A lot has happened since I last wrote. Life just kind of swallows you up whether you are ready for it or not. We had some drama with Shawn and his girlfriend that started a few days after we got back. Eventually that ended in them breaking up. He was very upset but I feel like he will be much better off now that she is gone. She was just too controlling and manipulative.
My recovery in some ways was harder and in other ways easier than I had expected. It was harder because even though I didn’t feel like my energy was anywhere near what it was before my cancer treatments, I had had six months without chemo or radiation weakening me. It was hard to return to being weak again after having some time with a little energy and being able to do most of what I wanted to do.
It was easier than I expected because Dr. Massey used the fat from higher up on my buttocks so I wasn’t sitting on the incision. This helped me heal faster. We came home from New Orleans on Tuesday and by Sunday, just two weeks after my surgery, I felt well enough to go to church. I was also able to stop taking the pain medication shortly after we returned home. The support of our ward was amazing. They brought meals to our house for two whole weeks after we came home. Their help also added to my quick recovery. My incisions healed quickly and my final drain was removed one month after my surgery. Not being able to lift anything over five pounds for the first six weeks was frustrating but my kids where a lot of help. We divided up the things that I couldn’t do for awhile and Shawn, Tyler, and Mariah all pitched in to help get things done.
Before I knew it the six weeks had passed and the kids were getting ready to go back to school. Shawn is a senior this year. Tyler is in 7th grade and going to Jr. High. Mariah is in 4th grade. The first quarter ended last week. Mariah is doing very well. She just finished reading a book called “The Candy Shop War” which is 406 pages long. Tyler got straight “A’s” in all seven of his classes including Pre-Algebra, Spanish, and Band. Shawn got a straight “A’s” in Aquaculture, AP Government, and PE, an A+ in Chemistry, an A- in AP Biology, and B+ in Pre-Calculus. He is currently competing for Sterling Scholar in Science for his high school. He is also trying to decide where to go to college and looking into other scholarships. He wants to be a marine biologist. Most marine biologists have a BS in biology and a Masters in marine biology. Right now he is looking into going to school here in Utah to get his BS and by the time he is done with that he should be able to support himself well enough to move to California, Florida, or one of the Southern states with masters programs in Marine Biology.
In October I reached a major milestone in my life, I turned 40. Many women dread turning 40 but I was just glad to have made it. A year and a half ago I wasn’t sure if I would be alive to celebrate my 40th birthday. We didn’t have a big party or anything huge. All I wanted to do was get the house clean so that I felt more prepared for my 2nd reconstruction surgery at the end of the month. David and the kids gave me a few gifts and then Mariah, David, and I went to dinner at Panda Express. Panda Express was sponsoring a fundraiser for Mariah’s school where they donated 20% of their sales that day between 5 and 7 to the school. Shawn and Tyler don’t like Chinese food so they didn’t want to go with us.
On Tuesday, October 27, 2009, we flew to New Orleans for my second reconstruction surgery. We didn’t rent a car since we were only going to be there for 5 days and the hospital offered a car service that would take us to and from the airport and all of our appointment. A driver for the limo service picked us up at the airport and took us to the Hope Lodge where we were staying. We met with Dr. Massey on Wednesday then at 6 a.m. on Thursday morning we went to the Saint Charles Surgical Center for surgery. The surgery lasted 5 ½ hours. Our original plan was for me to check out of the hospital on Friday and return to the Hope Lodge where we were staying but Dr. Massey decided to keep me one more night. I don’t remember why but I was glad she did because I wasn’t ready to go anywhere. The original pain medicine they had me on made me itch everywhere. They changed that medicine once we discovered that but I still itched for awhile. I remember talking to my parents and my Aunt Marsha, who was visiting them, while I was in the hospital. The conversation is a blur but I remember thinking that the pain medicine was making me a little loopy and that I probably wasn’t making much sense. When Dr. Massey came to check on me I tried to crack some jokes and I think I ended up sounding like I was stoned out of my mind.
David had to take a taxi back to the Hope Lodge on Friday night to get us checked out since the patient must be with him in order for the car service to be picked up by the hospital. He came back Saturday morning with all of the luggage that we had left at the Lodge and my “Christmas” presents. When we were there in July I had left some of the gifts that we had received at the Christmas in July party with the “House Mother.” She had been keeping them until we came back in October. I think I mentioned meeting her son, I’ll call him M, when I wrote about our trip in July. M is 12 years old and has leukemia. They have been living at the Hope Lodge for 3 ½ years. He has 3 or 4 brothers and sisters who live with their dad at their home 5 ½ hours away from New Orleans. If it wasn’t for the Hope Lodge, M would not have been able to receive the cancer treatment that he has already had. I don’t know any family that could afford to stay in a hotel for that long. When we were there in July M didn’t look good. Since then he has improved dramatically. His hair is growing and he has put on some more weight. He is getting ready for a bone marrow transplant. He wants to have it as soon as possible because afterwards he will have to be in quarantine for several months to keep from getting sick. His transplant coordinator wants him to wait until after the first of the year so that he can enjoy the holidays. M doesn’t want to wait because he wants to be able to play next summer. A twelve year old boy should not have to make a choice between celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas with his family or being able to play next summer. That is just one of the cruel things that children with cancer have to face. His mother mentioned that she bought him a Playstation 1 so that he will have something to do while he is in the hospital. Most kids would be expecting the newest and greatest gaming system. She is excited to be able to give him a Playstation 1 and a couple of games. It really makes you think about the people out there who are less fortunate than we are. My boys went through their computer games today and pulled out the ones that work with a Playstation 1. I am going to check next week to make sure they will work with the machine that she has and then we are going to send them to her so that he has several games he can play. I have been so blessed with having support from family, friends, church members, and David’s coworkers. M’s family has had none of that support. His mother said that they have had only a handful of meals brought to them over the 3 ½ years they have been fighting cancer. She makes dinner at least one or twice a week for everyone who is staying at the Hope Lodge. The people in their family and community don’t know what is involved with fighting cancer. Someone from New Orleans is finally organizing some things in their hometown to try and help them raise awareness of cancer and raise funds to help M.
Saturday morning, October 31st, David checked out of the Hope Lodge and took another taxi to meet me at the Hospital. We checked out and headed to the airport at 9:30 a.m. It took a few minutes for them to bring a wheelchair to our car. David was able to get our luggage checked in while I waited in the car with our driver. Going through security and getting to the first gate are a blur to me. We were able to board the plane before the general boarding so we were at the front of the plane again. After everyone had boarded the plane we pulled back from the gate. A few minutes later, the pilot notified everyone that one of the engines would not start. We had to pull back to the gate to find out if they were going to fix the plane or transfer us to another plane. Luckily they decided to move us to another plane. By the time we took off we had been delayed enough that there was no way that we would make our connection in Denver. Once we arrived in Denver they booked us on another flight, two hours later. We finally made it home around 7:30 p.m. Utah time, 12 hours after we left the hospital in New Orleans. It was a long, unpleasant day but with the help of the pain medication I wasn’t in too much pain. Although most of the day was a blur I don’t remember even taking a nap. I guess I was just running on adrenaline. When we got home I went right to bed. I vaguely remember seeing Mariah’s Halloween costume. She had gone trick-or-treating with her friend Kaylee. We should have been home in plenty of time for David to go with her but the delay prevented that. Thank you again to good friends who made sure that she did not miss out on this fun tradition. Thank you also to Grandma Tatton who was Mom, Dad, taxi service, social coordinator, and all around miracle worker while we were gone. Without her help it would have been a lot harder for our kids to have us gone. She stayed with them and kept everything running normally while we were gone. Words cannot express how grateful I am to have had her help and support over the last two years. I know she will be there at a moments notice whenever we need her.
On the flight home we were looking at a magazine printed by South West Airline called “Spirit.” In it was an article about New Orleans. In the article it talked about the Hospital and Doctor’s office that I had just left. Here is a quote. “An often-overlooked side of New Orleans is world-class medical facilities. The Center for Restorative Breast Surgery at St. Charles Surgical Hospital is the first and only hospital in the world dedicated entirely to breast reconstruction for women facing breast cancer.” There was also an advertisement for The Center and the hospital that featured Susan, the woman who is the manager at the Hope Lodge. She is also a former patient of theirs. Dr. Massey wasn’t mentioned in the article probably because she isn’t one of the founding doctors.
It has been one week since we came home. I am sore and stiff. After surgery I woke up with this tight girdle like compression garment on. It goes from my chest down to mid thigh. It is tight and stiff. It is also hard to move in which is probably what it is supposed to do, keep you from moving too quickly or too far in any direction and opening up the incisions. Coughing and sneezing hurt a lot. The recovery from this second surgery looks like it is going to be harder than the first. The areas that had the most work during the first surgery was the transplanted tissue. It didn’t hurt because the nerves don’t work there anymore. The donor site was sore but it healed quickly. I had a lot of work done on my abdomen during this second surgery and that is pretty sore. You don’t realize how much you use your stomach muscles until you can’t use them.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Pictures from New Orleans
At Hope Lodge 
The nurses at The Center
Flowers from David's Work
My room at The Center
The nurses at The Center
Flowers from David's Work
My room at The Center
The French Quarter
Christmas in July Cake and Gifts
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Stage 1 Reconstruction
I am sorry that no one has heard from us while we were in New Orleans. I had planned on calling people and keeping the blog updated but things just didn’t work out that way. The wi-fi and cell phone reception at the Hope Lodge was bad. We either had to be in the computer room or go outside in order to make a call or log onto the internet. I basically slept or was too tired or out of it to do anything the entire time we were at the hospital. The problems with reception made it hard for David to work or get a hold of people. David was supposed to be working remotely during this trip so his time was spent taking care of me or working mixed in with keeping his Mom and the kids updated. I apologize to anyone who has been worried about me. I have been able to type a little about what happened while we were gone so here is an update, after the fact.
David and I arrived in New Orleans on Thursday afternoon, July 16, 2009. After we picked up our rental car we checked into the Hope Lodge. Hope Lodge is a place that cancer patients and their families can stay for free while they are receiving treatment related to their cancer. The Hope Lodge in New Orleans has 36 rooms, a large kitchen and dinning area, a library, exercise room, as well as areas that you can sit to relax. It is a nice place to stay. There are people of all ages here. One lady I met is receiving radiation treatment for breast cancer. There are also a few children that I have seen. One has been here for 3 years. His mom is the House Mother here. I think that means that they live here all the time. It is bad enough for adults to have to fight cancer but it is truly tragic when children have to fight when they are so young.
I tried gumbo for the first time on Thursday night. The House Mother made the gumbo for everyone to share. As I suspected it was too spicy for me. After we ate we went to the store to get groceries. All the residents have a cupboard, two buckets in the fridge, and one in the freezer to keep their food in. The cooking facilities are very nice. It is like four kitchens put together.
My first appointment on Friday morning was scheduled for 9 a.m. We got lost on the way there. Driving here is very frustrating because everything seems to be a one-way street. There are very few places that you can make a left turn. Instead there are U-turn lanes everywhere. Sometimes you think that you are going to make a left turn but instead you are forced to make a U-turn and you miss where you were trying to go. After making a call Sally was able to direct us to the hospital. My surgery is going to be at St. Charles Surgical Center. It is a private surgical hospital primarily dedicated to breast reconstruction although since it is still fairly new there are a few other types of patients there until the practice builds up enough to focus entirely on breast reconstruction. Dr. Massey’s office is in a building connected to the hospital. I heard that they have special suites that are saved for the very elite patients that if they were rented out as an apartment in New Orleans they would sale for $1.5 million. I didn’t get to see the suites but another patient told me about them. I might see if she will email me copies of the pictures she took. It makes you wonder who the elite patients might be. Maybe they are celebrities or patients from overseas. I think it might be these special patients that make it possible for the rest of us to receive this phenomenal surgery. I doubt that the fraction of the cost that the insurance companies pay is enough to support such a state of the art facility.
After filling out paperwork, I had a CT scan so that they could see where all the veins and blood vessels are. Ever since I had chemo I hate having any test that they have to inject something into me. I can feel the chemical going into me and spreading through my body then for the rest of the day I don’t feel right. I had to have an MRI last week and then this CT scan, both made me sick. It is almost like I am hypersensitive to everything now. The feeling is almost like a mild chemo.
After the CT scan we filled out more paperwork then met with Dr. Massey. She is so cool. She acts more like a girlfriend that you are going to hang out with than a doctor who is going to have a huge impact on your life. I really like this because you end up feeling very comfortable with her which helps when you are standing there with no close on and she is pocking and pinching your fat. Dr. Massey used a machine similar to what an OB uses to hear a baby’s heartbeat in the womb, to listen to the flow of blood in the vessels in my rear end, the donor site. Every time she located a new one she would mark it on me with a permanent marker. That is so she can make a plan for the surgery on Monday. Originally we had planned on taking a chunk of the fat from the lower area of my butt and using that to build the new breast. After she located the best sources of blood flow she decided to use the fat a little higher up and then lift the remaining fat and skin up basically giving me a nice butt lift. At first I wasn’t too excited about this but after seeing what she had planned I think this will work out for the best. It will also be easier to recover from because I won’t be sitting on the area where the incision is. The incision will be higher up so that I will probably feel it more when I lean back in a chair or when I lay down.
I was supposed to meet at 2:00 with the surgeon that will be doing the mastectomy on my right side before they do the reconstruction on both sides. That appointment had to be postponed until Monday morning because she was handling an emergency at another hospital across town. That left us free to go out to lunch. We walked down the street to a little hole in the wall restaurant called Please U. It didn’t look like much but the food was good and it only cost $20 for lunch. Everywhere you look the restaurants are advertising something called a Po Boy. I think it is basically a sub sandwich on French bread. I will have to try one before we leave. (I didn’t get the chance.)
Saturday we walked around the French Quarter for about an hour. Susan from the Hope Lodge said it was a fun place to shop. We didn’t really like it. The shops were all very small and all sold similar stuff, most of it centered around Mardigras. There were cheap beads everywhere. There are also a lot of things that I would not like my kids to see. I wanted to find something small or maybe a t-shirt or something to take back to the kids as a souvenier but there wasn’t even a t-shirt that I would let them wear. Now I can say that I’ve been there, done that, don’t want to do it again. I get the feeling that life in New Orleans revolves around three things, eating, drinking, and sex.
After we had a late lunch we went to the movie, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. It came out on Tuesday. It was really good. I wanted to see it before my surgery because it will probably be a while before I can sit at a movie theater for an entire show. After the show we bought me some new sunglasses to replace the ones that I lost somewhere between the second airplane and the Hope Lodge. I would have rather have lost my entire suitcase rather than those sunglasses. It would have cost less to replace the contents of the suitcase than the sunglasses. The cheep glasses I bought at the mall are a pour replacement for my Maui Jim’s that I got for Mother’s Day.
On Sunday afternoon we went to church at a small ward about 20 minutes away from the Hope Lodge. Everyone was very nice. I have never been to such a small ward building. Their old building was destroyed by Katrina. They are hoping to move back into it in another month. This one was literally falling a part. David said that going to such a small ward felt like he was in the mission field again. The first speaker talked about how important it is to be on time. I thought this was kind of strange topic but after being here for a week I understand more. Everything here seems to run at least an hour behind. If they say that dinner is at 5:00 that means that they will probably start cooking around 5:00 or 5:30. This is very frustrating to people who like to be on time.
After we went to church we met another couple at the Hope Lodge. The wife is going to have a lymph node transplant with Dr. Massey. They didn’t rent a car because they were just planning on using the limo service provided by Dr. Massey’s office. The only problem with that is that they only take you to and from the airport and to and from your appointments. They needed someone to take them to the store so they could pick up food for the week. Even though it was Sunday we still offered to take them since they had already been there all day and hadn’t found a ride yet. Sunday evening we just hung out in our room.
Monday morning was my surgery. We arrived at the Saint Charles Surgical Center at 6 am. We did the usual preoperative stuff then they took me to surgery at about 7:15. Ten hours later I was done. It seemed like a very quick day for me but I bet it took forever for David. They gave him a pager like you get at some restaurants that gave him periodic updates on how the surgery was going. I vaguely remember waking up for a few minutes in my room when they explained how my pain pump worked, then the next thing I knew it was Tuesday. I was in and out of it most of the day on Tuesday. I would wake up for a few minutes, basically long enough to take more pain medicine then go back to sleep again. On Wednesday I was able to get some of the wires and the IV pump out. That helped so that I didn’t feel like I was tied down by wires everywhere. It made it a lot easier to get around. I was finally able to take a shower. It took three nurses to coordinate that and I was exhausted by the time we were done. Time was passing so slowly. I would fall asleep and when I woke up I thought a long time had passed only to find out that it was maybe an hour later. The nurses were constantly coming in to check out my vitals and to listen to the blood flow in the new veins. I had small wires coming out of my chest which they could attach to a Doppler monitor and listen to the blood flow. At first they listened every 15 minutes. By Friday it was every couple of hours. The wires will stay in until Monday when I go back for a check up. Then the doctor will pull them out. He will probably also pull out the two drains from my chest. The drains at my hips will need to say in for up to a month. I hope it doesn’t take that long to get rid of them. They are very annoying and they hurt when the tissue around them gets bumped or pulled. I can’t believe how much fluid comes out of them. I was very swollen and puffy after surgery but that is going down now.
I was released from the hospital on Friday just before lunch. The ride in the car was hard. The roads here are a lot worse than Utah’s roads. Every pot hole hurt. By the time we got up to our room I was exhausted again. I don’t even remember David bringing up the luggage from the car. I ended up sleeping on an off the rest of the day.
I am struggling with my conflicting feelings about deciding when and how much pain medicine I need vs not wanting to take narcotics. You hear of so many people who have had their lives destroyed after they became addicted to prescription drugs after an injury or surgery. I know I am not close to that but I still hate taking pain medicine if I don’t really need it, the hard thing is determining how much I need. I probably could have taken more and been a little bit less sore but most of the time the pain was manageable with one or two partial doses each day.
On Saturday some volunteers from the local Race For The Cure threw us a Cajun Christmas in July. They served a nice red beans and rice lunch with sausage and salad followed by a delicious cake topped with chocolate covered strawberries. I was able to eat the salad and rice. They also had chocolate covered gourmet apples for everyone. After lunch they passed out Christmas presents which included a Christmas platter, water pitcher, mug, ornament, etc. They are all cute although I am not sure how I am going to get them home. We only have carry on luggage which is already packed full. They also had a professional photographer taking pictures with Santa and a Cajun swamp house background complete with alligators and a Christmas tree with crawfish and moss handing on it. Everyone here is so nice and they go out of their way to make things comfortable for us. It is so nice staying in a place where everyone understands what you are going through and they truly care about how you are feeling each day. The patients staying here are from all over the country. I have met patients from California, Minnesota, Texas, etc. Some stay for a few days, some have been here for months. All of this is provided at no charge to the patients. The Hope Lodge is staffed by volunteers and provided by the American Cancer Society. I hope that we can all remember the good that they do when we have the chance to support them back.
On our second Sunday here I slept in until about 11:30. David helped me get some breakfast and then he went to sacrament meeting. I spent the day watching tv and talking to my parents and the kids. Even though it is very nice here I can’t wait to go home. I miss the kids, my dog, sleeping in my own bed, and just being home.
My postoperative check up with Dr. Sullivan, one of Dr. Massey’s partners, was Monday afternoon. He was tied up in surgery so we had to wait awhile. I am not sure how they know how to schedule things because surgery for one person could take five hours while another person could take seven. I didn’t mind waiting except I was cold. I have had to wear my jacket everywhere I go while I have been here. They think it is hot outside, even with the humidity it hasn’t been that bad, so they turn the AC on high inside. I have been going outside to make calls so that I can warm up. Dr Sullivan was very nice. As expected he pulled out the two drains in my chest. I was expecting it to hurt but I didn’t even feel it. When I had the drains pulled after my original surgery in Utah, I could feel this long tube moving under my skin as it came out, it hurt. I don’t know what was different but I liked this type better.
Dr. Massey told her assistant Ashley that she thinks that my results have been some of the best she has ever had. I like the sounds of that because if things were to remain the same as they are right now I would have a hard time getting used to it. I am still very swollen, both sides don’t match yet, and I kind of look like something out of the movie “Nightmare before Christmas.” Right now I have a lot of big, long, incisions on both the front and back of my body that don’t look very good. The skin on the side that had radiation is very tight. The transplanted skin will gradually stretch and relax and the swelling and extra fluid everywhere will go down. During stage 2 in October, everything will be adjusted and made to look good. The donor site will be adjusted and any remaining fat that doesn’t look right will be liposuctioned away. Dr. DellaCroce, my second reconstructive surgeon, mentioned before the surgery that for many women the second stage is more painful than the first because of all the liposuction that they end up needing. I am optimistically looking forward to my finished product. I will probably look better than I have looked in a long time, if ever. I look at where I am now as just one more step closer to having a normal body that isn’t missing something.
We have been eating at the hospital or at the Hope Lodge since the first Saturday we were here so we decided to go out to dinner to celebrate that we were going home. New Orleans revolves around food. Despite this, I picked Red Lobster because I love their food and I wanted to go someplace that I didn’t have to worry about the food being too spicy for me or having to pick something strange and not knowing what to expect. The food was wonderful but my appetite is still very limited. I wanted to eat more but couldn’t so I boxed up the leftovers thinking I would eat more later that night. I didn’t, I ended up eating it at 6:30 this morning for breakfast. It still tasted good.
After dinner on Monday, we came back to pack up. I didn’t have room for most of the things they gave us for Christmas but the House Mom offered to store the rest for me until I go back in October for stage 2. That was so nice of her.
We got up at 5:45 this morning to try to make our 8:30 flight. It was close. We dropped off the rental car and took the shuttle to the airport. They dropped us at the curb where we picked up my wheelchair. The security checkpoint wasn’t very busy but because of the wheelchair we did get through a little faster with time to spare. There was no way we would have made the flight if I had had to walk. I can get around okay right now but I am slow and I get tired very quickly. Another benefit of requesting a wheelchair to meet us at the plane in Denver was that the attendant who was boarding the flight in New Orleans offered to let us board before the stage 1 passengers so that I wouldn’t have to wait in line to get on the plane. That was very nice of him. We were scheduled to board in stage 3 and would have ended up with our carry on luggage spread throughout the plane even though we were in row 1 seats because all the storage up front was full well before we would have boarded. This would have been very hard for David to do since I can’t help at all. He would have had to wait until the plane was empty to get our bags and that would have made us miss our connecting flight. The consideration of one gate attendant to making my flight a little less difficult helped more than he can ever know. Once again we have been blessed and watched over.
When our flight arrived in Denver we had to circle for 20 minutes before we were able to land. That put us behind schedule because we originally only had one hour before our connecting flight was scheduled to take off. Boy was I glad to see the wheelchair waiting when we got off. Our connecting flight was over 20 gates away which is a very long walk. Denver is also a very busy airport and I know someone would have bumped into me if I wasn’t in the wheelchair. As it was there were a few close calls with people who just weren’t paying attention to others around them and walked right in front of us. The attendants pushing my wheelchair at all three airports all did a very good job protecting me and still getting us there on time. I am grateful for that because I am far enough out from the surgery that the only way the transplant would probably fail now is if I was injured by something hitting me in the chest or falling on me, or something like a car accident. I can still have problems if I overdo it but a simple accident like someone bumping into me at the airport would have hurt a lot and could have done a lot of damage.
We rushed to catch our connecting flight only to find out that it was behind schedule probably because it had been circling also. After a 20 minute delay we were able to board, in stage 3, no nice gate attendants in Denver. I think they were so stressed on trying to keep up with all the delayed flights and the problems caused by this that they didn’t even notice that I needed had been in a wheelchair. The attendants drop you off where you check in and then you walk down to the plane. Standing in line in the walkway leading to the plane was hard because my legs were swollen from sitting so long on the first flight. The hospital gave me pressure stockings to wear to minimize the swelling caused by the excess fluid still in my body after surgery. I know this helped but it couldn’t prevent everything. Once we were in the air, David put his backpack under my legs so that I would put my feet up. We were given free upgraded seats closer to the front of both planes because of my need for assistance after we got off the plane. I thought it was nice because I wouldn’t have to walk to the back of the plane. I didn’t know that the seats closer to the front had more leg room which would not only be more comfortable for both David and I but also safer because there was less chance of the passenger by the window bumping me if they needed to use the restroom. On the first flight the leg room was nice but since there weren’t any seats in front of us we didn’t have anywhere to put our carryon bags. Everything had to go in the overhead bins. On the second flight we offered to put the two larger carryon bags in the checked luggage when they asked for volunteers. There was space under the seats in front of us on the second flights but those seats were first class seats so there was a wall that we would have had to fight with to try to get the bags under. We put them overhead during the take off and landing instead.
I am so glad that I took my friend Kari’s suggestion to buy a pillow for the flight home. I used that pillow to sit on and a small one to brace my back. Between the two of them the flight wasn’t too bad. I am really glad that Dr. Massey decided to use the fat from higher up on my butt because it is a lot easier for me to sit than it would have been had she used the other area. My incision runs basically all the way across my back at hip level, except for a few inches by my spine. It only hurts if something touches it. I positioned the smaller pillow so that it was just above the incision so that as the plane bumped around nothing touched the sore area. That was a lot better than if I had had to sit on the incision for the approximately 5 hours we were on a plane today.
Once we pulled back from the terminal in Denver our plane just kind of sat there for awhile without taxiing to the runway. Finally the pilot came on the intercom and announced that they were trying to determine if a “small animal” that was supposed to be on board had been loaded, it hadn’t. After they located the dog they tried to load it where we were, away from the gate. That didn’t work so we had to pull back to the terminal so they could try again. Finally after a 30-40 minute delay we finally took off. When we were boarding the gate attendant announced that there was room for standby passengers because several people were missing the flight due to connecting flight delays. I thought it was very funny that they never hold a flight for a person or luggage but they did for this dog. I wonder if the owner was on board worried about their pet and just didn’t want anyone to know that it was their dog delaying everyone. The flight delay didn’t bother me but I wasn’t going to miss another connection because of it. I felt bad for those who might have had problems because of the delay.
We landed in Salt Lake at about 1:40 and were home by 3:00. The kids were excited to see us but Bear went crazy. You’d think he hadn’t seen us for two weeks. It was a very long day but nice to be home.
Stage 2 is scheduled for October 29th.
Some more good news. The tissue around my healed scar on the left and the breast removed from the right were both biopsied and both came back as cancer free.
David and I arrived in New Orleans on Thursday afternoon, July 16, 2009. After we picked up our rental car we checked into the Hope Lodge. Hope Lodge is a place that cancer patients and their families can stay for free while they are receiving treatment related to their cancer. The Hope Lodge in New Orleans has 36 rooms, a large kitchen and dinning area, a library, exercise room, as well as areas that you can sit to relax. It is a nice place to stay. There are people of all ages here. One lady I met is receiving radiation treatment for breast cancer. There are also a few children that I have seen. One has been here for 3 years. His mom is the House Mother here. I think that means that they live here all the time. It is bad enough for adults to have to fight cancer but it is truly tragic when children have to fight when they are so young.
I tried gumbo for the first time on Thursday night. The House Mother made the gumbo for everyone to share. As I suspected it was too spicy for me. After we ate we went to the store to get groceries. All the residents have a cupboard, two buckets in the fridge, and one in the freezer to keep their food in. The cooking facilities are very nice. It is like four kitchens put together.
My first appointment on Friday morning was scheduled for 9 a.m. We got lost on the way there. Driving here is very frustrating because everything seems to be a one-way street. There are very few places that you can make a left turn. Instead there are U-turn lanes everywhere. Sometimes you think that you are going to make a left turn but instead you are forced to make a U-turn and you miss where you were trying to go. After making a call Sally was able to direct us to the hospital. My surgery is going to be at St. Charles Surgical Center. It is a private surgical hospital primarily dedicated to breast reconstruction although since it is still fairly new there are a few other types of patients there until the practice builds up enough to focus entirely on breast reconstruction. Dr. Massey’s office is in a building connected to the hospital. I heard that they have special suites that are saved for the very elite patients that if they were rented out as an apartment in New Orleans they would sale for $1.5 million. I didn’t get to see the suites but another patient told me about them. I might see if she will email me copies of the pictures she took. It makes you wonder who the elite patients might be. Maybe they are celebrities or patients from overseas. I think it might be these special patients that make it possible for the rest of us to receive this phenomenal surgery. I doubt that the fraction of the cost that the insurance companies pay is enough to support such a state of the art facility.
After filling out paperwork, I had a CT scan so that they could see where all the veins and blood vessels are. Ever since I had chemo I hate having any test that they have to inject something into me. I can feel the chemical going into me and spreading through my body then for the rest of the day I don’t feel right. I had to have an MRI last week and then this CT scan, both made me sick. It is almost like I am hypersensitive to everything now. The feeling is almost like a mild chemo.
After the CT scan we filled out more paperwork then met with Dr. Massey. She is so cool. She acts more like a girlfriend that you are going to hang out with than a doctor who is going to have a huge impact on your life. I really like this because you end up feeling very comfortable with her which helps when you are standing there with no close on and she is pocking and pinching your fat. Dr. Massey used a machine similar to what an OB uses to hear a baby’s heartbeat in the womb, to listen to the flow of blood in the vessels in my rear end, the donor site. Every time she located a new one she would mark it on me with a permanent marker. That is so she can make a plan for the surgery on Monday. Originally we had planned on taking a chunk of the fat from the lower area of my butt and using that to build the new breast. After she located the best sources of blood flow she decided to use the fat a little higher up and then lift the remaining fat and skin up basically giving me a nice butt lift. At first I wasn’t too excited about this but after seeing what she had planned I think this will work out for the best. It will also be easier to recover from because I won’t be sitting on the area where the incision is. The incision will be higher up so that I will probably feel it more when I lean back in a chair or when I lay down.
I was supposed to meet at 2:00 with the surgeon that will be doing the mastectomy on my right side before they do the reconstruction on both sides. That appointment had to be postponed until Monday morning because she was handling an emergency at another hospital across town. That left us free to go out to lunch. We walked down the street to a little hole in the wall restaurant called Please U. It didn’t look like much but the food was good and it only cost $20 for lunch. Everywhere you look the restaurants are advertising something called a Po Boy. I think it is basically a sub sandwich on French bread. I will have to try one before we leave. (I didn’t get the chance.)
Saturday we walked around the French Quarter for about an hour. Susan from the Hope Lodge said it was a fun place to shop. We didn’t really like it. The shops were all very small and all sold similar stuff, most of it centered around Mardigras. There were cheap beads everywhere. There are also a lot of things that I would not like my kids to see. I wanted to find something small or maybe a t-shirt or something to take back to the kids as a souvenier but there wasn’t even a t-shirt that I would let them wear. Now I can say that I’ve been there, done that, don’t want to do it again. I get the feeling that life in New Orleans revolves around three things, eating, drinking, and sex.
After we had a late lunch we went to the movie, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. It came out on Tuesday. It was really good. I wanted to see it before my surgery because it will probably be a while before I can sit at a movie theater for an entire show. After the show we bought me some new sunglasses to replace the ones that I lost somewhere between the second airplane and the Hope Lodge. I would have rather have lost my entire suitcase rather than those sunglasses. It would have cost less to replace the contents of the suitcase than the sunglasses. The cheep glasses I bought at the mall are a pour replacement for my Maui Jim’s that I got for Mother’s Day.
On Sunday afternoon we went to church at a small ward about 20 minutes away from the Hope Lodge. Everyone was very nice. I have never been to such a small ward building. Their old building was destroyed by Katrina. They are hoping to move back into it in another month. This one was literally falling a part. David said that going to such a small ward felt like he was in the mission field again. The first speaker talked about how important it is to be on time. I thought this was kind of strange topic but after being here for a week I understand more. Everything here seems to run at least an hour behind. If they say that dinner is at 5:00 that means that they will probably start cooking around 5:00 or 5:30. This is very frustrating to people who like to be on time.
After we went to church we met another couple at the Hope Lodge. The wife is going to have a lymph node transplant with Dr. Massey. They didn’t rent a car because they were just planning on using the limo service provided by Dr. Massey’s office. The only problem with that is that they only take you to and from the airport and to and from your appointments. They needed someone to take them to the store so they could pick up food for the week. Even though it was Sunday we still offered to take them since they had already been there all day and hadn’t found a ride yet. Sunday evening we just hung out in our room.
Monday morning was my surgery. We arrived at the Saint Charles Surgical Center at 6 am. We did the usual preoperative stuff then they took me to surgery at about 7:15. Ten hours later I was done. It seemed like a very quick day for me but I bet it took forever for David. They gave him a pager like you get at some restaurants that gave him periodic updates on how the surgery was going. I vaguely remember waking up for a few minutes in my room when they explained how my pain pump worked, then the next thing I knew it was Tuesday. I was in and out of it most of the day on Tuesday. I would wake up for a few minutes, basically long enough to take more pain medicine then go back to sleep again. On Wednesday I was able to get some of the wires and the IV pump out. That helped so that I didn’t feel like I was tied down by wires everywhere. It made it a lot easier to get around. I was finally able to take a shower. It took three nurses to coordinate that and I was exhausted by the time we were done. Time was passing so slowly. I would fall asleep and when I woke up I thought a long time had passed only to find out that it was maybe an hour later. The nurses were constantly coming in to check out my vitals and to listen to the blood flow in the new veins. I had small wires coming out of my chest which they could attach to a Doppler monitor and listen to the blood flow. At first they listened every 15 minutes. By Friday it was every couple of hours. The wires will stay in until Monday when I go back for a check up. Then the doctor will pull them out. He will probably also pull out the two drains from my chest. The drains at my hips will need to say in for up to a month. I hope it doesn’t take that long to get rid of them. They are very annoying and they hurt when the tissue around them gets bumped or pulled. I can’t believe how much fluid comes out of them. I was very swollen and puffy after surgery but that is going down now.
I was released from the hospital on Friday just before lunch. The ride in the car was hard. The roads here are a lot worse than Utah’s roads. Every pot hole hurt. By the time we got up to our room I was exhausted again. I don’t even remember David bringing up the luggage from the car. I ended up sleeping on an off the rest of the day.
I am struggling with my conflicting feelings about deciding when and how much pain medicine I need vs not wanting to take narcotics. You hear of so many people who have had their lives destroyed after they became addicted to prescription drugs after an injury or surgery. I know I am not close to that but I still hate taking pain medicine if I don’t really need it, the hard thing is determining how much I need. I probably could have taken more and been a little bit less sore but most of the time the pain was manageable with one or two partial doses each day.
On Saturday some volunteers from the local Race For The Cure threw us a Cajun Christmas in July. They served a nice red beans and rice lunch with sausage and salad followed by a delicious cake topped with chocolate covered strawberries. I was able to eat the salad and rice. They also had chocolate covered gourmet apples for everyone. After lunch they passed out Christmas presents which included a Christmas platter, water pitcher, mug, ornament, etc. They are all cute although I am not sure how I am going to get them home. We only have carry on luggage which is already packed full. They also had a professional photographer taking pictures with Santa and a Cajun swamp house background complete with alligators and a Christmas tree with crawfish and moss handing on it. Everyone here is so nice and they go out of their way to make things comfortable for us. It is so nice staying in a place where everyone understands what you are going through and they truly care about how you are feeling each day. The patients staying here are from all over the country. I have met patients from California, Minnesota, Texas, etc. Some stay for a few days, some have been here for months. All of this is provided at no charge to the patients. The Hope Lodge is staffed by volunteers and provided by the American Cancer Society. I hope that we can all remember the good that they do when we have the chance to support them back.
On our second Sunday here I slept in until about 11:30. David helped me get some breakfast and then he went to sacrament meeting. I spent the day watching tv and talking to my parents and the kids. Even though it is very nice here I can’t wait to go home. I miss the kids, my dog, sleeping in my own bed, and just being home.
My postoperative check up with Dr. Sullivan, one of Dr. Massey’s partners, was Monday afternoon. He was tied up in surgery so we had to wait awhile. I am not sure how they know how to schedule things because surgery for one person could take five hours while another person could take seven. I didn’t mind waiting except I was cold. I have had to wear my jacket everywhere I go while I have been here. They think it is hot outside, even with the humidity it hasn’t been that bad, so they turn the AC on high inside. I have been going outside to make calls so that I can warm up. Dr Sullivan was very nice. As expected he pulled out the two drains in my chest. I was expecting it to hurt but I didn’t even feel it. When I had the drains pulled after my original surgery in Utah, I could feel this long tube moving under my skin as it came out, it hurt. I don’t know what was different but I liked this type better.
Dr. Massey told her assistant Ashley that she thinks that my results have been some of the best she has ever had. I like the sounds of that because if things were to remain the same as they are right now I would have a hard time getting used to it. I am still very swollen, both sides don’t match yet, and I kind of look like something out of the movie “Nightmare before Christmas.” Right now I have a lot of big, long, incisions on both the front and back of my body that don’t look very good. The skin on the side that had radiation is very tight. The transplanted skin will gradually stretch and relax and the swelling and extra fluid everywhere will go down. During stage 2 in October, everything will be adjusted and made to look good. The donor site will be adjusted and any remaining fat that doesn’t look right will be liposuctioned away. Dr. DellaCroce, my second reconstructive surgeon, mentioned before the surgery that for many women the second stage is more painful than the first because of all the liposuction that they end up needing. I am optimistically looking forward to my finished product. I will probably look better than I have looked in a long time, if ever. I look at where I am now as just one more step closer to having a normal body that isn’t missing something.
We have been eating at the hospital or at the Hope Lodge since the first Saturday we were here so we decided to go out to dinner to celebrate that we were going home. New Orleans revolves around food. Despite this, I picked Red Lobster because I love their food and I wanted to go someplace that I didn’t have to worry about the food being too spicy for me or having to pick something strange and not knowing what to expect. The food was wonderful but my appetite is still very limited. I wanted to eat more but couldn’t so I boxed up the leftovers thinking I would eat more later that night. I didn’t, I ended up eating it at 6:30 this morning for breakfast. It still tasted good.
After dinner on Monday, we came back to pack up. I didn’t have room for most of the things they gave us for Christmas but the House Mom offered to store the rest for me until I go back in October for stage 2. That was so nice of her.
We got up at 5:45 this morning to try to make our 8:30 flight. It was close. We dropped off the rental car and took the shuttle to the airport. They dropped us at the curb where we picked up my wheelchair. The security checkpoint wasn’t very busy but because of the wheelchair we did get through a little faster with time to spare. There was no way we would have made the flight if I had had to walk. I can get around okay right now but I am slow and I get tired very quickly. Another benefit of requesting a wheelchair to meet us at the plane in Denver was that the attendant who was boarding the flight in New Orleans offered to let us board before the stage 1 passengers so that I wouldn’t have to wait in line to get on the plane. That was very nice of him. We were scheduled to board in stage 3 and would have ended up with our carry on luggage spread throughout the plane even though we were in row 1 seats because all the storage up front was full well before we would have boarded. This would have been very hard for David to do since I can’t help at all. He would have had to wait until the plane was empty to get our bags and that would have made us miss our connecting flight. The consideration of one gate attendant to making my flight a little less difficult helped more than he can ever know. Once again we have been blessed and watched over.
When our flight arrived in Denver we had to circle for 20 minutes before we were able to land. That put us behind schedule because we originally only had one hour before our connecting flight was scheduled to take off. Boy was I glad to see the wheelchair waiting when we got off. Our connecting flight was over 20 gates away which is a very long walk. Denver is also a very busy airport and I know someone would have bumped into me if I wasn’t in the wheelchair. As it was there were a few close calls with people who just weren’t paying attention to others around them and walked right in front of us. The attendants pushing my wheelchair at all three airports all did a very good job protecting me and still getting us there on time. I am grateful for that because I am far enough out from the surgery that the only way the transplant would probably fail now is if I was injured by something hitting me in the chest or falling on me, or something like a car accident. I can still have problems if I overdo it but a simple accident like someone bumping into me at the airport would have hurt a lot and could have done a lot of damage.
We rushed to catch our connecting flight only to find out that it was behind schedule probably because it had been circling also. After a 20 minute delay we were able to board, in stage 3, no nice gate attendants in Denver. I think they were so stressed on trying to keep up with all the delayed flights and the problems caused by this that they didn’t even notice that I needed had been in a wheelchair. The attendants drop you off where you check in and then you walk down to the plane. Standing in line in the walkway leading to the plane was hard because my legs were swollen from sitting so long on the first flight. The hospital gave me pressure stockings to wear to minimize the swelling caused by the excess fluid still in my body after surgery. I know this helped but it couldn’t prevent everything. Once we were in the air, David put his backpack under my legs so that I would put my feet up. We were given free upgraded seats closer to the front of both planes because of my need for assistance after we got off the plane. I thought it was nice because I wouldn’t have to walk to the back of the plane. I didn’t know that the seats closer to the front had more leg room which would not only be more comfortable for both David and I but also safer because there was less chance of the passenger by the window bumping me if they needed to use the restroom. On the first flight the leg room was nice but since there weren’t any seats in front of us we didn’t have anywhere to put our carryon bags. Everything had to go in the overhead bins. On the second flight we offered to put the two larger carryon bags in the checked luggage when they asked for volunteers. There was space under the seats in front of us on the second flights but those seats were first class seats so there was a wall that we would have had to fight with to try to get the bags under. We put them overhead during the take off and landing instead.
I am so glad that I took my friend Kari’s suggestion to buy a pillow for the flight home. I used that pillow to sit on and a small one to brace my back. Between the two of them the flight wasn’t too bad. I am really glad that Dr. Massey decided to use the fat from higher up on my butt because it is a lot easier for me to sit than it would have been had she used the other area. My incision runs basically all the way across my back at hip level, except for a few inches by my spine. It only hurts if something touches it. I positioned the smaller pillow so that it was just above the incision so that as the plane bumped around nothing touched the sore area. That was a lot better than if I had had to sit on the incision for the approximately 5 hours we were on a plane today.
Once we pulled back from the terminal in Denver our plane just kind of sat there for awhile without taxiing to the runway. Finally the pilot came on the intercom and announced that they were trying to determine if a “small animal” that was supposed to be on board had been loaded, it hadn’t. After they located the dog they tried to load it where we were, away from the gate. That didn’t work so we had to pull back to the terminal so they could try again. Finally after a 30-40 minute delay we finally took off. When we were boarding the gate attendant announced that there was room for standby passengers because several people were missing the flight due to connecting flight delays. I thought it was very funny that they never hold a flight for a person or luggage but they did for this dog. I wonder if the owner was on board worried about their pet and just didn’t want anyone to know that it was their dog delaying everyone. The flight delay didn’t bother me but I wasn’t going to miss another connection because of it. I felt bad for those who might have had problems because of the delay.
We landed in Salt Lake at about 1:40 and were home by 3:00. The kids were excited to see us but Bear went crazy. You’d think he hadn’t seen us for two weeks. It was a very long day but nice to be home.
Stage 2 is scheduled for October 29th.
Some more good news. The tissue around my healed scar on the left and the breast removed from the right were both biopsied and both came back as cancer free.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Reconstruction Scheduled
I just got fabulous news today. My insurance company has agreed to cover my plastic surgeon as in-network. This means that I can go ahead and have my reconstruction surgery done. If they had decided that she would be out-of-network it would have been too expensive for me to do the surgery because there is no maximum out-of-pocket amount for out-of-network doctors. My surgery is scheduled for July 20th at 7 a.m. David and I will leave for New Orleans sometime on July 16th and stay until July 28th. Our stay will be a little longer than we had originally planned because I need to be there for tests on the Friday before surgery. That is nice because David and I will have a weekend to relax and check out New Orleans before the surgery. We originally thought that I would be traveling to Charleston, South Carolina for surgery but Dr. Massey moved her main practice to New Orleans earlier this month. It looks like this will save money for most of her patients due to the larger airport and other cost saving options.
My insurance approving Dr. Massey as in-network just reaffirms to me that I am doing the right thing with going ahead with this surgery. It is an answer to many prayers. I couldn't even imagine what I was going to do if I couldn't go ahead with Dr. Massey. Implants and the tram flap just didn't seem like acceptable options for me. I know that this may be the most painful step so far in my treatment. The recovery will be long and hard and will be followed by a second, less intensive, surgery around October. I will be relying a lot on others. After surgery I won't be able to lift anything over 5 pounds for six weeks. David will also be around when he isn't working and Shawn just got his driver's license so that will help a lot. I'll probably stock up on groceries and then send him on small trips. I am sure glad the kids are home from school to help as needed. It's not going to be easy but I am finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Florida Vacation Continued
Monday, June 08, 2009 – Sea World
Today didn’t start out very well. We packed up all of our luggage because we were spending the week in Orlando. When we got to Sea World I couldn’t find mine or Mariah’s hats. I remembered seeing them in the garage at John’s house last night. I grabbed them because I didn’t want them to be left behind. The problem is I don’t remember where I put them. We looked everywhere but never found them. Mariah ended up using Tyler’s ball cap and I had to buy a new hat for me. The only one I could find that I liked is almost exactly like the one that I lost.
Today was the day that Shawn was scheduled to dive in the shark tank. He was so excited. After we dropped him off with his instructor we checked out the walruses, beluga whales, and polar bears at the “Wild Arctic” exhibit and Mariah had her picture taken with a Clydesdale horse on the way to the shark exhibit.
We were able to watch Shawn’s entire dive from the restaurant next to the shark tank. Shawn had the time of his life. It was amazing watching all the sharks go by the shark cage as he was watching from inside. This was definitely the high point of the trip for him. He said that he would do it again in a heart beat.
We met up with John, Jennifer, and the kids as we were coming out of the restaurant. During the day we met to watch the shows then split up to ride on the different rides. We watched “Blue Horizons – Whale & Dolphin Show,” “Shamu Rocks,” and “Clyde and Seamore” Sea Lion & Otter, “Take Pirate Island” and “Sea Lions Tonite” where they make fun of all the other shows. Mariah, Jennifer, and the younger kids also watched “Pets Ahoy” with cats, dogs, birds, and even a pig doing tricks. David, Shawn, Tyler, John, and myself all took turns riding “Journey to Atlantis,” “Kraken,” “and “Manta.” It was a fun day but we decided to leave before the fireworks show so that we could get checked into the condo and get a good nights sleep for tomorrow.
“Journey Into Narnia: Prince Caspian” was after “Toy Story.” It was a quick 15 minute show about the movie. Afterwards you could look at costumes and props. Next we went back to ride the “Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.” Tyler and Mariah didn’t want to ride that because it went upside down. They waited for us in the gift shop. A lot of the Disney rides are designed so that you have to walk through a gift shop as 
you get off the ride.
None of us wanted to ride “The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.” We don’t like the feeling that we are falling.
The boys were really looking forward to the “Star Tours” Star Wars flight simulator so we headed there next. We also wanted to watch the “Jedi Academy” show which we did right after the ride. Mariah wasn’t too sure about the ride because it was very jerky and realistic but she was brave and made it through it. She didn’t want to go on it again, neither did I. I liked it but it did make me a little motion sick. That passed as soon as we got off. The “Jedi Academy” was a cute show where kids from the audience are picked to come up on stage and learn some Jedi moves with a light saber. Then Darth Vader comes out and they get to fight him. It was cute but I wish my kids wanted to participate in that kind of thing. They don’t like to be in the spotlight so they won’t go even if they are chosen.
We stopped at the “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure” play area for some pictures then Mariah and I went to get us seats for the “Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show” while David and the boys went on the “Star Tours” ride again. Shawn’s sun glasses broke while we were in the Star Wars area so David went back to the car to get my extra pair while the boys met up with me & Mariah. The only problem was that I had David’s pass to get back in. Shawn ended up running to the front gate, on the opposite end of the park, to take it to him. They made it back just in time for the show to start. It was very loud, but fun. In the show they demonstrate how vehicle stunts for movies are filmed. First they perform a really cool car chase with multiple cars going every which way, and then they show you the tricks they use to make it work safely. They also show several stunt scenes involving cars, motorcycles, fire, explosions, and stunt men falling off buildings. They explain how each of these elements work also. This was definitely a show for boys and I was really glad we all had ear plugs because it was extremely LOUD!
Today didn’t start out very well. We packed up all of our luggage because we were spending the week in Orlando. When we got to Sea World I couldn’t find mine or Mariah’s hats. I remembered seeing them in the garage at John’s house last night. I grabbed them because I didn’t want them to be left behind. The problem is I don’t remember where I put them. We looked everywhere but never found them. Mariah ended up using Tyler’s ball cap and I had to buy a new hat for me. The only one I could find that I liked is almost exactly like the one that I lost.
Today was the day that Shawn was scheduled to dive in the shark tank. He was so excited. After we dropped him off with his instructor we checked out the walruses, beluga whales, and polar bears at the “Wild Arctic” exhibit and Mariah had her picture taken with a Clydesdale horse on the way to the shark exhibit.
We were able to watch Shawn’s entire dive from the restaurant next to the shark tank. Shawn had the time of his life. It was amazing watching all the sharks go by the shark cage as he was watching from inside. This was definitely the high point of the trip for him. He said that he would do it again in a heart beat.We met up with John, Jennifer, and the kids as we were coming out of the restaurant. During the day we met to watch the shows then split up to ride on the different rides. We watched “Blue Horizons – Whale & Dolphin Show,” “Shamu Rocks,” and “Clyde and Seamore” Sea Lion & Otter, “Take Pirate Island” and “Sea Lions Tonite” where they make fun of all the other shows. Mariah, Jennifer, and the younger kids also watched “Pets Ahoy” with cats, dogs, birds, and even a pig doing tricks. David, Shawn, Tyler, John, and myself all took turns riding “Journey to Atlantis,” “Kraken,” “and “Manta.” It was a fun day but we decided to leave before the fireworks show so that we could get checked into the condo and get a good nights sleep for tomorrow.
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Disney’s Hollywood Studios was where we went on Monday. We arrived shortly after the park opened and headed straight to the “Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster” to get speed passes. A speed passes allows you to come back later during a designated hour and to use a special shorter line to ride more quickly. Next we went to ride the “Toy Story Midway Mania.” It is a ride where you shoot 3D darts at targets while wearing special glasses. The game gives you a score based on what targets you hit. Mariah didn’t like how the car changed direction so that you could shoot at both sides of the track. She also didn’t like it because it is 3D and she didn’t think she was very good at the game because her score was lower than her brother’s. Me, Tyler, and Shawn all went on it again right away.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios was where we went on Monday. We arrived shortly after the park opened and headed straight to the “Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster” to get speed passes. A speed passes allows you to come back later during a designated hour and to use a special shorter line to ride more quickly. Next we went to ride the “Toy Story Midway Mania.” It is a ride where you shoot 3D darts at targets while wearing special glasses. The game gives you a score based on what targets you hit. Mariah didn’t like how the car changed direction so that you could shoot at both sides of the track. She also didn’t like it because it is 3D and she didn’t think she was very good at the game because her score was lower than her brother’s. Me, Tyler, and Shawn all went on it again right away. 
“Journey Into Narnia: Prince Caspian” was after “Toy Story.” It was a quick 15 minute show about the movie. Afterwards you could look at costumes and props. Next we went back to ride the “Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.” Tyler and Mariah didn’t want to ride that because it went upside down. They waited for us in the gift shop. A lot of the Disney rides are designed so that you have to walk through a gift shop as 
you get off the ride. None of us wanted to ride “The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.” We don’t like the feeling that we are falling.
The boys were really looking forward to the “Star Tours” Star Wars flight simulator so we headed there next. We also wanted to watch the “Jedi Academy” show which we did right after the ride. Mariah wasn’t too sure about the ride because it was very jerky and realistic but she was brave and made it through it. She didn’t want to go on it again, neither did I. I liked it but it did make me a little motion sick. That passed as soon as we got off. The “Jedi Academy” was a cute show where kids from the audience are picked to come up on stage and learn some Jedi moves with a light saber. Then Darth Vader comes out and they get to fight him. It was cute but I wish my kids wanted to participate in that kind of thing. They don’t like to be in the spotlight so they won’t go even if they are chosen.
We stopped at the “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure” play area for some pictures then Mariah and I went to get us seats for the “Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show” while David and the boys went on the “Star Tours” ride again. Shawn’s sun glasses broke while we were in the Star Wars area so David went back to the car to get my extra pair while the boys met up with me & Mariah. The only problem was that I had David’s pass to get back in. Shawn ended up running to the front gate, on the opposite end of the park, to take it to him. They made it back just in time for the show to start. It was very loud, but fun. In the show they demonstrate how vehicle stunts for movies are filmed. First they perform a really cool car chase with multiple cars going every which way, and then they show you the tricks they use to make it work safely. They also show several stunt scenes involving cars, motorcycles, fire, explosions, and stunt men falling off buildings. They explain how each of these elements work also. This was definitely a show for boys and I was really glad we all had ear plugs because it was extremely LOUD!The “Studio Backlot Tour” was next on our agenda. It was a short tram ride through a costume department, the “boneyard” where large props and vehicles are stored, and a movie set where you experience an earthquake and flood at the same time. This was interesting but would have put most people to sleep if it weren’t for the natural disasters.
By this point it was time to do something Mariah picked. She wanted to go the “Voyage of The Little Mermaid” show, the boys didn’t, so we split up again. They used some more speedpasses we picked up earlier to go on “Toy Story” again. We met them at the “Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular.” It was a reenactment of several scenes from the Indiana Jones movies. This show was awesome. I wouldn’t mind seeing it again. It was very action packed and kept your attention. I liked it a lot better than the “Lights, Motors, Action!”
Mariah was ready for another indoor show. Indiana Jones was shady and covered but Mariah was still ready for another indoor show. Me, David and Mariah headed to “Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage” which we thought was indoors but it wasn’t. It was in an outdoor theatre like Indiana Jones was. Mariah was so hot waiting to go in that she was crying. We used our umbrellas to try to cool off which helped a little. It was cooler inside and we poured water all over her head to cool her off. The show was cute and she enjoyed it. The boys went on “Toy Story” again and then they went on “The Great Movie Ride.” Tyler loved it, Shawn didn’t. Tyler loved it when gangsters took over their vehicle and kidnapped their driver. Shawn thought it was too staged and not realistic enough.
We all met at the “Muppet Vision 3D film next. It was really nice to get out of the heat again. I loved the show. It was really cute. When we came out we ate our sandwiches and decided that we had had enough for the day. We made a few quick stops then went back to the hotel so the kids could swim.
While I was making a spaghetti dinner I realized that I had left my purse at Walgreens. I was just sick. I not only had my wallet with all our cash, my driver’s license and credit cards, and our Disney passes as well as Shawn’s, Tyler’s, and Mariah’s wallets. All combined there was probably $500 in cash not to mention the value of the Disney passes. No one could use the passes even if they tried because they were already attached to our finger prints but it would be really hard to get them replaced. I was close to tears when I called Walgreens. Luckily an honest person found my purse and turned it in to the store. They had it for me when I returned to the store. By that time I was crying. I am so sick of being so scatter brained. Misplacing the hats on Monday was inconvenient and annoying but they quickly and inexpensively replaced. Forgetting my purse in the shopping cart was a mistake that could easily have destroyed the rest of our trip. Although my memory is improving since having chemo, I still feel a long way from my old self. I HATE this. This isn’t the first time that I have made a mistake that could have been a disaster. The problems with my mind are a lot harder to deal with than any physical problems that still remain.
By this point it was time to do something Mariah picked. She wanted to go the “Voyage of The Little Mermaid” show, the boys didn’t, so we split up again. They used some more speedpasses we picked up earlier to go on “Toy Story” again. We met them at the “Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular.” It was a reenactment of several scenes from the Indiana Jones movies. This show was awesome. I wouldn’t mind seeing it again. It was very action packed and kept your attention. I liked it a lot better than the “Lights, Motors, Action!”
Mariah was ready for another indoor show. Indiana Jones was shady and covered but Mariah was still ready for another indoor show. Me, David and Mariah headed to “Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage” which we thought was indoors but it wasn’t. It was in an outdoor theatre like Indiana Jones was. Mariah was so hot waiting to go in that she was crying. We used our umbrellas to try to cool off which helped a little. It was cooler inside and we poured water all over her head to cool her off. The show was cute and she enjoyed it. The boys went on “Toy Story” again and then they went on “The Great Movie Ride.” Tyler loved it, Shawn didn’t. Tyler loved it when gangsters took over their vehicle and kidnapped their driver. Shawn thought it was too staged and not realistic enough.
We all met at the “Muppet Vision 3D film next. It was really nice to get out of the heat again. I loved the show. It was really cute. When we came out we ate our sandwiches and decided that we had had enough for the day. We made a few quick stops then went back to the hotel so the kids could swim.
While I was making a spaghetti dinner I realized that I had left my purse at Walgreens. I was just sick. I not only had my wallet with all our cash, my driver’s license and credit cards, and our Disney passes as well as Shawn’s, Tyler’s, and Mariah’s wallets. All combined there was probably $500 in cash not to mention the value of the Disney passes. No one could use the passes even if they tried because they were already attached to our finger prints but it would be really hard to get them replaced. I was close to tears when I called Walgreens. Luckily an honest person found my purse and turned it in to the store. They had it for me when I returned to the store. By that time I was crying. I am so sick of being so scatter brained. Misplacing the hats on Monday was inconvenient and annoying but they quickly and inexpensively replaced. Forgetting my purse in the shopping cart was a mistake that could easily have destroyed the rest of our trip. Although my memory is improving since having chemo, I still feel a long way from my old self. I HATE this. This isn’t the first time that I have made a mistake that could have been a disaster. The problems with my mind are a lot harder to deal with than any physical problems that still remain.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009 – Disney’s Magic Kingdom
We started our morning in Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Tomorrowland at “Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin.” It was similar to “Toy Story” but not as much fun. You still shoot at cartoon targets but it is a lazer instead of the 3D darts. The lazer is less accurate so you don’t hit as much although I had a few tips from the book I bought back in Utah that told us where the 100,000 point targets are so our scores were higher than at “Toy Story.” Me and the boys rode this one twice also.
Next we headed to Adventureland where we started on “The Magic Carpets of Aladdin” where you ride magic carpets around in circles going up and down while a camel tries to hit you with water. Next was “Pirates of the Caribbean” which has been updated since the movies came out. It is still pretty cheesy. We watched the bird show in “The Enchanted Tiki Room” which has also been updated with Zazu from “Lion King and Eyago from “Aladdin.” Next we climbed up into the “Swiss Family Treehouse.” This was really cool but the line in front of and behind us was constant so you couldn’t really stop to look at things. We finished off Adventureland with the “Jungle Cruise” where the corny jokes the driver told were the best part of the ride. 
After Adventureland we headed to Frontierland where we grabbed speed passes for “Splash Mountain” and the boys went on “Big Thunder Mountain Railroad” roller coaster while David, Mariah, and I went to watch the “Country Bear Jamboree.” The best part about the show was that Mariah quite complaining about the heat for a few minutes. When we came out a square dancing performance was just starting on the road in front of us. We ate lunch while we waited for the boys.
Mariah picked “Peter Pan’s Flight” in Fantasyland as our next stop. She is at a hard age because she is too big to enjoy most of the kiddie rides but she isn’t brave enough to enjoy the bigger kid rides. While we were there we decided to go on “It’s a small world.” Shawn refused to even consider going on that one. He waited for us outside. The rest of us enjoyed it. The song does get a little annoying but the animatronic dolls and sets were redone about 5 years ago and are beautiful.
It was now time to use our speed passes for “Splash Mountain.” We had talked Mariah into trying it but in the end she was scared by all of the drops. She didn’t enjoy it at all and couldn’t wait to get off. I was really proud of her for being so brave and for being willing to try it.
David and the kids rode “The Magic Carpets of Aladdin” again while I waited to try to get a cup of ice. The water at Disney and Sea World is so disgusting that we can’t stand to drink it. We have been bringing water and G2 with us but it is hard to carry enough. The food stand I stopped at was out of ice but they did give me a cup of water that tasted good. We shared the water then headed back to Tomorrowland to watch the “Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor.” This is an interactive show where the animated monsters on the screen tell jokes and talk to the audience. This was a really fun show. After the first show me and the boys went back to “Buzz Lightyear” while David and Mariah watched “Monsters” again. After that we headed back to the condo. We stopped at another gift shop on the way.
Tyler liked the stuffed alligator that they had there.
We started our morning in Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Tomorrowland at “Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin.” It was similar to “Toy Story” but not as much fun. You still shoot at cartoon targets but it is a lazer instead of the 3D darts. The lazer is less accurate so you don’t hit as much although I had a few tips from the book I bought back in Utah that told us where the 100,000 point targets are so our scores were higher than at “Toy Story.” Me and the boys rode this one twice also.
Next we headed to Adventureland where we started on “The Magic Carpets of Aladdin” where you ride magic carpets around in circles going up and down while a camel tries to hit you with water. Next was “Pirates of the Caribbean” which has been updated since the movies came out. It is still pretty cheesy. We watched the bird show in “The Enchanted Tiki Room” which has also been updated with Zazu from “Lion King and Eyago from “Aladdin.” Next we climbed up into the “Swiss Family Treehouse.” This was really cool but the line in front of and behind us was constant so you couldn’t really stop to look at things. We finished off Adventureland with the “Jungle Cruise” where the corny jokes the driver told were the best part of the ride. 
After Adventureland we headed to Frontierland where we grabbed speed passes for “Splash Mountain” and the boys went on “Big Thunder Mountain Railroad” roller coaster while David, Mariah, and I went to watch the “Country Bear Jamboree.” The best part about the show was that Mariah quite complaining about the heat for a few minutes. When we came out a square dancing performance was just starting on the road in front of us. We ate lunch while we waited for the boys.
Mariah picked “Peter Pan’s Flight” in Fantasyland as our next stop. She is at a hard age because she is too big to enjoy most of the kiddie rides but she isn’t brave enough to enjoy the bigger kid rides. While we were there we decided to go on “It’s a small world.” Shawn refused to even consider going on that one. He waited for us outside. The rest of us enjoyed it. The song does get a little annoying but the animatronic dolls and sets were redone about 5 years ago and are beautiful.
It was now time to use our speed passes for “Splash Mountain.” We had talked Mariah into trying it but in the end she was scared by all of the drops. She didn’t enjoy it at all and couldn’t wait to get off. I was really proud of her for being so brave and for being willing to try it.
David and the kids rode “The Magic Carpets of Aladdin” again while I waited to try to get a cup of ice. The water at Disney and Sea World is so disgusting that we can’t stand to drink it. We have been bringing water and G2 with us but it is hard to carry enough. The food stand I stopped at was out of ice but they did give me a cup of water that tasted good. We shared the water then headed back to Tomorrowland to watch the “Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor.” This is an interactive show where the animated monsters on the screen tell jokes and talk to the audience. This was a really fun show. After the first show me and the boys went back to “Buzz Lightyear” while David and Mariah watched “Monsters” again. After that we headed back to the condo. We stopped at another gift shop on the way.
Tyler liked the stuffed alligator that they had there.Thursday, June 11, 2009
Today was the highpoint of our trip, our swim with the dolphins at Discovery Cove.
We had to be there around 8:00 a.m. so that we could reserve the time for me and the kids to swim with the dolphins at the same time.
Our time with the dolphins was scheduled for 9:35. That gave us time to pick up our snorkeling equipment, get a locker, have breakfast, and snorkel once around the river before we needed to report for our dolphin swim. We met our instructor then headed for the water. There were 8 people in our group. Most groups spent the half hour session working with one dolphin, we ended up meeting four. We started out with Stella, a young dolphin who was learning how to do the dolphin interactions. Stella used to live at Sea World but had recently moved to Dolphin Cove. She stayed with us for about 10 minutes. First we gave Stella a fish and then we put our hands under her snout and gently lifted it up so that we could give her a kiss on the tip of the snout. Shortly after that she decided that she had had enough. She swam a few feet away and wouldn’t come back. She did come back long enough to wave goodbye with one of her flippers.
CJ was the next dolphin that we met. CJ is an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin and Pacific Bottlenose or common dolphin mix. The rest of the dolphins that we met were pure bread Atlantic Bottlenose dolphins. CJ looks a little different than a pure bread dolphin.
He let us pet his back and rolled on his back so that we could feel how his tail is the warmest part of this body. Next we took our group picture with him. Each dolphin has a unique sound that only he makes which is kind of like his signature.
Capricorn was our third dolphin. His is the largest dolphin at Discovery Cove and one of the oldest dolphins there. He is about 40 years old and has fathered 37 offspring. He is definitely a ladies man. He noticed that one of the female dolphins was let out in the pen next to our pond. He left for a second to go over and check her out before he came back over to us. He is the dolphin that we were able to “ride.” When you ride a dolphin you put your left arm around him and then hold onto his right fin. He then pulls you through the water. It is really fun. At the end of our time with the dolphins the four dolphins that were currently working with the four groups each did a trick, Capricorn jumped out of the water and spinned around upright in the air, then they did a bunch of leaps out of the water all together. Capricorn came back for one last pet then he splashed us with his tail before he waved goodbye with his tail and left. That is when Kaylee, the fourth dolphin that we met appeared. Kaylee is their youngest dolphin. She is five years old. We didn’t get to touch her because she wasn’t supposed to be over by us. As we were getting out our trainer let David come out in the water so that he could take a picture with us and the dolphin.
After our dolphin swim we all went over to the main pool to swim with the fish and the rays. I loved the cooler water. The fresh water pond was too warm for me. The salt water pond was too cold for Mariah. David and Mariah stayed in the salt water for a little while but ended up spending the rest of the day in the fresh water because it was warmer. We all got out for lunch around 12:30. It was delicious. David and Shawn had hamburgers. Tyler and Mariah had chicken tenders and fries. They all had chocolate cake for dessert. I had a chicken breast, mixed vegetables, red potato wedges, and cheese cake. It was delicious. After lunch, Mariah and I swam in the fresh water again. David met us about half way around. We traded kids again and I went with the boys for the rest of the day.
The boys and I had a blast chasing fish and diving down to touch the different types of rays. There were sting rays,
their stingers had been cut off, 
cow nose rays, and spotted eagle rays.
There were many types of tropical fish which included spotted puffer fish,
many different colors of parrot fishes, 
and tangs. In a separate tank that you could look into from under the water there were nurse sharks, black and white tip sharks,
groupers, tuna, and another tank with barracudas in it. The boys could have stayed for days if we let them. This was definitely their favorite day so far. My kids are more impressed with spending time with wildlife than they are riding rides at amusement parks. They have enjoyed going to Disney World but it is Sea World and Discovery Cove that will bring them back to Florida.
We got out of the water around 5:00 p.m., grabbed a drink and frozen fruit bar, picked up our pictures, CD, and video then headed across the street to Sea World again. We wanted to catch the 6:30 Shamu show called “Believe.” Tyler, Shawn, and I sat down in the “soak zone” for the show. If you sit in the lower seats you will probably end up wet. We were on about the 5th row. When Shamu comes by to splash the audience, our seats didn’t get very wet. Maybe next time we go we will have to try to get seats 90 minutes before the show starts in order to get in the soak zone in the center section. I like the Shamu “Believe” show better than “Shamu rocks.”
After the show we split up again. David and Mariah went to the kids rides. Shawn, Tyler, and I headed for “Journey to Atlantis,” Tyler’s favorite ride, and Kraken, for Shawn. Kraken is supposed to be the fastest roller coaster in Orlando. Me and the boys like the three rides at Sea World better than any of the Disney rides that we have been on. Shawn also wanted to see if they had got any more tiger shark tooths in in the gift shop. He saw one there the first day we went but they were gone when he went back to buy it the second day. They were still sold out this time too. He decided to wait until we get home to try and find one to buy.
We met David at the front of the park to head home after we rode the rides.
Today was the highpoint of our trip, our swim with the dolphins at Discovery Cove.
We had to be there around 8:00 a.m. so that we could reserve the time for me and the kids to swim with the dolphins at the same time.
Our time with the dolphins was scheduled for 9:35. That gave us time to pick up our snorkeling equipment, get a locker, have breakfast, and snorkel once around the river before we needed to report for our dolphin swim. We met our instructor then headed for the water. There were 8 people in our group. Most groups spent the half hour session working with one dolphin, we ended up meeting four. We started out with Stella, a young dolphin who was learning how to do the dolphin interactions. Stella used to live at Sea World but had recently moved to Dolphin Cove. She stayed with us for about 10 minutes. First we gave Stella a fish and then we put our hands under her snout and gently lifted it up so that we could give her a kiss on the tip of the snout. Shortly after that she decided that she had had enough. She swam a few feet away and wouldn’t come back. She did come back long enough to wave goodbye with one of her flippers.
CJ was the next dolphin that we met. CJ is an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin and Pacific Bottlenose or common dolphin mix. The rest of the dolphins that we met were pure bread Atlantic Bottlenose dolphins. CJ looks a little different than a pure bread dolphin.
He let us pet his back and rolled on his back so that we could feel how his tail is the warmest part of this body. Next we took our group picture with him. Each dolphin has a unique sound that only he makes which is kind of like his signature.
Capricorn was our third dolphin. His is the largest dolphin at Discovery Cove and one of the oldest dolphins there. He is about 40 years old and has fathered 37 offspring. He is definitely a ladies man. He noticed that one of the female dolphins was let out in the pen next to our pond. He left for a second to go over and check her out before he came back over to us. He is the dolphin that we were able to “ride.” When you ride a dolphin you put your left arm around him and then hold onto his right fin. He then pulls you through the water. It is really fun. At the end of our time with the dolphins the four dolphins that were currently working with the four groups each did a trick, Capricorn jumped out of the water and spinned around upright in the air, then they did a bunch of leaps out of the water all together. Capricorn came back for one last pet then he splashed us with his tail before he waved goodbye with his tail and left. That is when Kaylee, the fourth dolphin that we met appeared. Kaylee is their youngest dolphin. She is five years old. We didn’t get to touch her because she wasn’t supposed to be over by us. As we were getting out our trainer let David come out in the water so that he could take a picture with us and the dolphin.
After our dolphin swim we all went over to the main pool to swim with the fish and the rays. I loved the cooler water. The fresh water pond was too warm for me. The salt water pond was too cold for Mariah. David and Mariah stayed in the salt water for a little while but ended up spending the rest of the day in the fresh water because it was warmer. We all got out for lunch around 12:30. It was delicious. David and Shawn had hamburgers. Tyler and Mariah had chicken tenders and fries. They all had chocolate cake for dessert. I had a chicken breast, mixed vegetables, red potato wedges, and cheese cake. It was delicious. After lunch, Mariah and I swam in the fresh water again. David met us about half way around. We traded kids again and I went with the boys for the rest of the day.
The boys and I had a blast chasing fish and diving down to touch the different types of rays. There were sting rays,
their stingers had been cut off, 
cow nose rays, and spotted eagle rays.
There were many types of tropical fish which included spotted puffer fish,
many different colors of parrot fishes, 
and tangs. In a separate tank that you could look into from under the water there were nurse sharks, black and white tip sharks,
groupers, tuna, and another tank with barracudas in it. The boys could have stayed for days if we let them. This was definitely their favorite day so far. My kids are more impressed with spending time with wildlife than they are riding rides at amusement parks. They have enjoyed going to Disney World but it is Sea World and Discovery Cove that will bring them back to Florida.We got out of the water around 5:00 p.m., grabbed a drink and frozen fruit bar, picked up our pictures, CD, and video then headed across the street to Sea World again. We wanted to catch the 6:30 Shamu show called “Believe.” Tyler, Shawn, and I sat down in the “soak zone” for the show. If you sit in the lower seats you will probably end up wet. We were on about the 5th row. When Shamu comes by to splash the audience, our seats didn’t get very wet. Maybe next time we go we will have to try to get seats 90 minutes before the show starts in order to get in the soak zone in the center section. I like the Shamu “Believe” show better than “Shamu rocks.”
After the show we split up again. David and Mariah went to the kids rides. Shawn, Tyler, and I headed for “Journey to Atlantis,” Tyler’s favorite ride, and Kraken, for Shawn. Kraken is supposed to be the fastest roller coaster in Orlando. Me and the boys like the three rides at Sea World better than any of the Disney rides that we have been on. Shawn also wanted to see if they had got any more tiger shark tooths in in the gift shop. He saw one there the first day we went but they were gone when he went back to buy it the second day. They were still sold out this time too. He decided to wait until we get home to try and find one to buy.
We met David at the front of the park to head home after we rode the rides.
Friday, June 12, 2009 – Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Friday morning we packed everything back into the van, checked out of the condo, and headed to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. We got there just after it opened.
We headed immediately to “Asia” to ride “Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain.” It is a fast roller coaster that goes forwards and backwards. David, Shawn, and Tyler rode first then we did a “rider swap” where David stayed with Mariah while me and the boys got to go through the speed pass line to go on it. Taking Tyler on it twice so close together was a big mistake. He got off and headed to the bathroom to throw up. He felt lousy the rest of the day. We are all going on little sleep and are really struggling with the humidity so everyone is a little short tempered, tired, and ready to head back to John’s house for a break. Luckily this is a smaller park so we were able to see most of the major attractions and head home early. In the center of the park is a huge tree with dozens of different animals carved into it. It is totally amazing
Friday morning we packed everything back into the van, checked out of the condo, and headed to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. We got there just after it opened.
We headed immediately to “Asia” to ride “Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain.” It is a fast roller coaster that goes forwards and backwards. David, Shawn, and Tyler rode first then we did a “rider swap” where David stayed with Mariah while me and the boys got to go through the speed pass line to go on it. Taking Tyler on it twice so close together was a big mistake. He got off and headed to the bathroom to throw up. He felt lousy the rest of the day. We are all going on little sleep and are really struggling with the humidity so everyone is a little short tempered, tired, and ready to head back to John’s house for a break. Luckily this is a smaller park so we were able to see most of the major attractions and head home early. In the center of the park is a huge tree with dozens of different animals carved into it. It is totally amazing
In “DinoLand U.S.A.” Mariah and David rode the “TriceraTop Spin” which is a kids ride similar to Aladdin at Magic Kingdom. Shawn and I rode “DINOSAUR” which is a very bumpy, jerky, ride through prehistoric past. You meet some very large, very loud dinosaurs, up very close. Mariah would have been terrified, and Tyler would have been throwing up again. We all watched the musical “Finding Nemo.” It was absolutely amazing. The puppets were stunning and the performers were very true to character. This was by far my favorite show out of all the Disney shows we have attended. I would love to see it again.
In “Africa” we all went on the “Kilimanjaro Safaris” where you take a very bumpy safari ride where you see giraffes, gazelles, elephants, rhinos, and lions roaming freely in their separate areas. It was fun to see the animals in a more natural setting than at a zoo.
The last ride we tried to go on was back in “Asia.” It was the “Kali River Rapids,” a river rafting water ride. It broke down while we were waiting in line so we decided to head back to John’s house and relax for the evening.
In “Africa” we all went on the “Kilimanjaro Safaris” where you take a very bumpy safari ride where you see giraffes, gazelles, elephants, rhinos, and lions roaming freely in their separate areas. It was fun to see the animals in a more natural setting than at a zoo.
The last ride we tried to go on was back in “Asia.” It was the “Kali River Rapids,” a river rafting water ride. It broke down while we were waiting in line so we decided to head back to John’s house and relax for the evening.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Florida Vacation Begins
Florida Family Vacation
It is sad that it takes something like getting cancer to make us throw caution to the wind and splurge on something like a dream family vacation. Tyler's dream is to swim with the dolphins, Shawn's is to swim with sharks. They are both going to have their dream come true during this trip.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
We headed to the airport at 7 a.m. Grandma Tatton went with us to the airport to bring our van back after we left. Our flight from SLC to Denver left a little after ten. We were on the same flight as Rich, Tootie, and RJ. Tootie was in a wheelchair so they boarded first and were at the front of the plane. Shawn, Tyler, Mariah and I were all in boarding group B, David was in group C. Don’t know how that happened. We found two rows in the back that had a window seat still open. One was about 4 rows up and the other was the last row on the opposite side. David sat with the boys and I sat with Mariah. The kids enjoy the flights.
We landed in Denver and rushed to make our connecting flight to Orlando. We checked the flight gate, jumped on the moving sidewalk and raced to catch the plane. When we got to the gate they were already boarding our group. David handed his boarding pass to ticket agent who scanned it and a buzzer went off. The sign above the door said the flight was to Orlando but the flight that was actually boarding was headed to Chicago. Luckily they caught it and we ended up on the right flight.
On our second flight we were in practically the same seats. David, Mariah, and Shawn sat on the back row. Tyler and I were across the isle about 5 rows up. Mariah watched a movie on David’s laptop, Shawn did something on his laptop and Tyler and I played Sequence during the flight. Tyler also played with the shade on the window. After we reached cruising altitude, there wasn’t much to see out the window, just clouds. I had Tyler close the shade because it was very bright outside. For the next two hours he opened the shade every 5 to ten minutes to see what he could see. As we headed in to land, Tyler and I spotted Epcot, Disney, and then Sea World.
We landed in Orlando a little later than scheduled. We rode the tram from the gate to the main area of the airport. We grabbed our bags and our rental car and headed for John and Jennifer’s house. We arrived there approximately twelve hours after we left our house.
Thursday, June 5, 2009
David, John, RJ, and Rich got up very early to go deep sea fishing. Jennifer and I took the kids to Sea World. We checked out the sting rays petting pond then headed to the Dolphin show, it was amazing. Tyler loved seeing a real dolphin for the first time in his live. He has been looking forward to this for so long. After the show we went into the under water viewing area to watch the dolphins. About that time Mariah looked like she was already ready to go home. The heat and humidity were really getting to her and to me. I decided that I would rent a wheelchair while we were still towards the front of the park. After I got the wheelchair then we decided to split up. Jennifer took Mariah, Daniel and Rachel to the kids rides, Shawn went to check out the sharks, and Tyler and I went to feed the dolphins. While we were in line it started to pour rain. I left Tyler in line so I could go to the overlook area so that I could watch him.
When he fed the dolphin he was in heaven. I watched and filmed from above. He is the kid in the red shirt and blue hat. Just as he was about to leave one of the dolphins came up and splashed him with his tail. It was really funny. When he was done, he pushed me in the wheelchair over to Shamu stadium where we met Jennifer and the rest of the kids. That show was also amazing. I took more pictures at this one. Shawn took pictures at the dolphin show but I just watched. After Shamu we split up again. Jen took her kids back to the car to rest while me and the kids checked out the shark tank together. By this time Shawn and Tyler both had headaches so we worked our way back to the car. 
Each of the kids earned money to spend on souvenirs so we checked out a few of the shops to see what was available. We saw the baby dolphins in the dolphin nursery before we turned in the wheelchair and headed to the car. We stopped for a quick snack before we headed home. By the time we got home Shawn had a full blown migraine. He went right to bed. After dinner I ran to Walmart to stock up on more supplies, things that we forgot, and a pair of shorts instead of capris. I was exhausted by the time I got back and went to bed.
It is sad that it takes something like getting cancer to make us throw caution to the wind and splurge on something like a dream family vacation. Tyler's dream is to swim with the dolphins, Shawn's is to swim with sharks. They are both going to have their dream come true during this trip.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
We headed to the airport at 7 a.m. Grandma Tatton went with us to the airport to bring our van back after we left. Our flight from SLC to Denver left a little after ten. We were on the same flight as Rich, Tootie, and RJ. Tootie was in a wheelchair so they boarded first and were at the front of the plane. Shawn, Tyler, Mariah and I were all in boarding group B, David was in group C. Don’t know how that happened. We found two rows in the back that had a window seat still open. One was about 4 rows up and the other was the last row on the opposite side. David sat with the boys and I sat with Mariah. The kids enjoy the flights.
We landed in Denver and rushed to make our connecting flight to Orlando. We checked the flight gate, jumped on the moving sidewalk and raced to catch the plane. When we got to the gate they were already boarding our group. David handed his boarding pass to ticket agent who scanned it and a buzzer went off. The sign above the door said the flight was to Orlando but the flight that was actually boarding was headed to Chicago. Luckily they caught it and we ended up on the right flight.
On our second flight we were in practically the same seats. David, Mariah, and Shawn sat on the back row. Tyler and I were across the isle about 5 rows up. Mariah watched a movie on David’s laptop, Shawn did something on his laptop and Tyler and I played Sequence during the flight. Tyler also played with the shade on the window. After we reached cruising altitude, there wasn’t much to see out the window, just clouds. I had Tyler close the shade because it was very bright outside. For the next two hours he opened the shade every 5 to ten minutes to see what he could see. As we headed in to land, Tyler and I spotted Epcot, Disney, and then Sea World.
We landed in Orlando a little later than scheduled. We rode the tram from the gate to the main area of the airport. We grabbed our bags and our rental car and headed for John and Jennifer’s house. We arrived there approximately twelve hours after we left our house.
Thursday, June 5, 2009
David, John, RJ, and Rich got up very early to go deep sea fishing. Jennifer and I took the kids to Sea World. We checked out the sting rays petting pond then headed to the Dolphin show, it was amazing. Tyler loved seeing a real dolphin for the first time in his live. He has been looking forward to this for so long. After the show we went into the under water viewing area to watch the dolphins. About that time Mariah looked like she was already ready to go home. The heat and humidity were really getting to her and to me. I decided that I would rent a wheelchair while we were still towards the front of the park. After I got the wheelchair then we decided to split up. Jennifer took Mariah, Daniel and Rachel to the kids rides, Shawn went to check out the sharks, and Tyler and I went to feed the dolphins. While we were in line it started to pour rain. I left Tyler in line so I could go to the overlook area so that I could watch him.
When he fed the dolphin he was in heaven. I watched and filmed from above. He is the kid in the red shirt and blue hat. Just as he was about to leave one of the dolphins came up and splashed him with his tail. It was really funny. When he was done, he pushed me in the wheelchair over to Shamu stadium where we met Jennifer and the rest of the kids. That show was also amazing. I took more pictures at this one. Shawn took pictures at the dolphin show but I just watched. After Shamu we split up again. Jen took her kids back to the car to rest while me and the kids checked out the shark tank together. By this time Shawn and Tyler both had headaches so we worked our way back to the car. 
Each of the kids earned money to spend on souvenirs so we checked out a few of the shops to see what was available. We saw the baby dolphins in the dolphin nursery before we turned in the wheelchair and headed to the car. We stopped for a quick snack before we headed home. By the time we got home Shawn had a full blown migraine. He went right to bed. After dinner I ran to Walmart to stock up on more supplies, things that we forgot, and a pair of shorts instead of capris. I was exhausted by the time I got back and went to bed.Friday, June 05, 2009
Today we went boating on the Banana river next to Patrick Air Force Base where John is stationed. The base rents out boats and there is a beach right next to the dock. John took our family out first. Shawn and David both skied. It was a little rough so we pulled the rope in and went down by where there were a bunch of pelicans diving for fish. We cruised slowly while we watched families of dolphins surface randomly around us. It was so much fun being so close to such a beautiful animal.
Next John took us across the river, which is wider than Pineview lake in Utah, to see “Bird Poop” island. That isn’t really its name but that is what they call it because there are so many birds there. He also showed us where they practice maneuvers in his helicopter. When we got back to the beach we decided to rent a tube to pull behind the boat.
The one they had was flat and you 
sit on top of it. It is a lot harder to stay on than the one we have in Utah where you sit down inside the tube. It was a lot of fun watching RJ and Shawn being bounced around and thrown off. Tyler went next by himself and Mariah and I went when he was done. It was really hard to hold onto but we went slow so that it wasn’t too scary for Mariah. While Mariah and I were on the tube Shawn spotted a manatee following behind us. Good thing that Mariah didn’t know it was there. She wouldn’t have got in the water at all if she saw how big they are. When we got back by the beach I bailed off the back of the tube and swam to shore. We went back to the house to get ready to head to Disney World.
David’s mother, Ruth, bought us passes at Hill Air Force base for 5 days at Disney World. We realized about a week ago that because they were the military discount that we needed to have a military person with us in order to exchange them for the actual passes. John is military but each member of the military can only use 5 tickets per year. John needs to use three of his for Jennifer and the kids. Luckily John was able to find one of his friends, Chris, who was willing to drive down to Disney to exchange the tickets so that we could use them next week. We appreciate his willing to go out of his way to help us. It actually was a fun drive. We listened to a book on CD. Chris said that he is hooked on that now. He had never listened to a book before but he loved it. I love how quiet everyone is and how fast the time passes while we are listening to a book. When we got back to the house we ate dinner and now we are getting the kids ready for bed and then we are going to play some games. Tomorrow we are planning on going to the beach.
Today we went boating on the Banana river next to Patrick Air Force Base where John is stationed. The base rents out boats and there is a beach right next to the dock. John took our family out first. Shawn and David both skied. It was a little rough so we pulled the rope in and went down by where there were a bunch of pelicans diving for fish. We cruised slowly while we watched families of dolphins surface randomly around us. It was so much fun being so close to such a beautiful animal.
Next John took us across the river, which is wider than Pineview lake in Utah, to see “Bird Poop” island. That isn’t really its name but that is what they call it because there are so many birds there. He also showed us where they practice maneuvers in his helicopter. When we got back to the beach we decided to rent a tube to pull behind the boat.
The one they had was flat and you 
sit on top of it. It is a lot harder to stay on than the one we have in Utah where you sit down inside the tube. It was a lot of fun watching RJ and Shawn being bounced around and thrown off. Tyler went next by himself and Mariah and I went when he was done. It was really hard to hold onto but we went slow so that it wasn’t too scary for Mariah. While Mariah and I were on the tube Shawn spotted a manatee following behind us. Good thing that Mariah didn’t know it was there. She wouldn’t have got in the water at all if she saw how big they are. When we got back by the beach I bailed off the back of the tube and swam to shore. We went back to the house to get ready to head to Disney World.David’s mother, Ruth, bought us passes at Hill Air Force base for 5 days at Disney World. We realized about a week ago that because they were the military discount that we needed to have a military person with us in order to exchange them for the actual passes. John is military but each member of the military can only use 5 tickets per year. John needs to use three of his for Jennifer and the kids. Luckily John was able to find one of his friends, Chris, who was willing to drive down to Disney to exchange the tickets so that we could use them next week. We appreciate his willing to go out of his way to help us. It actually was a fun drive. We listened to a book on CD. Chris said that he is hooked on that now. He had never listened to a book before but he loved it. I love how quiet everyone is and how fast the time passes while we are listening to a book. When we got back to the house we ate dinner and now we are getting the kids ready for bed and then we are going to play some games. Tomorrow we are planning on going to the beach.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Today we went to the Tables Beach by Patrick Air Force Base. Tyler was the first one in the water. Shawn came running in like a runaway freight train. He had my scuba mask sitting on top of his head. When he hit the water a wave promptly knocked the mask off his head and into the water. It was gone immediately. We tried to find it but the waves were pulling the sand every which direction. It is probably miles out to sea by now.
I pulled out the air mattress that I brought for Mariah and found out that it was only two feet long. It wouldn’t even hold up a 3 year old. Jennifer, Tootie, and I decided to go to the BX on base to buy some boogie boards. They didn’t end up having any. I bought Mariah a round tube, and two long air mattresses for the boys. After we got back to the beach Tootie took Shawn and RJ to a surf shop to see if they could buy some there. They ended up renting three. After that you couldn’t get them out of the water. I used Mariah’s tube to float on so I could take pictures of the boys while they were catching the waves.
Today we went to the Tables Beach by Patrick Air Force Base. Tyler was the first one in the water. Shawn came running in like a runaway freight train. He had my scuba mask sitting on top of his head. When he hit the water a wave promptly knocked the mask off his head and into the water. It was gone immediately. We tried to find it but the waves were pulling the sand every which direction. It is probably miles out to sea by now.
I pulled out the air mattress that I brought for Mariah and found out that it was only two feet long. It wouldn’t even hold up a 3 year old. Jennifer, Tootie, and I decided to go to the BX on base to buy some boogie boards. They didn’t end up having any. I bought Mariah a round tube, and two long air mattresses for the boys. After we got back to the beach Tootie took Shawn and RJ to a surf shop to see if they could buy some there. They ended up renting three. After that you couldn’t get them out of the water. I used Mariah’s tube to float on so I could take pictures of the boys while they were catching the waves.
I am really enjoying the underwater digital camera that we bought just before we left. I got it so that Shawn could take pictures from the shark cage when he dives with the sharks at Sea World on Monday. I am enjoying using it to take pictures in the water. It also has rained off and on every day that we have been here so not worrying about it getting wet has also been nice. On Monday when we go to Sea World again, I plan on using it to take pictures in the “splash zone.” That is the seats that are down in front at the dolphin and Shamu show where you always get wet. Tyler wants to sit down there.
John’s family, Rich’s family, and DeeDee’s family decided that they had had enough of the beach and they all headed for home. We decided to stay for a little while longer. RJ left his boogie board so that I could play with the boys in the water. We had a blast. I played with the boys until about 2:40. By then I was getting tired. I think the boys were also but they wouldn’t admit it. David was playing with Mariah in the water. She would wait for a wave and then try to jump over it. She didn’t like getting the salt water in her face. David and I switched places and he boogie boarded with the boys until 3:00. Once they got out of the water I think the fatigue hit them. Tyler looked like he could barely make it to the van. When we got back to the house Jen and I went to the base to buy groceries for the big family dinner tomorrow and for us to use at the condo in Orlando next week while we go to Disney World. Then we came home, ate dinner, and I headed to Walmart to get the things that they didn’t have at the base. Boy am I tired. I definitely need a nap tomorrow.
Sunday, June 07, 2009
It was stake conference for John’s ward and Mary’s ward. We are spoiled in Utah with so many ward buildings so close by. Their stake center is about 25 minutes away. It was nice and cool inside. As we sat down Sister Rasmussen came up to talk to us. We were in our college married student ward together. At first I didn’t recognize her but after we started talking I remembered her more.
After church we came back to the house for a big family dinner with John’s family, Mary’s family, and DeeDee’s extended family. I had a very hard time staying awake. Sitting still in church made the fatigue set in. As soon as I finished eating lunch I went to take a nap. Three hours later I woke up and Rich’s family and DeeDee’s family had already headed for home. I slept through the entire party and a major thunderstorm. I am glad I had a chance to sleep. I needed it to make it through next week.
Sunday, June 07, 2009
It was stake conference for John’s ward and Mary’s ward. We are spoiled in Utah with so many ward buildings so close by. Their stake center is about 25 minutes away. It was nice and cool inside. As we sat down Sister Rasmussen came up to talk to us. We were in our college married student ward together. At first I didn’t recognize her but after we started talking I remembered her more.
After church we came back to the house for a big family dinner with John’s family, Mary’s family, and DeeDee’s extended family. I had a very hard time staying awake. Sitting still in church made the fatigue set in. As soon as I finished eating lunch I went to take a nap. Three hours later I woke up and Rich’s family and DeeDee’s family had already headed for home. I slept through the entire party and a major thunderstorm. I am glad I had a chance to sleep. I needed it to make it through next week.
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