Surprise Vacation Part #1, Epilepsy Awareness Day, Abrupt Change of Plans, Ambulance, Hospital, Surgery

Back in March I found out about a $1000 grant opportunity for families to attend Epilepsy Day at Disneyland in November 2016.  You had to fill out an application and then write an essay about how epilepsy has affected you and your family.  Seeing as we have two people with diagnosed epilepsy in our family and Noah had his first seizure earlier this year I felt we have really been impacted by epilepsy in our family.  I filled out the application and wrote the essay.  I heard back the following week saying that our family had been awarded the $1000 grant to attend Epilepsy Day at Disneyland.  I was so excited!  We had been saving up for a big trip like this for a few years--taking a big family anywhere gets a bit pricey--especially Disneyland!!  Anyway this gave us the kick in our pants to start planning for our trip.  We wanted to keep the whole thing a surprise for all the kids so we did all the planning in secret.  It was so hard to keep it quiet!!  There were a few times we slipped up, but luckily our kids don't listen to us the first time.  I think I will say that is the only time I have been glad for that--haha!  We invited G&G T to join us which they were excited about.  I had always wanted to see Disneyland decorated for Halloween so we decided to leave the last of October.  The week prior I packed for everyone while they were at school and hid all the suitcases in our closet so no one suspected anything.  Also while the kids were at school I picked up snacks and multiple books on CD as well.  We had planned to leave right after the kids got home from school Friday, October 28, but we were thwarted by Sarah's mandatory dance session that afternoon.  However, we were still able to leave by 5:30 pm so not too bad.  We just told the kids we were going for a drive and to get in the Suburban.  They did, but as they got in the saw the suitcases.  They asked a few questions, but we dodged them and stayed very evasive.  We then picked up G&G T to caravan down with them.  The kids were wondering at that, too, but we still evaded the questions.  The kids then thought we were going to Lagoon.  When we passed Lagoon by they were really wondering where we were going.  Aaron and I just laughed and told them we were just going for a drive.

Since we left so late Friday night we stopped over in Mesquite for the night.  I had packed one overnight bag for all of us so we didn't have to show them the Mickey shirts we had gotten for them in their regular suitcases.  The next morning we stopped for breakfast at McDonald's where the kids started questioning G&G T--we stayed in separate hotel rooms.  They didn't answer any of their questions either.

The kids started making guesses when we crossed the California State line, but we still didn't answer any of them.  We drove by the Hollywood sign and we were going to stop and walk around the Hollywood Walk of Fame with all the stars on it and the Chinese Theater, but there was a huge political rally going on and mobs of people so we just drove by it and took pictures instead.

Here's the Walk of Fame with some interesting characters dressed up:

I wanted to go to the beach that day, too, but there was so much traffic that we got stuck in we ran out of time.  We ended up going and checking in to our hotel instead.  In getting to our hotel we drove right past Disneyland which is when the kids for sure knew what we were doing.  They were so excited!  It was worth all the crazy preparation just for that!

After checking in we decided to go swimming.  It was a bit chilly for the outdoor pool so we mostly spent our time in the hot tub which was nice after such a long drive!

After getting out we got to watch the fireworks from our hotel room.

The next morning we hit Disneyland.  Beforehand I had picked up some matching Mickey shirts for us all so we could be a matchy family:

It has been 8 years since we have been so the kids hadn't remembered much from our last trip.  It was fun to see them so excited!  Walking through the Castle:

We spent most of the morning in Fantasyland.  Here we are riding Peter Pan's Adventure:

The Matterhorn:

I had saved the kids Mickey Ears from last visit, but we had to pick up some for Noah since he wasn't born last time we had come:

One of my all time favorites Pirates of the Caribbean:

It was super busy that day, but it was fun to see the Halloween decorations around the park:

The Haunted Mansion was fun to see it all different for the Holidays:

We did some other rides, but saved the best for last, The Hollywood Tower of Terror.  Sarah did NOT want to ride this ride at all.  However, our rule is you have to try it at least once before you say you don't like it.  After going through the before the ride movie she was not happy.

When we got on the ride she still wasn't happy about it:

You can tell she didn't like the ride in the picture (our family is on the back row):

When the ride got over her and Noah gave each other a hug as they cried.  They didn't like the ride at all.  Sarah kept telling Noah, "Just don't think about it and it won't scare you!"  Poor guys--we are the meanest parents....I really thought they'd like it, though so I feel a bit guilty...

That day we had had the maid make up our room for us.  It was so sweet--she put Sarah's pillow on top of all the pillows so she would know where it was:

The next morning we headed over to Universal Studios.  We had listened to Harry Potter The Chamber of Secrets on CD on the drive down so we were ready to visit Hogsmeade in Harry Potter land at Universal Studios.  Daniel was so excited to see the castle:

We hurried to get to Olivander's wand shop, since we had heard that this was a experience that had long lines during the day. Luckily, when we got there, the line wasn't very long. Everyone took an opportunity to use the restroom while Aaron held our place in line. An interesting note: there is so many details put into everything there--the restrooms at Harry Potter Land have Moaning Myrtle in them as well as the splashing noises just like in the Harry Potter movies.  She talks to you while you are going to the bathroom. It's pretty funny. However, what happened next wasn't funny. Upon returning to the line and climbing over a chain, Grandma T tripped over one of the kids and fell down. When she couldn't get up, we realized there was a major problem. Grandpa T and I knelt down by her to see what we could do.  We called for help from one of the workers, who called the paramedics. We tried to help her get comfortable by placing our back pack full of snacks under her head and another back pack under her leg to help support it without moving it.  After 15 long minutes, security came to see what was going on as well as the Director of Harry Potter land.  They gave my Dad some forms to fill out, but he was a bit in shock so I grabbed them and started filling them out. During this time the paramedics got there.  By this time Matthew was starting to really flip out.  To keep the kids calm Aaron got the kids away from there.  While the paramedics were working on her, Aaron took the kids to see a couple of shops to distract them from what was going on. Here is Daniel checking out the book of monsters. It moved around and tried to bite people.

Here the kids are checking out a Nimbus 2000 and a Firebolt brooms. They can be yours for only $300 each. ;)

They also got to meet Hagrid, which was pretty cool.

After assessing my Mom they decided she needed to go to the ER because they suspected she had broken her hip.  They started an IV and since we were in such a narrow area behind Ollivander's it took some maneuvering to get the gurney back to us.  Luckily, my mom is super tiny and so it didn't take much to transfer her in the same position from the ground to the backboard to the gurney.  The ambulance then took Grandma to the hospital and Grandpa went along inside the ambulance with her. We stayed a few minutes afterward and filled out paperwork. The Harry Potter land director grabbed some Butterbeer which is a delicious butterscotch, slurpee with whipped cream on top for everyone to help distract the kids from the situation.  When we left the park, I took Grandma and Grandpa's car to the hospital and Aaron drove 90 minutes back to the hotel. I got to the hospital as they were trying to X-ray my Mom's leg.  She was laying on her side because it was too painful to roll on to her back. They weren't able to get a good picture so they medicated her with some more pain medication.  When that kicked in they were able to roll her just enough to get a preliminary picture which showed a hip fracture.  BOO!!  They then gave her more IV pain medication because they needed to roll her all the way on to her back to get a really good X-ray.  After the medication kicked in I had to cut my Mom's pants off with the nurse's scissors.  We then rolled her onto her back and they were able to get a good picture.  I didn't get a picture of the actual X-ray, but she broke a chunk off of her hip right here:

After finding that out they had the Orthopedic doctor come talk to her.  In viewing the X-rays he said she would need surgery to put her leg back together with a plate and screws.  However, thankfully she didn't break the femur head or neck or her hip socket which would have been a lot worse so if she was to break something this would be the thing to break. However, it still didn't make things easier at the time....

In order for her to go ahead with the surgery she had to be cleared by an Internal Medicine doctor to make sure she was healthy enough for surgery which she was.  Afterward the internal medicine physician assistant came by to finalize everything and get her on the surgery schedule for that night.

Meanwhile back at the hotel Aaron worked with the travel agent to cancel the hotel (thank you travel insurance) and returned Grandpa's scooter to the rental place a few days sooner since they obviously wouldn't be needing it.  He then packed all their belongings back in their suitcases and loaded them into the Suburban with the kids and drove the  back to the hospital. My brother Bryan was able to find a hotel for my dad that was close to the hospital. Bryan was able to get a good government rate at the hotel, but needed a Department of Defense Employee ID to get checked in.  Luckily Aaron had his ID with him so he dropped the kids off at the hospital with me and went with my Dad to get him checked into the hotel.  They had a few bumps in the road like getting lost and going to the wrong hotel among other things, but finally made it. Aaron was able to get my dad checked in at the hotel and back to the hospital about an hour before they took my mom in for surgery.

The kids were a bit sad since it was Halloween night and we weren't going to be able to go trick or treating.  However, the nurses felt bad for us and let the kids go trick or treating at the nurse's station.  The got some interesting treats like ice cream and brownies that they wouldn't have gotten otherwise,but it did help them not be as upset.

I had even packed their Halloween costumes to go trick or treating in California, but it didn't work out.  They enjoyed some ice cream and brownies instead.  Since Aaron had dropped the kids off at about dinner time to leave to help my dad the kids were hungry.  The nurses were really nice and found some unused dinner trays and used them to feed the kids. I was so grateful!  I didn't want to leave my mom alone so it helped me so much!!

Before the surgery, Aaron and my dad were able to give my mom a Priesthood blessing. Then they came to pick her up for surgery.  Everyone was pretty nervous.

Happy Halloween!  Here is a picture of all of us in the hospital room waiting for surgery. Since it was Halloween there were some pretty interesting things to watch on TV.

By the end of the night the kids were going pretty stir-crazy.  We made sure Grandma was ok and then we made the 90 minute drive back to the hotel in Anaheim.  The surgeon had said that if my mom did ok that she would be able to FLY home after a few days.  That was good to hear.  When we got back to the hotel we were so physically and emotionally exhausted that we all went to bed without a problem.  I checked throughout the night to make sure my Mom was ok which she was.  The next morning we decided to let my mom rest through the morning and go back to Universal Studios so we could be close by if my mom or dad needed anything.  Not part of our original plans, but what can you do?  We knew it was going to be a short day so we just hit the highlights of the area.  We stopped by Harry Potter again.  We were in line at Ollivander's and got a picture of the castle in the background. 

We got to see a wand fitting which was interesting.

Afterward we walked through the wand shop where you could see all the wands of the different characters in the movies.  They had all the characters, too, like Neville Longbottom, Beatrix Lastrange, Cedric Diggory, Voldemort, etc.  It was pretty cool!

Here's the kids showing off their souvenir wands in front of the wand shop.  Matthew decided he wanted a Hogwarts Express train replica for his souvenir.

We then walked through the castle to get to the Forbidden Journey ride.  I must say they really got all the details correct.  Walking through the castle was just as interesting as the ride at the end.

You got to walk through the nursery where they had replicas of the Mandrake plants that they used to heal the petrified kids in the second Harry Potter book The Chamber of Secrets.

They had all kinds of statues and paintings that moved and talked to you.

It really felt like you were walking through the real castle!

We stopped by the entrance to Dumbledore's office where the password was Lemon drop.

At the end of the castle we rode the Forbidden Journey ride which is a '4D' experience which means the seat moves along with the ride and you wear 3 D glasses to make things more real.  It was a pretty cool ride, however, it made me super dizzy so I could only go on it once before I couldn't stand up straight for a minute afterward.  Unfortunately, Noah was too short to ride it so we were able to utilize the child swap passes so everyone, but Noah and me got to ride it again.

Afterward we walked through the shops and we even got to see a snitch with working wings.

We got to see a baby Book of Monsters that wasn't caged up because it wasn't big enough to bite yet.

Everything was so detailed and realistic there.  It was a cool place to visit!

Matthew was excited to see the Hogwarts Express so we got a picture with the conductor:

We had an early lunch at the Three Broomsticks restaurant.  We got photo bombed by one of the characters which was pretty funny:

We got to try some traditional English food which was yummy:

The kids mostly liked it:

On the way out we stopped and got a chocolate frog from Honeydukes Sweet Shop.  We got Godric Gryffindor as our trading card.

Next we went on the bus tour of Universal Studios.  We got to see how they can flood a set:

We got to see how Jaws was filmed:

There were a few places where you could see things with 3D glasses.  Noah was sporting his 3D eyewear:

On our way out of the park we got to see Gru and a Minion so we got a quick picture:

We spent the afternoon visiting grandma in the hospital.  She had had a pretty rough day.  She'd had a hard time keeping her blood pressure up so they ended up giving her lots of fluids and 2 units of blood (she was low when she came in and lost a lot of blood during surgery).  That meant she wasn't able to get out of bed like what was planned that day.  Luckily her blood pressure stabilized that night. After staying for a few hours we made the long drive back to our hotel in Anaheim for the night.

The next morning I called and made sure my mom was doing ok.  It was the Epilepsy convention that day which is the whole reason why we went on this trip.  We HAD to attend the convention because that was what the grant money was supposed to be used for.  Luckily, my mom was doing better and although it was really painful she was able to get up and take a few steps that morning.

We went to the convention that day.  It was interesting to attend the different breakout sessions that pertained to our family.  We also got to visit a lot of the booths to learn more about new procedures, medications and treatments that are now available.  We got to stop by and visit the Danny Did Foundation Booth and say THANK YOU since they were the ones that were awarding us the grant money.  It was fun to see the Epilepsy Association of Utah there.  The lady even took a picture of us with her when she found out we were from Utah as well.

Since we had lost a day while at the hospital the only day we could use our Disneyland tickets was that day.  We weren't able to spend much time in the park, but we did go on a few fun rides.  Matthew was excited to ride his favorite ride Autopia a few times.

Sarah and Dad riding Autopia:

Noah and me riding Autopia:

Sarah doing her dance stretches in line.  Her dance teacher should be proud--haha!

Riding Nemo's submarine voyage:

Riding the Matterhorn:

Sarah's favorite (not really) Tower of Terror.  I had to pay her a quarter to ride this ride again.

Since the convention lasted all day we weren't able to visit the hospital that night.  We were able to go and pick up a few things my mom had requested at the store.  We were going to next day to visit so we could drop them off then.

The next morning I made sure my mom was doing ok which she was.  We then headed to the park wearing our purple Epilepsy Awareness shirts we had gotten at the previous day's convention.  This was part of the Convention as well so we HAD to go to the park that day.  They took 3 group pictures throughout the day so we had to stay.  They haven't posted this year's picture so I am showing the picture from last year.

There were a ton of people last year and there were even more people there this year if you can believe it. It was fun to see all the purple shirts throughout the park through the day.  Here's our family sporting our purple shirts:

We got to ride Astro Blasters.  I got the highest score out of the whole family. Wahoo!

We rode on Hyperspace Mountain which was fun:

We got to see some Storm Troopers, but this was the best picture we could get since they were walking around:

We visited Toon town for a bit, but didn't spend too much time there.  Time enough to get this gem of a picture:

We were able to get a picture with the Queen.  She was not amused by Josh's antics:

Last time we were at Disneyland was 8 years ago.  Back then we walked by the Bippidy Boppity Boutique where they transform girls into princesses.  If we ever made it back to Disneyland I wanted Sarah to do that.  Luckily, they had an appointment that afternoon so she could get pampered up.  When we checked in they took her to the dressing room to get dressed in her newly sewn by fairy clothes.

Cute Girl!

She then got whisked away by two Fairy Godmothers in training to get pampered.

One Fairy Godmother painted her nails and did her makeup while the other one did her hair:

Sarah LOVED it!!

They then gave her a special face shield so has they sprinkled on Tinkerbell's Fairy Dust it wouldn't get in her eyes:

Here's my pretty princess:

It was such a fun experience!

She even got an special certificate saying that she is an honorary princess.

The rest of the day any park employee that saw her would call her princess.  Sarah LOVED it.  She would get super shy, but she really loved it.  It was sweet.

We got some time in California Adventure where we rode one of the kids' favorite rides California Screamin'.

Noah was too short so he got to stay out with me poor guy:

We got to see Lightening MacQueen drive around the streets which was fun:

They had redone Cars Land since our last visit and it is so much better!  The Cars ride is so fun.  I wish we could have gone on that a few more times.

Things were going great until I got a call from my Dad.  He told me that the surgeon had just seen my Mom and he dropped the bombshell of saying that she couldn't go home.  The surgeon felt like she needed to be moved to a Rehabilitation Center in Los Angeles for two weeks instead.  BOO!! They would be transferring her in a couple hours so it was pretty much a done deal.  They were upset.  We left soon after to meet them at the rehab facility in Los Angeles.  When we got there I went shopping to pick up a bunch of supplies both my Mom and Dad needed since they just got their 'vacation' extended another 11 days.  By the time we had gotten there it seemed like they had resigned themselves to the fact that they were going to be stuck in California for a while.  We felt horrible!  I was hoping they would be able to fly home while we were still there so we could help them get off.  Now our time to leave was coming up and they were going to have to stay behind.  I was really glad that my Dad was able to stay with her in California, though.  What a crazy turn of events!! The famous quote, "The best laid plans of mice and men...." really applies here!!