What to do?(long)

[Nordicpollan]

We went to WDW this Sept. trip was totally disturbed by hurrican and ended up being cut short by 11 days!

DS2 is disabled and this time really did not enjoy all of the holiday. There where bits he was thrilled by (kissing Jasmine) and bits he could have really have done with out.

He is very clear he does not want to go to Florida again( he found the flights hard work)

This weekend friends from Scotland came to stay, they want all of us to go to Florida with them next Sept (as part of thier belated honeymoon) Now what to do. Do we book for all of to go and hope DS2 will enjoy himself when we get there
or do we ask the local childrens hospice to have him for a couple of week ends and DH and I go alone(knowing that this could be the only break on our own before DS2 leaves school and we are caring for him 24/7 with no break at all!

We have never left him before but DS1 has said he will go to Little Bridge House with DS2 on those weekends to make sure he is settled and well.

DS2 health is not good and things can change very fast so we would not be able to book anything too far out (which will drive me / organiser mad) Things like theme park tickets have a bit of leaway on them and we can always hope for a last minute bargin!!

Your thoughts please



Karen

 

[gilld]

Karen,

I really feel for you on this one. Whatever you do, you'll feel bad. Can you talk to your son about your dilemma?

Although you say you've never left him, you must take care of yourselves, so you in turn are able to care for him. My gut feeling is go unless he's really against it. You can ring often and e-mail. But only you know how you, and he will cope.

I wish you lots of luck, I'm sure you'll make the right decision.

 

[kazzie]

Karen, How old is your eldest DS?

If he can go for respite at the weekends who would be caring for him during the week? With his disability is he able to say whether he minds you going without him-or not?

Without knowing the above I would urge you and your DH to take the oppourtunity if possible to go on the holiday

With a holiday leaving you strengthened and refreshed--this will benefit your son too

 

[Nordicpollan]

DS2 is 17 and has just moved up to the Further Education dept. at school. All being well he is at school from Monday to Friday. Although recently he has only managed 2/3 days a week.

His understanding is fine and he is very clear he doesn't want to go, but when it really came to us going I don't know how he would cope as he has not been in that situation before.


He can stay at school for weekend subject to funding but I'm not sure he will be too keen to do this. We use the local childrens hospice so could ask them if they would have him to stay for the weekend and his older brother would go to stay too to keep him company. Unfortunatly his health is very up and down so the worry is would we get back if anything happen thatDS1 couldn't cope with!

I think this one is going to go around and around with us for ages. We both know this will be the last chance we have to go a real break, but having never left him is really hard.

Off to Little Bridge House (our childrens hospice) this weekend so things may seem clearer next week


Karen

 

[Miffy2003]

Karen,

I've no real advice to offer and my heart goes out to you! I just wondered (and this may be out of the question) if there was any way of you doing a "practice" run for somewhere a bit closer to home first? Say Europe or even somewhere in the UK.

My thoughts are, in an emergency Florida is a heck of a long way away (and then you've got to get back to Cullompton from Gatwick) and would it give you some piece of mind to have "practiced" first with a weekend break somewhere closer to home? Might give DS a bit of experience too?

My very best wishes to you and your family in making your decision.

Karen

 

[peewakio]

What an awful dilemma.
No matter what you end up doing your son is not going to be happy.
Couldn't you try to convince him of this and try to persuade him to bite the bullet and give Florida one last chance.
Hope everything works out for you and your son.

 

[kazzie]

There isn't an easy answer is there as I'm sure you've been soul searching on this one

Good luck asking at the hospice