Pre-trip disasters

[MaleficentEvilSister]

4 days before we were supposed to leave for our Jan 2014 trip, my mom was rushed to the hospital with a brain tumor. However, upon further testing, it was not that simple, it was Stage 4 cancer that had spread from a HUGE mass in her lung into her brain to form 8 tumors.

We were told that if she didn't start treatment right away she had 3 weeks to 6 months to live. However if treatment was started that day with a very aggressive radiation on the brain and it worked she could have 6 months to a year possibly longer.

I was on the phone with Disney to cancel the trip when she took the phone from my hand and said.... " you will be on that plane on Monday morning! I will be here when you get back." After talking to my Dad, we decided to go as it was what she wanted. (he was afraid she would worry herself about "our canceled vacation" and not concentrate on the treatment) and as we were only going for 4 days, we went.

It was an ok vacation, as I spent a lot of time on the phone with Mom and her doctors. When I got back I spent as much time as I could with her. Sadly, the treatment didn't work and mom passed on Feb 5. (just 5 weeks after being diagnosed)

Do I regret going... No, cause my mom was one stubborn firm woman and if I wouldn't have gone she would have kicked my backside. I do regret the trip we planned when I got back didn't get to happen. (we wanted to take both my parents to Wilderness Lodge once her treatment was done and she was in recovery)

 

[Gracedis1]

We had incidents before both of my kids first trips to the world. My DD was 2 and it was her first plane ride. She was eating a low sugar cereal on the plane but we didn't realize it had artificial sweeteners in it. It gave her massive diarrhea. I used every single diaper I had brought with me. Changing a large 2 year old in the airplane restroom is not fun! I thought it had stopped but as we touched down, she threw up all over herself and me. Yuck! Thankfully we were able to get off first and change clothes.

My son was also 2 for his first trip. The week before he broke his leg in a playground accident. The doctor gave him a walking boot which worked well, but he kept kicking the shoe off his "good" leg with the boot when he was in his stroller. We lost a shoe from both the pairs we brought and couldn't find them in lost and found. We had to buy Mickey crocs. We have kept those as a souvenir from that crazy trip!

 

[Donald - my hero]

OH my goodness what stories!! Mine doesn't involve health but the possibility of renovations STARTING at $5,000.00 are looming in our future! What has happened you might wonder??

We now know more than we care to know about cat urine and we don't even OWN A CAT!! Our house smells like a litter box CONSTANTLY. We could not figure out what was going on a resorted to running the crockpot non-stop with water, cinnamon sticks and cloves (thanks to a very clever FB friend for that tip) and keeping the windows wide open (even though that means the heat is on already). It is bad enough to make our eyes water some days and gagging is a constant problem. Had a guy from a restoration company come in last week (after putting up with it all summer and using rolls of vapor barrier, tap and countless tubes of chalking) to check it out, slight worry that it might be mold?? He whips out a massive black light and proceeds to shine it across the wall in the basement TV room, you know the room we basically LIVE IN!! It lights up like some disco club, bright blue streaks and spots everywhere. We had no idea what it was until he spun around to announce "only thing that glows that colour is CAT URINE" SERIOUSLY?? He then asked how many cats are next door, have kittens been born & are they perhaps scared? Uhm, 2 cats, numerous litters and does getting locked in a bathroom for hours perhaps make a cat nervous?? Seems if kittens are in the house and the male cat is also there it will spray door frames, window ledges and baseboards as a warning to other animals to stay out. Tick them off or scare them and yup they will spray/pee whatever & wherever they choose.

Solution? Rip down drywall & pull up all flooring. "biologically clean it??" use spray foam to create a barrier, stick new drywall & flooring back where it belongs & repaint. Oh did i mention that we have a "finished" crawl space under the stairs that runs from the front door to the back wall?? I think this foam is made from gold dust since it costs $5 - 6 per square FOOT. When we contacted the property management company (while we own the house it is a condo property) and they told us to pass on the quote and it will go to the legal department before we can even start the renovations. URGH!!!

SO here i sit on the living room couch with cushions stuck behind my back for support and my mouse pad is a stack of magazines on a shoe box. We can't watch TV so the PVR is quickly filling up since the fall season is starting. We often wake up in the night coughing and have constant headaches. OH one more little tid-bit... they chain smoke meaning i constantly run back & forth opening & shutting the windows since i have asthma.

Yeah, starting at $5,000. Is this stopping our holiday?? No dang way, we're celebrating 30 years of marriage and doing a bang up job of it by spending 2 weeks out of this stinky house. Won't even touch the issue that we both have new rotten dietary issues that will make eating out akin to walking though a mine-field blind.

Best of luck to all of us who are starting out our holidays on a "stinky" note

 

[Tink NY]

Back in 2004 DH and I were on a big family cruise for 4 days. We were planning on going to the MK the day after we got back. So we disembark the ship and drive the hour to Orlando. We check into our hotel and notice that everyone else is freaking out. We had no idea that hurricane Charley was scheduled to make landfall the next day. We woke up the next day, decided to not go to the MK, and waited it out. We ended up going the day after. I have never seen the park so empty before, or since.

Not related to a vacation bit still an "oh damn" klutz moment. I had an interview scheduled for a new job earlier this year. 3 days beforehand DH decides we should go roller blading. Of course I fell and hurt my arm and completely scraped up my palm. That night I was like, just great, I have to interview and be professional with a huge, ugly bandage on my hand and while in pain. Just my luck. Thankfully they seemed to be none the wiser and they offered me a job.

 

[Sparkly]

In April 2008 there was a unexpected period of snow before our trip..delayed our flight out by 10 hours! That was a incredibly long and boring day. Finally got into MCO very late at night and took it easy the next day instead of hitting MK as originally planned.

 

[AaronInWI]

This isn't pre-trip, but rather while there. It was I believe our second day, and I was moving a suitcase in our hotel room. I didn't see my wife's shoe on the ground, stepped on it, and turned my ankle pretty bad. The rest of the trip I was limping around everywhere we went (not to mention dealing with a sore wrist from falling). Thankfully we aren't commando tourists, but we still put on a good 5+ miles a day while there, which is tough to do on a bum ankle.

 

[ANKx4]

We always travel with some close friends and we normally drive two plus hours to the airport and stay in a hotel the night before we leave so we can catch an early flight to Orlando. When we got up and went downstairs to catch the shuttle we learned that their oldest (then probably...8 or 9) had been throwing up all night. Poor kid was miserable travelling that day. Fortunately, we all managed to dodge the germs and she felt better pretty quickly.

About 5 years ago we were planning on our first adults only trip for F&W and MNSSHP. There were 3 couples going and we were REALLY excited. Severl weeks before I started feeling crummy. And got crummier. I finally gave in and went to the doc. They did a flu swab which came back negative and he sent me home. And I felt worse. So I went back for blood work. Which came back all kinds of messed up. He sent me to the hematologist and all sorts of scary words started being thrown around. I felt so awful that All I could really do was blink as the doctor talked about bone marrow biopsies and when we would start treatments. And the whole time I am thinking, "Listen, Doc. I just need to feel well enough to go on this trip...then we can deal with this!" Miraculously, the biopsy came back ok and the doctor basically recorded it in my records and messed up blood counts of unknown origins. I gladly accepted that "explanation" and we left about a week and half later. I have never been so happy to be at Disney World in my life!!

 

[ChelleFeegan]

We had two this year

DD dislocated her knee cap and has since weakened it so she has to have a support

And then, whilst I am stressing that about her walking with her knee at disney her friend runs into my house screaming for me to "come quick" DD8 has fallen from her flicker and is SCREAMING - can't move her arm, and says moving her fingers hurts!!!!

Off we go to the hospital...

Thankfully no major break, but a tiny hairline fracture that didn't need a cast, oh and some lovely road burn.

She wasn't allowed out for the next week...

 

[LuvMyEAR]

Well, thankfully I cannot come even close to most of your tales, but I will never forget one epic whammy. DH had been working a 6-month stint half a world away as ouyr 25th anniversary came and went, but we planned to celebrate upon his return. We booked our first ever cruise and a week in Orlando. Yahoo!

I bounced out of bed in the wee hours of departure day, fit as a fiddle and ready for our early morning flight. I felt a few fluttery sensations on the ride to the airport which I shrugged off as high excitement. As we stood in libe to check in, it became obvious that there was more than excitement going on... and minutes later I was hugging a public toilet bowl (ugh!) like it was my long lost sister.

In the obligatory 2 hour window before our flight left, my system got a thorough purging (no further description required) which left me weak and shaky, but able to withstand the flights with no recurrance. Almost as soon as we landed, the symptoms returned, and cleared up only to make way for the most horrific head cold I had experienced in years. My voice decided it wanted no part of this, and deserted me for the week. Picture a voiceless woman with her hard-of-hearing DH. We made a romantic picture, hand in hand everywhere, necessitated by the fact that tugging his arm was the only way I could get his attention so he'd slow down so I could blow my nose. Often. We remember that trip fondly, though, and still laugh about it.

 

[larryz]

I just read this whole thread and I think you win the cake. Only I am sorry, I have no cake you give you.

Everyone knows the cake is a lie!

 

[nkereina]

I can relate, sadly..... My sister was diagnosed in Feb/2013 with stage 4 cancer, and in July/August we were told to do one last thing she wanted... which of course was one last Disney trip with her kids. I was to go with them as well to look after the kids and wheel my sis around. We booked for October 7th as at first we were told we had until Christmas to travel (this was at the beginning of August), but the first weekend of September my sister was admitted to the hospital and passed away 3 weeks later. Her celebration of life (complete with a disney theme family dinner afterwards) was held on October 5th, the day before we were supposed to leave. Needless to say I just let the trip go, and they were nice enough to refund every penny.

Fast forward to this August, almost a year later, and my mom and I booked a trip to take my youngest dd on her 'one on one' (plus me) trip with Grandma.... I have everything planned, adr's in place for January. And my mom just received some not so great news yesterday of her own health, so we are holding our breath and hoping for the best.

Sending lots of prayers and positive thoughts to you and your family and your mom... hope it works out ok and your trip goes off without a hitch!

The universe can be crazy... sometimes life can be mundane and boring, and then everything happens at once during the time we have scheduled for fun

 

[Witherbark]

In 2010, my husband was hit by a truck while riding his motorcycle. The day before we flew to Barcelona to catch the Magic for a transatlantic cruise. He spent the night in the hospital, and I spent the night trying to re-arrange our train and flight times. The next morning I basically bribed and threatened nurses and doctors to get him released, and he spent the car ride to the train station on the phone with the insurance company. We made our plane in NY, but it was delayed due to weather so we missed our connection in Dublin and spent the day there. Then on our evening flight to Barcelona, we were delayed by weather and diverted due to an air traffic control strike. We ended up having a great cruise, and the bike was fixed by the time we returned.

On our most recent trip this year, I fell 10 days before we were to leave and broke my arm in six places. I got a waterproof cast and we still had a great time.

 

[jemlover]

On one of our trips to WDW I started feeling sick two days before our flight with a horrible head cold. I was so disappointed but luckily the symptoms passed quickly for me but after we got to WDW, DH came down with the same cold but he just got sicker and sicker. He didn't want to ruin our trip so trudged through WDW like a trooper. After we got home he went to the doctor and it turned out he had a severe sinus infection. I felt so guilty that I had not taken time out to get him to urgent care but I was so excited about being at WDW that I didn't notice that he was hiding how he bad he was feeling.

 

[Tomh]

My jaw just dropped. WOW!

You deserve martyrdom. That was the true series of unfortunate events. You shall forever be deemed Lemony Snickets.

lol

 

[Tomh]

Everyone knows the cake is a lie!

And I was SOOOO looking forward to the cake. Darn it darn it darn it.

 

[Donald - my hero]

Everyone knows the cake is a lie!

OMG i can totally understand this statement ... wonder how many other "GEEKS" are reading this

 

[disfan4life1]

Few years ago we took a trip in April.... Had a close aunt pass away while we were there. A year later almost to the date my husband and I had a trip planned for just the two of us.. 2 days before our flight another close aunt passed unexpectedly. Needless to say since these were both of my moms sisters and she is the only sibling left we refuse to go to Disney again in April for fear of losing her also.

 

[kam1011]

1) two days before the trip, my then 2yo son ripped his toenail 3/4 of the way off in the front door. The podiatrist had to remove the rest and he wore a humongous bandage on his big toe. At least he was little enough to be riding around in the stroller, as opposed to walking on it.

2) We rented a minivan and drove to WDW. We parked in front of the door at the Contemporary to unload everything onto the bell services cart. One of the in-ceiling compartments opened up on it's own as DH was reaching into the third row of the van, and as he backed up, he slammed into it and cracked his head open. He had to go to the Urgent Care center to get staples in his head. We missed out dinner reservations, too! lol (This van problem continued throughout the trip, but then we were aware of it so we were always looking out for it.)