I was right, I can't wait! A Sept/Oct PTR

[stephielela]

Well, for a minute there I thought our trip was going to have to be canceled. See, Jack has a swollen lymph node on the left side of his neck which has now been there ALL summer. We have tried antibiotics, we have drawn blood and there still aren't any answers. His regular doctor sent us to an ear nose and throat doc, who wanted to give it another month for it to go down on it's own. That month has come and gone, and all they can do now is remove it and send it off for a biopsy. This means he has to have surgery, and he has to be under a general anesthetic. When the surgery center called to discuss financial matters, I started panicking. I thought there was no way I was going to be able to afford this. I am a single mother making just over $12 an hour. I thought I was going to have to borrow the money from family, and that might mean I should cancel so that it would look more responsible. The more I thought about it though, I realized that I would lose money anyways, and the $400 I spent on the trip wouldn't even cover the surgery anyways. The facility fee alone for the surgery is about $800, and then I have to pay the anesthesiologist on top of that, and the doctor performing the surgery. And yes, I have health insurance. I talked to them about a payment plan, and it seems like it will be manageable, though it will be a bit tight, and it means no TS ressies, and minimal souvenirs, but hey, at least we are still going! In fact, Jack will be receiving a get well card from Mickey on Thursday, along with some balloons...

 

[DisneyFirefly]

Oh no!

I hope he's okay and that the biopsy comes back clear! That obviously can't be the easiest thing in the world to be thinking about, especially because he's still so little. I don't pray, but you guys are definitely in my thoughts and I hope that everything works out okay

 

[stephielela]

Oh no!

I hope he's okay and that the biopsy comes back clear! That obviously can't be the easiest thing in the world to be thinking about, especially because he's still so little. I don't pray, but you guys are definitely in my thoughts and I hope that everything works out okay

I really appreciate your thoughts and wishes! I'm convinced that positive energy can play a big role, regardless of whether it's religious or otherwise! Thanks so much!!

 

[DisneyFirefly]

It just kills me when I read about little kids being sick. That's the main reason why, when I was still considering going into nursing as a career, I knew flat out that I didn't want to go into peds. I didn't (and don't) think I could handle that. I really hope that everyting comes out okay

 

[stephielela]

Only 35 more days!!! I have my Office Outlook on my work computer sendin me reminders every day of how many days are left till our trip People think I'm crazy, but really, vacations are what we have to look forward to right?

Today we got our order from Old Navy. I ordered a new bathing suit which looks ok, it's not great, but it does the job. I also ordered Jack some of the flip flops for toddlers with the straps across the back. I got him a pair with skulls to wear for MNSSHP with his pirate costume and a pair of black with white hibiscus flower outlines (think hawaiian print). His regular sandals are pretty much all too small with his little toes starting to hang over the ends, so I thought these would be helpful.

I also went through the big box of Disney stuff I have and sorted out what we will take in September vs. what we will take in December. I have a ton of little things, and a lot of it is going this time around. I will post pics later, but I got most of it in the dollar section at Target and most of it is Toy Story related. I also have 4 glow sticks and a pack of 5 glo bracelets, so I think we will be set for MNSSHP. I found a Figment stuffed animal too that looks brand new, so I think I am going to take that and give it to him after our Epcot day, maybe put it the room to surprise him? I am glad that some of this stuff is being recycled. I wish I could afford to buy him all new stuff, but it's not realistic, and then the other stuff would just go to waste.

One of my favorite $1 Target purchases were the ziplocs and paper lunch bags. I have Toy Story and Monsters Inc ziplocs that have both big and small sizes, and the Toy Story paper lunch sacks. My plan is to take plenty of snacks and put them in a drawer and each morning fill up a paper sack with Jack's snacks for the day and that way he can eat whatever he wants, and it will all be stuff I know he likes! Plus he can always share whatever snacks I get with my snack credits, but there's a good chance he won't like it plus the boy will eat all day long if I allow him to. I figure we will use the rest of the ziplocs and sacks on our December trip.

 

[stephielela]

Jack's surgery was perfect! He is recovering very well, the doctor says all eh needs is Children's Tylenol, nothing stronger, and he will be fine! He did pretty well once we got home, I was trying to keep him still, but it wasn't so successful, but he is really tired so I think he will be taking a nice long nap! We won't have any results fromt eh biopsy for a week or so, but at least this part went smoothly! Thanks for all the prayers and good wishes, it means a lot to have a community like DIS where people are so kind and compassionate!

 

[DisneyFirefly]

YAY! I hope the biopsy comes back negative! I put a postcard in the mail for you guys today, so keep an eye out for it I couldn't find any good get-well cards

 

[ChildAtHeart82]

I'm glad things went smoothly with the surgery. I will keep praying!

 

[therussells08]

I'm so glad Jack is okay!! You guys are in my prayers!!

 

[stephielela]

Thank you everyone for all your well wishes and prayers! I really appreciate all of the thoughts from everyone!

Dana~ we got the postcard today! Jack was so so excited! Thank you so much, it was even better than a get well card, since by looking at him, you would never know he was even sick! Thanks for being such a fantastic person!

 

[DisneyFirefly]

Yay, I'm so glad it got there! I'm always paranoid about my mail getting to where it's supposed to be I sent off a rather large check once and it didn't make it to the place it was intended, which really sucked. But yeah, I'm glad it got there and made Jack happy, since that was the point

 

[stephielela]

So... when should my Magical Express stuff arrive? We are at 30 days!!! I am so excited that I can finally say "this time next month..." Of course, then I got some bad news at work... one of our girls (who works overnights) is transferring to another department. Until we find a replacement, the lowest person in seniority has to fill in... which is me! So in 2 weeks my awesome schedule changes until they can find someone to replace her and I will have to go back to working 2 overnights and 3 3-11 shifts each week. I am NOT happy, but I am hoping they have someone hired by the week I leave for Disney so that when I get back everything is back to normal. I can do the icky schedule for 2 weeks, but no more after that. I have already started looking elsewhere, since I really want to work 9-5 M-F type hours, but we will see. I have been here almost 2 years (longer than I have ever been anywhere) and this company treats its people very well, but this schedule drama drives me insane. I even applied for a job in Tampa...

 

[DisneyFirefly]

I think Disney sends out the DME stuff on or around the 30 day mark, so you should be getting it within the next week. If you don't have it by 21 days, I'd call them and be like, "Um, I need my stuff?"

That work schedule sucks I hope they fix it, or that you find a better job My schedule's insane, but it's at least regular, and they can't switch me to days without my permission.

It also just occurred to me that I have seniority over five people in our department!

 

[stephielela]

First of, what is the plural of crisis?

First, I got hom last night and my dad had a stack of my mail that had gotten mixed in with other papers and included was my ME mail! He wasn't sure when it came, but at least it saves me a phone call, and gave me somehting to boost my spirits last night!

Secondly, my schedule is probably saved! My days off will probably change for a few weeks, but I shouldn't have to go to overnights! Thank goodness because I am not cut out for that. It was miserable for the 10 months I was on it before! I am still starting to investigate other employment opportunities, but now I think I will try to find something to start in January...

Third, the doctors office called and it looks like everything is fine with Jack The nurse didn't have a lot of info, but we will be there on Thursday for his post-op appt, so we will get more details then!

 

[ChildAtHeart82]

Good news all around!

 

[DisneyFirefly]

Yay for good news!

 

[stephielela]

Today was a productive day! I went to Michaels and got transfer paper and plain t's to make "We're going to Walt Disney World" t-shirts! Jack wanted blue, and I got brown because they didn't have pink in my size. I also got cardstock for Jack's MNSSHP autograph book. I'm not sure how thrilled he will be with meeting characters... at T-Rex the other day they had a dinosaur character and while he liked him from a distance, he wouldn't take a picture without me... which makes me think I might need to get photopass Can someone explain to me about this discount everyone seems to get on the preorder of the CD? I'm not sure if it's worth the money for this trip, but I know we are getting it for our December trip. Is there any way to combine it? That would be AWESOME!

 

[DisneyFirefly]

Yay for t-shirt stuff!

I haven't got a clue about the Photopass pre-order. I'm not even sure if I'm going to get it for my trip, but I might. Since I'm going alone, I don't have anyone to take pictures of me.

 

[ChildAtHeart82]

If you order the Photopass CD online before you leave, you can get the CD for $99.95 (+tax and shipping I think). If you order it later, it's $149.95. The link for this is: http://www.disneyphotopass.com/previsitoffer.aspx

As far as being able to combine your Photopass photos from your two trips, it would depend a little on timing. The explanation on how long you have to claim your photos is:

An important thing to note regarding disneyphotopass.com, however, is that you are time limited to how long your photos are available online, so keep this in mind when you make your decision. You have 30 days to claim the photos by adding the card number to your account and/or viewing the photos online and the photos will then expire and start to be deleted 30 days from that point. Once photos are deleted from the Disney's PhotoPass account, chances are dramatically slimmer that they can be restored. Note that if photo is set to expire June 12, it will expire at midnight at the start of June 12, so your last real day is June 11). Photo storage extensions are no longer free upon request, but can be purchased in blocks of seven (7) and fifteen (15) days as needed by selecting the extension product from the product list, placing it in your shopping cart and completing the purchase. The prices are currently $4.95 and $9.95 respectively.

I got that from this link: http://www.stitchkingdom.com/disneysphotopass/ There's a lot of other good info on Photopass there as well.

Based on when your photos would expire, if you got photos taken on the first day of your September trip (28 Sept), you would have to claim your photos by 27 Oct. If you waited until then to claim them, they would be deleted from the site on 26 Nov. That's 26 days before you get home from your December trip. So, to add your pics from both trips to the same CD, you'd have to buy extensions for your Sept/Oct pics for at least 30 days (2 15-day extensions), but I'd suggest 37 days (2 15-day and 1 7-day) to give you some more time to add borders and stuff to your December pics. If you did that, the Photopass CD would cost you:

$99.95 Preorder CD
$9.95 15-day extension
$9.95 15-day extension
$4.95 7-day extension
$124.80 (+ tax and shipping)

Since you're already planning on buying it for December, you'd only be paying about $25-$30 extra to add your Sept/Oct pics to the CD. If you do this, though, you'd have to make sure you claim your pics and buy your extensions at the right time. It might be more trouble than it's worth. I'm not sure if you can buy the extensions early or not. I hope that made sense and I hope it helps! Sorry for the long post.

 

[stephielela]

Wow! Thanks for the info! It does sound complicated, but worth saving around $75... I will talk it over with the fam and see! Thanks so much!