was sudden though and of course he was the sibling I was very close to since we were little. Alot different from your situation but still very painful. It has gotten easier but took a long time. So glad you are able to enjoy some good quality Disney time together. What a great supportive you are . Your doing a great job enjoying every moment. Sending prayers Carol's way because they sure can't hurt. looking forward to more of your trippie. Your boys are so cute. The alike outfits is a good idea. Enjoyed your safari pics too.

 

[RVGal]

Wow was just visiting the message boards to take my mind off a things and came across this thread Nothing like feeling happy and crying a river at the same time. RollerCoaster of Emotions. Have never posted anything like this before but just feel the need to open up

Lost my father one year ago this week to lung cancer. He went much quicker than expected. Could not talk to nor did I make it to the hospital in time to say I love you one last time. Now just had a bombshell dropped on me last night that my Mom(65) has inoperable abdominal carcinomotosis.

Thoughts and prayers are with the OP. Again sorry to steal your thread. Cherish your time left together. Have a wonderful trip and looking forward to reading updates For those of you here who have recently lost love ones my deepest sympathies in dealing with your loss.You will see them again. Mike

It is a rollercoaster of emotions and it can't be explained, fully, to anyone that hasn't gone through it. My father passed away almost 2 years ago. Heart attack. He was just gone. I can't even begin to imagine what my mother must be going through having just lost her husband and now knowing that her daughter is dying. We're all hurting, but we're making the best of the time we have.

Carol has said more than once: I'm not giving up. I'm still fighting. I still have hope. BUT, I'm not living in denial either.

I think that sums it up pretty well.

Hugs and prayers to you and yours Mike. Hugs and prayers.

 

[nascarcheshirecat]

 

[RVGal]

I just wanted to add that I am using pictures that I took and ones that Deb took. The ones with the date stamped on them are Deb's. She has never figured out how to change the AM/PM setting on her camera, so it is always 12 hours behind the current time.

So, when you see the 7/31/08 date on those pictures above, don't think I'm crazy when I said it was August 1st. It was. I swear.

 

[LITTLEKID58]

TFS

 

[irky416]

Sorry to hear you had such a hard time checking in. It was nice of them to give you the FP's though. I like the picture of your whole group in front of the tree. It's very cute.

 

[MAJ RN]

Wonderful update!! Can't wait to see how you day at AK turns out. Sorry to hear about the difficulty checking in, that can be so frustrating. I am glad to hear that they did compensate you in some way, Disney is awesome that way. Can't wait for another update.


Melissa

 

[loribell]

Wow a magic FP! Sorry you got hung up checking in. I wonder what in the world that cm did to screw it up.

 

[bubba's mom]

That's awful to have a res missing ....sounds like they tried to make up for it tho with those FPs

also....sorry to hear you got "the look" from other people....when will people just myob?