PULMONOLOGY APPOINTMENT
I decided to start with the recap from the pulmonology appointment we had yesterday. We met with Dr. Royce and the appointment went pretty well. Ethan's lung function has increased since a month ago when we first met him! Yay! He still has coarse sounding lungs with crackles and pops so we have work to do still. He's considering if we need to start using a vibrating vest to help break up secretions. Basically since this was our first real appointment we are starting from scratch. Dr. Royce said we need to have another full blown CT scan so he can get the images he wants - the heart one from a month ago won't work for him since there's not enough lung detail on there. This one will need to be sedation and full levels of radiation. :( He also wants to do a bronch scope to see if his airway is soft and collapsing when Ethan breathes. This will have to be done with half sedation and allow him to partially wake up during the scope. He said we should be able to do both tests on the same day but just at different times due to the different sedations needed. *sigh* This will mean another hospitalization in the near future. He will discuss what he wants to do with cardiology this week, and we should hear back from Dr. Royce during the week and hear what Dr. Zahka (cardiology) thinks at our appointment next Wednesday. Hopefully they come up with some good ideas!
Ethan also had to have a pneumonia shot. :( He was NOT happy! He's had a basic pneumonia shot a year or two ago at the pediatrician's office, but this one apparently will be more protection for him since he is so high risk. Ethan did not handle the shot well at all. His shoulder swelled up last night and he was in a terrible amount of pain! He has such a huge pain tolerance I was shocked to see him just sobbing because of this. Every time his arm moves he just screams out. :( Last night was very exhausting and every time he fell asleep he'd bump or move his arm and it would wake him up hurting. He's home from school again today because he still refuses to move his arm. Please pray that the swelling, pain, and discoloration goes away so he can feel better! Now onto the fun stuff...
DAY 3 - ANIMAL KINGDOM
By day 3 the weather was warming up. It was in the low 70s
and sunny. We decided to hit Animal Kingdom. Our plan was to try and do the
less crowded parks over the weekend (Sea World and Animal Kingdom) and wait to
do the big parks (Disney and Universal) during the week. We were hoping that
would keep the crowds to a minimum. :)
We woke up and went to have our breakfast at the Gingerbread
House. That morning we had french toast, waffles, sausage, tons of fruit, and
eggs. They also had a donut cart set up that the kids were sure to find!
After a delicious breakfast we packed up the car and headed
out to Animal Kingdom.
Animal Kingdom entrance
It was a really cool place. Since this was a Disney park we
were able to use our Photopass! It was a card that Disney donated to the
families staying at Give Kids the World village. With this pass all the
photographers that work there (you see them wandering all around the park
especially where the cool stuff is). This card lets you get your pictures taken
and in 30 days you can download them for free online! YAY! I’m so excited to
see them! The card can be bought from the parks but it costs $250, so we were
very blessed to have this given to us! Our first stop was the Tree of Life. If
you’ve never seen it it’s pretty amazing! It’s a huge tree with carvings of
animals all over it - the detail was awesome! Inside the tree they have this 3D
bug adventure, but due to Ethan’s hatred/terror of bugs we decided that
wouldn’t be the best start to the day!
John and the kids by the Tree of Life
After the tree we headed over to check out Africa and go
on a safari. That was definitely the highlight of the day! We went on a 20
minute safari and saw all kinds of animals through the journey! It was a lot of
fun and we all enjoyed it so much!
Lionness on top of a huge boulder pile on safari
Once we got off the safari Ethan spotted a train crossing so
of course we had to go find where the train was and where it went! We found out
that there was in fact a train that took you to Rafiki’s area (the monkey from
Lion King). There we took pictures with Rafiki, checked out some bugs and
veterinary displays, and visited a goat/sheep petting area. The kids loved
petting and brushing the goats - and having their shirts nibbled on. :)
The kids brushing (and being nibbled by) a goat
After a good scrubbing we left the goats and headed to
Dinosaur Land. There we all rode a spinning dino ride. Ethan loved that! Callie
and John rode a little dinosaur coaster without us since we didn’t know at that
point that Ethan loves coasters. We thought it’d be too much for him.
Ethan on the dinosaur ride
In Dino Land we also ran into some friends from the Hundred Acre Wood!
Once Dino Land was done we were starving so we went and ate
at a delicious BBQ spot in the park. So yummy!
After dinner we decided to head over to Camp Mickey and
Minnie. The kids were able to see all the characters there and get a lot more
pictures! We checked out all the sites, saw some animals, and visited with our
favorite TV friends.
By that point Ethan had decided he had enough of the park.
We headed back to the village. Once we unloaded the car we walked back over to
the Gingerbread House and ate a delicious pork loin dinner. Ethan picked our eating
room that day so we went to the Cupcake Room where there were shelves all
around filled with all kinds of metal vehicles. There was no big surprise we
ate there from then on! Lol.
After dinner we walked over to the Castle of Miracles to see
where the Star Fairy had placed Ethan’s star. The volunteer there had a whole
big presentation to show us where the star was, and it was good to see even
though Ethan could care less at that point! He kept trying to leave the Star
Tower to go play with the legos in the other room of the castle! I felt kind of
bad for the volunteer, but at least I was interested! Of course Ethan went and
played his legos for a while then we started to head back home. On the way we
passed by the night’s village party. This one was a giant Candyland game where
the kids were all game pieces and got to play along. The kids also spotted a
man making balloon animals so we of course went and got those. Ethan picked a
red puppy (big surprise lol) and Callie had him make an elephant holding a
sucker. She’s never one to let people off easy! He did a great job on both - I
was very impressed with the elephant one!
After that we headed over to the Amberville Train Station -
yep still couldn’t pass it without Ethan demanding that we go in! There we
watched the model trains, played ping pong, and the kids played on their
rocking teeter/totter helicopter.
After that we finally made it back to the
villa for baths and beds. When we got back home we saw that the “Gift Patrol”
had left Spongebob keychains and a picture frame for us.
Sleepy kids :)
We definitely had a great day. The kids were exhausted but
excited for morning since we were going to head to Universal! :)
I'm glad you're blogging this way now! I'm so grateful y'all got to go on such a fun trip. Ethan looked so happy :)
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