tinkerbellmagic
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2003
- Messages
- 3,223
Day 1
Monday December 1
Palm trees and Mickey Mouse, here we come!!! (or so we thought)
Who: Me - Tink (female 49)
+ 5 yo GRANDSON 
When: December 1-6
Resort: Polynesian
It always feels strange taking a shower at 3 am, doesn't it?
3:00 AM
I am beginning to worry about my grandson (DGS). He feels a little warm, but says he is ok. He has been well all year. My husband drives us to the airport. Check in is quick and smooth. Once boarding, I notice our seats are over the wing. It blocks visibility a little, but hey, at least it's a window and I love flying! Windows sure come in handy when you have children to entertain on a plane. No matter how often I fly, I am still in awe of air travel and would rather stare out at the horizon than read a book and miss it all.
We have crying/screaming toddlers in front of us and in back of us on the plane.
This does not bother me. Hey, we are going to Disney! I am getting more concerned about DGS though. He is now coughing a little and is complaining of a sore throat. I give him some childrens Tylenol and decide I will get him to a doctor as soon as we check in. I am comfortable knowing my daughter has signed a very detailed medical permisssion slip (ignorant bliss).
We land and have a hard time finding the Mears booth. Someone said they are all over the place.. but where? The cigarette smoke outside near the ground trans area is overwhelming and I'm more aware of it now that DGS is not feeling well. We manage to snag our Mears van with only 3 other adults (yey!) and we are on on our way to the Polynesian.
We check in and I ask the front desk for names of medical facilities I can use for DGS. I was given 3 brochures. We are in the Aotearoa building on the second floor. Boo hoo, no balcony, but the great part is that the monorail runs right by and DGS LOVES trains! The Polynesian is as beautiful as I remember. I call a shuttle for the nearby clinic. A very nice driver came to pick us up within 20 mins. We arrive at the clinic only to be refused treatment because the medical permission note I have is not notarized. They won't even come out and look at DGS. The very very nice driver offers to take me to a nearby hospital ER. It is around noon time.
My DGS goes in for his initial evaluation. The nurse is rude and very short with me. She is complaining to the others about a mess someone has made and she just won't let it go. She asks me when DGS had his last Tylenol and I tell her an hour ago. She then tries to give DGS a dose of Tylenol until I stop her and say I just gave him some an hour ago and she snaps and says, "I've seen 100 kids today."
We are sent back out into the waiting room where we stay for 5 long and strenuous hours before being seen by a doctor. I remember DGS looking up at me and saying, "Grandma, did we miss the parade?" We had. My grandson was sleeping on and off between 2 chairs I had set up for him. He was miserable and would wake up crying. He had a fever, a cough, and a sore throat. I even called DGS's doc back at home, but they would not prescribe anything without seeing him. By the time the doctor saw him, my grandson needed to be put on IVs. The Doc said he was a little dry. DGS screamed and cried while they tried to put in the IV and I cried too as he was screaming, "Grandma! Grandma!" as if to save him from all this. What a day. We were both hungry, exhausted, and he was sick. The first IV was not set correctly, so they had to do it all over again. You parents who have been through this know what this is like. Three people could not hold him down (he's a strong little guy) so they needed to mummy wrap him.
My grandson had a middle ear infection. This all came about so suddenly and he hadn't complained about pain in his ears at all. They gave him a chest X-ray, an antibiotic, and a popsicle, (which he loved). At one point the Doc told DGS he will feel so much better tomorrow and he will be able to see Mickey. DGS (still full of hope) said, "Actually, we are going to see Mickey today." I had to tell him it was too late. He was very disappointed. We hadn't even seen the castle. The nurse told me to keep him away from cigarette smoke. I had a very bad headache for several hours, but the hospital staff could not give me any aspirin for it. They weren't allowed to. It was now after 10 pm. We had been there for 10 hours. I was at the end of my rope and felt like I needed to check in to Disney's Magical mental ward, but as long as we could get back to the hotel, we would be ok. That's what I kept telling myself. I was dying to get out of that hospital.
Now I had to figure out how to get back to the Polynesian. The phone books at the hospital courtesy phone had only white pages. This is no help. I found a cab company business card taped to the phone desk, so I called them. When the driver arrived, he had one arm in a sling and the cab wreaked of cigarette smoke. The guy was a very nice person, but the van reminded me of the cab in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. The radio was killing my head too. I hoped we would make it to the Polynesian quickly, very quickly.
The Poly front desk refunded the $22 cab fare from hospital to the resort. The IV/antibiotic seemed to help DGS. We made a pit stop in the hotel room for aspirin as my head was about to explode. We relaxed a bit, then went down to Captain Cooks to bring some food back to the room. We were starving. We called Turner Drugs and they will deliver DGS's prescriptions to the front desk first thing tomorrow morning. I later ask for a refrigerator to store the drugs and one was sent right away. It felt good to eat and relax and finally go to sleep.
Well, that was day 1 in Disney World. I'll bet you can't wait to read Day 2
Lessons I learned that, by writing this, I hope might help others. If at all possible, try not to leave Disney World for medical treatment. Call DOCS (Doctors on Call) first. They can give you your first dose of medicine and they call in your prescriptions to Turner Drugs. Turner delivers to the resort. Also, if you take someone elses children on vacation, have a notarized medical permission slip.
Believe it or not, we did have some fun in the days that followed. It amazes me now all the little details I was concerned about before we left, and none of it mattered once all this happened.
Monday December 1
Palm trees and Mickey Mouse, here we come!!! (or so we thought)
Who: Me - Tink (female 49)
+ 5 yo GRANDSON When: December 1-6
Resort: Polynesian
It always feels strange taking a shower at 3 am, doesn't it?
3:00 AM
I am beginning to worry about my grandson (DGS). He feels a little warm, but says he is ok. He has been well all year. My husband drives us to the airport. Check in is quick and smooth. Once boarding, I notice our seats are over the wing. It blocks visibility a little, but hey, at least it's a window and I love flying! Windows sure come in handy when you have children to entertain on a plane. No matter how often I fly, I am still in awe of air travel and would rather stare out at the horizon than read a book and miss it all.
We have crying/screaming toddlers in front of us and in back of us on the plane.
This does not bother me. Hey, we are going to Disney! I am getting more concerned about DGS though. He is now coughing a little and is complaining of a sore throat. I give him some childrens Tylenol and decide I will get him to a doctor as soon as we check in. I am comfortable knowing my daughter has signed a very detailed medical permisssion slip (ignorant bliss). We land and have a hard time finding the Mears booth. Someone said they are all over the place.. but where? The cigarette smoke outside near the ground trans area is overwhelming and I'm more aware of it now that DGS is not feeling well. We manage to snag our Mears van with only 3 other adults (yey!) and we are on on our way to the Polynesian.
We check in and I ask the front desk for names of medical facilities I can use for DGS. I was given 3 brochures. We are in the Aotearoa building on the second floor. Boo hoo, no balcony, but the great part is that the monorail runs right by and DGS LOVES trains! The Polynesian is as beautiful as I remember. I call a shuttle for the nearby clinic. A very nice driver came to pick us up within 20 mins. We arrive at the clinic only to be refused treatment because the medical permission note I have is not notarized. They won't even come out and look at DGS. The very very nice driver offers to take me to a nearby hospital ER. It is around noon time.
My DGS goes in for his initial evaluation. The nurse is rude and very short with me. She is complaining to the others about a mess someone has made and she just won't let it go. She asks me when DGS had his last Tylenol and I tell her an hour ago. She then tries to give DGS a dose of Tylenol until I stop her and say I just gave him some an hour ago and she snaps and says, "I've seen 100 kids today."
We are sent back out into the waiting room where we stay for 5 long and strenuous hours before being seen by a doctor. I remember DGS looking up at me and saying, "Grandma, did we miss the parade?" We had. My grandson was sleeping on and off between 2 chairs I had set up for him. He was miserable and would wake up crying. He had a fever, a cough, and a sore throat. I even called DGS's doc back at home, but they would not prescribe anything without seeing him. By the time the doctor saw him, my grandson needed to be put on IVs. The Doc said he was a little dry. DGS screamed and cried while they tried to put in the IV and I cried too as he was screaming, "Grandma! Grandma!" as if to save him from all this. What a day. We were both hungry, exhausted, and he was sick. The first IV was not set correctly, so they had to do it all over again. You parents who have been through this know what this is like. Three people could not hold him down (he's a strong little guy) so they needed to mummy wrap him.
My grandson had a middle ear infection. This all came about so suddenly and he hadn't complained about pain in his ears at all. They gave him a chest X-ray, an antibiotic, and a popsicle, (which he loved). At one point the Doc told DGS he will feel so much better tomorrow and he will be able to see Mickey. DGS (still full of hope) said, "Actually, we are going to see Mickey today." I had to tell him it was too late. He was very disappointed. We hadn't even seen the castle. The nurse told me to keep him away from cigarette smoke. I had a very bad headache for several hours, but the hospital staff could not give me any aspirin for it. They weren't allowed to. It was now after 10 pm. We had been there for 10 hours. I was at the end of my rope and felt like I needed to check in to Disney's Magical mental ward, but as long as we could get back to the hotel, we would be ok. That's what I kept telling myself. I was dying to get out of that hospital.
Now I had to figure out how to get back to the Polynesian. The phone books at the hospital courtesy phone had only white pages. This is no help. I found a cab company business card taped to the phone desk, so I called them. When the driver arrived, he had one arm in a sling and the cab wreaked of cigarette smoke. The guy was a very nice person, but the van reminded me of the cab in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. The radio was killing my head too. I hoped we would make it to the Polynesian quickly, very quickly.
The Poly front desk refunded the $22 cab fare from hospital to the resort. The IV/antibiotic seemed to help DGS. We made a pit stop in the hotel room for aspirin as my head was about to explode. We relaxed a bit, then went down to Captain Cooks to bring some food back to the room. We were starving. We called Turner Drugs and they will deliver DGS's prescriptions to the front desk first thing tomorrow morning. I later ask for a refrigerator to store the drugs and one was sent right away. It felt good to eat and relax and finally go to sleep.
Well, that was day 1 in Disney World. I'll bet you can't wait to read Day 2
Lessons I learned that, by writing this, I hope might help others. If at all possible, try not to leave Disney World for medical treatment. Call DOCS (Doctors on Call) first. They can give you your first dose of medicine and they call in your prescriptions to Turner Drugs. Turner delivers to the resort. Also, if you take someone elses children on vacation, have a notarized medical permission slip.
Believe it or not, we did have some fun in the days that followed. It amazes me now all the little details I was concerned about before we left, and none of it mattered once all this happened.
