Disney Disaster: Did You Ever Have One?

BrianL said:
I've never had a "disaster" really, but I did have to take a friend to the minor medical due to an abcessed tooth. He had been scheduled for some dental work after he got back from our trip, but I guess it went south. I knew something was up because he said it was hurting worse and worse, and I could actually smell it on his breath. My friend is not very well versed in anything medical. He's been lucky to have few health problems and never takes any kind of medication. Anyway, we had the clinic pick us up at Pop, and it was a little like taking a child to the doctor. Basically I knew he needed antibiotics. They were pretty great at the clinic, though the doctor said "I'm not a dentist so all I can do is give him antibiotics." I'm thinking, yeah, that's what we need. They'd have postponed his surgery anyway due to the infection, so this was the first step. Anyway, we get the scrip and walk it over to Target, buy that and some more ibuprofen, and took an Uber right back to the park we should have been in, HS (the clinic would've taken us back, but only to the resort). Anyway, the next morning, he's shocked that it doesn't hurt at all. The antibiotics'll do that. So all was good and we lost about 3 hours of park time total. Not bad really.
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where is the clinic?
 
Lynn CC said:
where is the clinic?
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It was the Orange Lake CentraCare on W Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy in Kissimmee, right across the street from a big shopping center with a Target. It is just a little Southwest of Animal Kingdom Lodge.
 
BrianL said:
It was the Orange Lake CentraCare on W Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy in Kissimmee, right across the street from a big shopping center with a Target. It is just a little Southwest of Animal Kingdom Lodge.
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Thanks I'll note that for our trip just in case
 
Lynn CC said:
Thanks I'll note that for our trip just in case
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The front desk at Pop gave us their card. It was very close, and they will pick you up and drop you off at any WDW hotel. Overall the experience there was pretty decent compared to most urgent care type places. Almost everyone in the waiting room had Magic Bands!
 
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Three disasters.

Years ago, I bought US $ traveler's cheques in Canada. Got to WDW and found out that they had accidentally given me Canadian $ traveler's cheques instead. Canadian $ was very low at the time, and my traveler's cheques were about as valuable as toilet paper. The bank in Canada reimbursed me the difference but I still lost every time I cashed a cheque because I was dealing in a foreign currency. Stressfull.

Another trip. I phoned home and learned that my BIL had died. I had to go home right away. Disney was spot on, phoning the airline for us, arranging DD's oxygen for the trip home, phoning DH to let him know of our changed plans, and arranging transportation to the airport. This was years before Magic Express.

The last disaster was a nightmare beyond description DD and I flew out from Toronto for our annual pilgrimage to WDW.. The following day, DH applied for his passport, thinking he may join us later. It is not his happy place, but DD enjoys it so usually it is just Mom and Daughter time. We had been there about a week, seeing the parks, shopping, just taking our time. We had a handicap room at Pop, close to the food court, and it was a great. I must add that DD has Down's Syndrome and all the health problems that go with it. So she uses a wheelchair, oxygen, and we just take our time, doing things at her speed. I must also state that DD never complains. Also that I am not medically trained, so please don't fault me. I do the best I can.
  1. On Monday Jan. 23 2017 DD was still sleeping so I took our cups and went for the coffee run. Just outside our door was the pool, and they were doing c.p.r. training with the life guards. I had taken c.p.r training but it was a few years ago, and I could use a refresher course too. One forgets so much, and things change. I found it very interesting. One never knows when such things will be needed, so I watched what was going on behind the fence for 6 or 7 minutes. 30 compressions 2 puffs. 30 compressions 2 puffs. Very interesting. I went and checked on DD, then went back out for the coffee. By this time, the lifeguards had changed partners and were at the beginning of the training. Someone has collapsed. What do we do? Are you all right? Do you need help? Are they breathing? Do they have a pulse? Are they younger than 8 years old? Why do we need to know this? 30 compressions and 2 puffs. I watched for another 5 minutes then carried on for the coffee.

    We went to Disney Studios that day. DD wore her Belle gown and looked just wonderful. I noticed that she seemed a little off. I took her oxygen, not too bad, but the oximeter said her pulse was not regular..60, 55, 70, 40, 66, 35, 72 etc. Is this thing acting up? I went to first aid and asked them to check her pulse. The nurse didn't give me her numbers, but checked it a few times, said it seemed ok. She didn't notice anything unusual. I even used the oximeter on DD at the same time and the readings were the same as hers. Ok. Just a fluke. DD seemed ok. We carried on.

    The next morning, we slept in. When I realized we were running late, I woke up DD and got washed and dressed. DD got up, I grabbed the cups, but decided I would phone DH first while DD got up and ready. I was sitting on one side of the king bed talking to him and I felt DD get on the other side of the bed. The conversation carried on but then I excused myself while I checked on DD. She was laying on the bed with her legs hanging over the bed to the floor, her arms above her head. "That's nice" I thought , having a good stretch. I looked at her, her eyes were open, mouth open, but she was gone, a grey colour. I tried to rouse her, but couldn't. Ran to the phone, told DD I'd call him back. Tried to call 911 but couldn't get out of the Disney phone system. Opened the door and called "Call 911, call 911, I need help here in this room. Call 911" Rushed back to DD. She wasn't breathing. I started c.p.r. Someone rushed into the room and reminded me she needed to be on the floor. Duh!! I knew that, just wasn't thinking. Dragged her on the floor and resumed c.p.r. He said can I help? I said, "yes, you see that machine there? It's oxygen. Turn it up as high as it will go!" 30 compressions 2 puffs. 30 compressions 2 puffs. Come on baby! you can do this.. Mommy needs you. 30 compressions 2 puffs, over and over. DD gave kind of a gurgle, as the paramedics burst into the room. By this time a small crowd had gathered at the door. I told them that DD just make a sound but not sure if she was breathing. Not! Cardiac Arrest. They took over. 30 compressions 2 puffs again and again. No response. Defibrillator, everyone stand clear! The defibrillator said not to zap her, and she began to rouse. She had ben in vtec for 6-7 minutes. By the time she was on the gurnney she was conscious, and by the time she got into the ambulance she was "chatty Cathy". I grabbed my bag, her bag, a file with her medical history, and rushed after them. As I climbed into the front of the ambulance, the manager of Pop gave me her card with her own phone number on the back, telling me to contact her if there was anything I needed. Off to Celebration Hospital, all the time, telling her that I was here in the front seat, it was going to be ok. Trying to tell myself the same thing.

    We arrived at Celebration, and she was stabilized. The staff there said this never happens. They expected her to be intubated, on life support. I figured they were trying to be kind. I phoned DH to update him, and then we were transferred to Florida Hospital. Enroute, they again said "We never see this! This is so encouraging to us! On tv it happens all the time, but we never, never see this. By starting early cpr, you saved her life." I sure didn't feel that way! I was grieving over a loss, so afraid I would loose her.

    At Florida Hospital, as you can imagine, it was a blur. She was put in i.c.u. and we met many many doctors. They were so relieved that I had brought her records with her medical history. All sorts of nurses and others came in to meet us. They wanted to meet the mom who did cpr and saved her daughters life. Meanwhile I was feeling like a failure. Tests were done, which were compared to the records I brought. it was determined that there was no damage done to her heart. The echocardiogram which I had brought with us was the same as the one done there. I had forgotten the charger for my phone, and DD's glasses, so I phone the number the manager of Pop had given me and those things were rushed to the hospital.

    The next day I phoned the insurance company and gave them the file number I had been given. They said, don't worry. We are going to look after you. One of the pediatric cardiologists wandered in as I was talking to them on speaker phone, so he overheard some of the conversation. He asked who I was talking to and was very impressed. He said that in Fla the insurance companies were not so nice. They didn't even want to talk to you. I also phoned some friends from home who spend their winters in Florida about an hour away. I felt alone and needed some support. I phoned my congregation at home, and family. This could be terrible. Everyone needed to be informed.

    The doctors were very impressed that I had all the information they needed to give DD her care. Very supportive, except once. DD needed a defibrillator . She was not a candidate for that type of surgery, and one doctor told me if it happened again, just to let her go. Don't do cpr again. Well! That just added to the burden I was already carrying. I'm alone, fighting this , trying to cope. I explained to him that DD loves life. She line dances, plays cards at the senior center, has tea with the older ladies, has a whole congregation of people praying for her right now and is a vibrant part of the community. Everybody who knows her loves her, and if they don't love her it's only because they don't know her. My daughter is not disposable, and as long as she is enjoying life, and takes an interest in things I will fight for life right along side of her. If she loses interest in life, or seems to have given up, then I will understand but until then, I'll be cheering her on. The following day, his attitude had changed. He walked into the room and said "did you know that your daughter is breaking records? She is the longest living person with that type of heart defect. There is no documented evidence anywhere of anyone living as long as she has with her heart problems" After that he was most supportive.

Toronto general hospital wanted her to be sent back to Toronto. Actually, I'm sure that the insurance company wanted her home because they wouldn't have to pay after she got back to Ontario. Fla hospital said ok. Who is the cardiologist. T g said he was on an indefinite leave of absence. Fla said not sending her back without a cardiologist. They said ok we have one for her. Send her back. Meanwhile insurance was trying to dispute our coverage. Another day passes. We got 3 quotes for medical flight home. Time is passing and chaos reigns supreme. On the weekend all offices are closed.

Meanwhile at home DJ is trying to get his passport expediated. He got a flight for Friday but had to show proof of this before that could happen. This had to be done on the internet and DH isn't able to do this so he went to the shell gas station in our small town and they looked after it. Word of mouth spread and now the whole town knows and are cheering for dd. she was now on prayer lists of different churches because it is a small town and like I said everyone loves her.

My DH picked up his passport in Mississauga and went straight to the airport. He and his sister flew out that Friday night getting to Orlando about midnight. We were told that if she was medically evacuated we might only have 10 minutes notice. Meanwhile DH's nephew and his fiance flew down the next day as a surprise for DD. There is a comfort Inn about 2 blocks from the hospital and it is a very safe area, so we were able to walk back and forth there. DH and I took turns sleeping there so every other night we could get a better sleep if we could sleep which was hardly ever but we were able to shower and try to refresh ourselves. On Sunday I called the manager of Pop and explained that we would have to check out. I didn't know what was going to happen. If we could get back and salvage a few days in DD's happy place we were going to try, but we might be flying home at any time too. WDW paid for my taxi back to Pop and to the comfort Inn so I could clear out our room. That was a very trying time, knowing we might never see WDW again.

The insurance was now making everyone jump through hoops. I signed the releases for our family doctor to release info to them. Debbie, at the dr's asked them what info they needed. They faxed what they needed, Debbie filled it out and sent it back. Insurance said that's not what we want. Debbie said tell me what you want. Insurance said send us the whole file. Debbie said I'm not sending the whole file, it's 4 inches thick. You tell me what you want. They said ok, send the last 6 months of her chart. So she did. Then they said they needed the last 6 months records from the cardiologist. I signed the release. But remember, the cardiologist is on a leave of absence and his office is closed. So I phoned medical records at Tor Gen, and gave them permission to release the info to the insurance co. They said the insurance co never requested it!!! I said i would have them fax the request, but medical records doesn't accept faxes or emails. The insurance company must pay for this information and it will not be released until it is paid for. Now we are in quite a pickle. Insurance is saying we don't have coverage.

So now there are 3 suitcases, carry ons, a wheelchair, portable oxygen concentrator and a big medical bag in the room at Comfort inn. If DD is medically transported to Toronto can I travel with her? Can we take anything on that plane? How can DH take all this stuff with him if he is left to fly on his own? So many things to consider. It could cost $30,000 to fly her back to Toronto. As it turned out, this couldn't happen anyway. She could not be transported if she didn't have a bed at Tor Gen and are you sitting down? There was a 2 week wait for a bed, but Tor GGen wasn't worried. She was in a safe place and being taken care of. DH and I were frantic. We could very well loose the farm over this. Time is going on, DD needs a defibrillator but she is not a candidate for such surgery, but wait! There is a new type of defirillator out. The leads do not go into the heart. Fl hospital can perform such surgery. They have implanted many defibrillators and have a surgeon who has implanted more of this type of defibrillator than any one else. However, do we have the coverage? Insurance would like it done in Toronto. Well, I guess so. Then they wouldn't have to pay for it, Ohip , or provincial medical coverage will pay. But the insurance will not say if we have coverage until they get the 6 month report from the cardiologist who is on leave of absence.

  1. DD has been in ICU for 2 weeks now. We couldn't move forward or even back. Then, the answer to our prayers.

    The Electrophysiologist cardiologist came in the room, saying he had good news for us. Hey, we can use some good news. He asked us not to tell anyone, so I can't say exactly what follows, but as he was speaking, we got our miracle. Please use your imagination. The following day, DD was wheeled down for surgery. She had a subcutaneous defibrillator implanted just under the skin below her left armpit, with a lead going down the left side, under the left breast, and then up between the two breasts. She had a surgeon who has implanted more of these devices than anyone else. Her anethesiologist had a 16 year old son with Down's Syndrome. Meanwhile, we paced back and forth in the waiting area. The surgery took longer than they said it would. Finally, we were ushered into the consultation room where the surgeon will talk to us. He came in and told us how it went (fine) and as he was talking, the nurse burst into the room and said "You've got to come and see this!" He rushed us and the surgeon down corridors and through doorways to the recovery room. There was DD sitting up in bed, holding court. Everyone was gathered at the foot of the bed getting such a kick out of her. She was smiling, and talking, charming the whole staff. She was so excited to see us. After a few minutes she was taken back to her room. Some of our friends came to see us and no way no how was DD going to go to sleep. She stayed awake, refusing to miss a minute of anything. What a Girl!!

    I phoned the insurance company after the surgery. I hope you are sitting down. They said now she was covered! I could have choked someone. When we learned that she was to be discharged I called the insurance people again. Did they want us to fly straight home? We don't have a reservation. No, no, you are covered. Stay if you want! I phoned the manager of Pop and explained that we were going to try to squeeze a few more days into the vacation. DH was now with us, so we would need a bigger room for a week. DD had appointments to have the defibrillator checked, another trip to Orlando to see the electro-cardiologist, and another visit on our last day to have her surgical staples removed. She had 18 staples on her left side, and 8 between the breasts. WDW looked after us and put us in a suite at Art of Animation, ground floor with a living room, kitchen, bedroom , regular bathroom, and another bathroom with a roll in shower. They were so good to us. Everyone we met was wonderful to us.

    Two days later, she was discharged. We knew at 8:00 am that she would be, but it took all day to get the papers . In the meantime, there was a continuous stream of people coming in to wish her well. Many, many nurses, doctors she had met over the past two and a half weeks, coming not to check her but to say goodbye. One of the doctors said that DD was the longest survivor with that heart defect. Apparently there is no documented evidence of any one living that long. Most die by the time they are 5 years old. DD turned 46 in July. Cleaning ladies, chaplins, Case managers, Child care workers, on and on. I felt I should put our tea and cookies for this receiving line. At 5:00 pm the discharge papers finally arrived, and we were on our way, Still, nurses and attendants were rushing up to give us a hug and say goodbye. We stayed over at Comfort Inn, then phoned the insurance gain to make sure we were ok, then off to Art of Animation. The manager phoned to see that we were being looked after and the manager of housekeeping dropped by to make sure we had everything we needed.

    DD was very weak. I could give her a shampoo or a shower, but she was too weak for both. When we went to the parks she could only do 1 thing. Then she was done for the day. The exception was one day at Epcot when she did the Frozen ride, and met Mary Poppins too. When we got back from Epcot, we discovered a bag from Art of Animation, with cookies, juice, water, cheese, crackers, trail mix, more trail mix, fruit, so many things. We couldn't eat it all. That sure was a nice surprise.

    After a week, we flew home. I know we will never go back. Even if the insurance or DH said it would be ok, I don't believe I ever could . It was the most traumatic thing you could ever imagine. Whenever I would close my eyes to sleep, I would see cardboard caskets being loaded onto airplanes. I would dream that I was driving down the highway with DD beside me , glancing over to her to see she was gone, dragging her out of the car and doing cpr again, or that she would wake up with the defibrillator lying beside her. Horrible, horrible nightmares.

    All of this happened 16 months ago. Every day I'm celebrating with DD, hugging her to the point of her frustration but that's ok, I've got my girl. The post traumatic stress is slowly dissolving and DD is doing fine. To look at her you would never know that she was once clinically dead for 7 minutes. They said most people are afraid to start cpr, afraid of hurting the person. I must add, DD was so sore. She cried whenever her bed was adjusted or she had to move. No bones were broken, but she had a badly bruised sternum. I was I learned that the mortality rate is 95% if one goes into cardiac arrest. Only 5 % survive, and most of those have physical or cognitive impairment, but because I started the cpr right away there was no damage done. I mentioned those statistics to a CM and she told me no, in WDW the statistics go up to 28% survival because the paramedics are there so quickly. So it couldn't have happened in a better place.

    We took DD to Toronto General, where the head of the device department told us that DD has the Cadillac of defibrillators. It wasn't approved in Canada, so they had to apply to Ottawa to be able to download the software to check it. It has been checked several times now, and DD is doing fine. She went through a period where the heart rate was very erratic, 77, 55, 62, 28, 47 62, 35 etc. The Dr put a holter monitor on her for 3 days and in that span of time, her heart stopped 248 times. Well, I assure you that put me in another tailspin. Apparently, the medication Florida Hospital put her on can cause this, so the medication was discontinued. The med was for fibrillation, but the icd should help in that regard. So, ya. To look at DD you would never suspect that she has these issues. My little energizer bunny keeps going and going.


 
Lynn CC said:
My last trip to WDW was with my nowX and my son who was in 8th grade at the time. I got to the airport and didn't have my license with me, I forgot it. They almost didn't let me on the plane, but after some teary moments the supervisor asked to see my credit card that I made the reservations with. Well, that was at home too. I switched purses and well just wasn't thinking clearly, so unlike me. They let me on the plane but said good luck trying to get home. This started a chain reaction with the rental car company, and the Disney Resort that we had an 8 day reservation. We had plenty of Disney Dollars for food etc. ( do they still have Disney dollars)?
I had to explain to the rental car company and they let me take the car, it was prepaid.

The cast member at the desk suggested I call home and have it FedEx'ed overnight. I had to call and tell someone where the spare key was hidden (who knows what went on in my house after they went in, she must have partied all week). I did end up receiving it the next day. I had a good cry for myself, it was so stressful. I think I was so excited to go I just wasn't myself.

I'll be there next month with my new DH (who we are all trying to judge if hes a Disney lover like us), my son, his wife and 3 grandsons.
I'm so paranoid that somethings going to happen that I'm triple checking everything.

We went to Disney Tokyo, and Disneyland since then & all was good. I'm so excited I'm just trying to keep it together so I don't forget anything.

I wonder if I'm the only person who has forgotten important things?
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....remind me to NEVER go on vacay with YOU! :scared:
 
wgeo said:
3 days before we were supposed to leave for our trip DH found out his secretary had been embezzeling money. 2 days before we left she was arrested. Husband was at work pretty much 18 hours a day trying to figure things out and wasnt sure if he could leave. I ended up having to do stuff with the kids that DH had planned on doing and was up literally the entire night before we flew out to get the packing done. We did take the trip but we were exhausted when we left, and then during the trip we kept getting calls from the auditor with new "totals" of how much had been stolen. We don't talk about that trip very much lol.
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...yikes.
 


Jennasis said:
Our cat died too...about an hour after we arrived in Orlando and happily walked through the gates at DHS the friend watching our farm told us our beloved barn cat had taken a turn (she had been sick and was being treated for a thyroid issue). I had to call vet and give permission to euthanize her. DH and I were weeping in line for ToT. People probably thought we were crazy.
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...OMG, you poor thing! :hug:

[..maybe they thought you were really scared about going on ToT!]
 
pampam said:
Three disasters.

Years ago, I bought US $ traveler's cheques in Canada. Got to WDW and found out that they had accidentally given me Canadian $ traveler's cheques instead. Canadian $ was very low at the time, and my traveler's cheques were about as valuable as toilet paper. The bank in Canada reimbursed me the difference but I still lost every time I cashed a cheque because I was dealing in a foreign currency. Stressfull.

Another trip. I phoned home and learned that my BIL had died. I had to go home right away. Disney was spot on, phoning the airline for us, arranging DD's oxygen for the trip home, phoning DH to let him know of our changed plans, and arranging transportation to the airport. This was years before Magic Express.

The last disaster was a nightmare beyond description DD and I flew out from Toronto for our annual pilgrimage to WDW.. The following day, DH applied for his passport, thinking he may join us later. It is not his happy place, but DD enjoys it so usually it is just Mom and Daughter time. We had been there about a week, seeing the parks, shopping, just taking our time. We had a handicap room at Pop, close to the food court, and it was a great. I must add that DD has Down's Syndrome and all the health problems that go with it. So she uses a wheelchair, oxygen, and we just take our time, doing things at her speed. I must also state that DD never complains. Also that I am not medically trained, so please don't fault me. I do the best I can.
  1. On Monday Jan. 23 2017 DD was still sleeping so I took our cups and went for the coffee run. Just outside our door was the pool, and they were doing c.p.r. training with the life guards. I had taken c.p.r training but it was a few years ago, and I could use a refresher course too. One forgets so much, and things change. I found it very interesting. One never knows when such things will be needed, so I watched what was going on behind the fence for 6 or 7 minutes. 30 compressions 2 puffs. 30 compressions 2 puffs. Very interesting. I went and checked on DD, then went back out for the coffee. By this time, the lifeguards had changed partners and were at the beginning of the training. Someone has collapsed. What do we do? Are you all right? Do you need help? Are they breathing? Do they have a pulse? Are they younger than 8 years old? Why do we need to know this? 30 compressions and 2 puffs. I watched for another 5 minutes then carried on for the coffee.

    We went to Disney Studios that day. DD wore her Belle gown and looked just wonderful. I noticed that she seemed a little off. I took her oxygen, not too bad, but the oximeter said her pulse was not regular..60, 55, 70, 40, 66, 35, 72 etc. Is this thing acting up? I went to first aid and asked them to check her pulse. The nurse didn't give me her numbers, but checked it a few times, said it seemed ok. She didn't notice anything unusual. I even used the oximeter on DD at the same time and the readings were the same as hers. Ok. Just a fluke. DD seemed ok. We carried on.

    The next morning, we slept in. When I realized we were running late, I woke up DD and got washed and dressed. DD got up, I grabbed the cups, but decided I would phone DH first while DD got up and ready. I was sitting on one side of the king bed talking to him and I felt DD get on the other side of the bed. The conversation carried on but then I excused myself while I checked on DD. She was laying on the bed with her legs hanging over the bed to the floor, her arms above her head. "That's nice" I thought , having a good stretch. I looked at her, her eyes were open, mouth open, but she was gone, a grey colour. I tried to rouse her, but couldn't. Ran to the phone, told DD I'd call him back. Tried to call 911 but couldn't get out of the Disney phone system. Opened the door and called "Call 911, call 911, I need help here in this room. Call 911" Rushed back to DD. She wasn't breathing. I started c.p.r. Someone rushed into the room and reminded me she needed to be on the floor. Duh!! I knew that, just wasn't thinking. Dragged her on the floor and resumed c.p.r. He said can I help? I said, "yes, you see that machine there? It's oxygen. Turn it up as high as it will go!" 30 compressions 2 puffs. 30 compressions 2 puffs. Come on baby! you can do this.. Mommy needs you. 30 compressions 2 puffs, over and over. DD gave kind of a gurgle, as the paramedics burst into the room. By this time a small crowd had gathered at the door. I told them that DD just make a sound but not sure if she was breathing. Not! Cardiac Arrest. They took over. 30 compressions 2 puffs again and again. No response. Defibrillator, everyone stand clear! The defibrillator said not to zap her, and she began to rouse. She had ben in vtec for 6-7 minutes. By the time she was on the gurnney she was conscious, and by the time she got into the ambulance she was "chatty Cathy". I grabbed my bag, her bag, a file with her medical history, and rushed after them. As I climbed into the front of the ambulance, the manager of Pop gave me her card with her own phone number on the back, telling me to contact her if there was anything I needed. Off to Celebration Hospital, all the time, telling her that I was here in the front seat, it was going to be ok. Trying to tell myself the same thing.

    We arrived at Celebration, and she was stabilized. The staff there said this never happens. They expected her to be intubated, on life support. I figured they were trying to be kind. I phoned DH to update him, and then we were transferred to Florida Hospital. Enroute, they again said "We never see this! This is so encouraging to us! On tv it happens all the time, but we never, never see this. By starting early cpr, you saved her life." I sure didn't feel that way! I was grieving over a loss, so afraid I would loose her.

    At Florida Hospital, as you can imagine, it was a blur. She was put in i.c.u. and we met many many doctors. They were so relieved that I had brought her records with her medical history. All sorts of nurses and others came in to meet us. They wanted to meet the mom who did cpr and saved her daughters life. Meanwhile I was feeling like a failure. Tests were done, which were compared to the records I brought. it was determined that there was no damage done to her heart. The echocardiogram which I had brought with us was the same as the one done there. I had forgotten the charger for my phone, and DD's glasses, so I phone the number the manager of Pop had given me and those things were rushed to the hospital.

    The next day I phoned the insurance company and gave them the file number I had been given. They said, don't worry. We are going to look after you. One of the pediatric cardiologists wandered in as I was talking to them on speaker phone, so he overheard some of the conversation. He asked who I was talking to and was very impressed. He said that in Fla the insurance companies were not so nice. They didn't even want to talk to you. I also phoned some friends from home who spend their winters in Florida about an hour away. I felt alone and needed some support. I phoned my congregation at home, and family. This could be terrible. Everyone needed to be informed.

    The doctors were very impressed that I had all the information they needed to give DD her care. Very supportive, except once. DD needed a defibrillator . She was not a candidate for that type of surgery, and one doctor told me if it happened again, just to let her go. Don't do cpr again. Well! That just added to the burden I was already carrying. I'm alone, fighting this , trying to cope. I explained to him that DD loves life. She line dances, plays cards at the senior center, has tea with the older ladies, has a whole congregation of people praying for her right now and is a vibrant part of the community. Everybody who knows her loves her, and if they don't love her it's only because they don't know her. My daughter is not disposable, and as long as she is enjoying life, and takes an interest in things I will fight for life right along side of her. If she loses interest in life, or seems to have given up, then I will understand but until then, I'll be cheering her on. The following day, his attitude had changed. He walked into the room and said "did you know that your daughter is breaking records? She is the longest living person with that type of heart defect. There is no documented evidence anywhere of anyone living as long as she has with her heart problems" After that he was most supportive.

Toronto general hospital wanted her to be sent back to Toronto. Actually, I'm sure that the insurance company wanted her home because they wouldn't have to pay after she got back to Ontario. Fla hospital said ok. Who is the cardiologist. T g said he was on an indefinite leave of absence. Fla said not sending her back without a cardiologist. They said ok we have one for her. Send her back. Meanwhile insurance was trying to dispute our coverage. Another day passes. We got 3 quotes for medical flight home. Time is passing and chaos reigns supreme. On the weekend all offices are closed.

Meanwhile at home DJ is trying to get his passport expediated. He got a flight for Friday but had to show proof of this before that could happen. This had to be done on the internet and DH isn't able to do this so he went to the shell gas station in our small town and they looked after it. Word of mouth spread and now the whole town knows and are cheering for dd. she was now on prayer lists of different churches because it is a small town and like I said everyone loves her.

My DH picked up his passport in Mississauga and went straight to the airport. He and his sister flew out that Friday night getting to Orlando about midnight. We were told that if she was medically evacuated we might only have 10 minutes notice. Meanwhile DH's nephew and his fiance flew down the next day as a surprise for DD. There is a comfort Inn about 2 blocks from the hospital and it is a very safe area, so we were able to walk back and forth there. DH and I took turns sleeping there so every other night we could get a better sleep if we could sleep which was hardly ever but we were able to shower and try to refresh ourselves. On Sunday I called the manager of Pop and explained that we would have to check out. I didn't know what was going to happen. If we could get back and salvage a few days in DD's happy place we were going to try, but we might be flying home at any time too. WDW paid for my taxi back to Pop and to the comfort Inn so I could clear out our room. That was a very trying time, knowing we might never see WDW again.

The insurance was now making everyone jump through hoops. I signed the releases for our family doctor to release info to them. Debbie, at the dr's asked them what info they needed. They faxed what they needed, Debbie filled it out and sent it back. Insurance said that's not what we want. Debbie said tell me what you want. Insurance said send us the whole file. Debbie said I'm not sending the whole file, it's 4 inches thick. You tell me what you want. They said ok, send the last 6 months of her chart. So she did. Then they said they needed the last 6 months records from the cardiologist. I signed the release. But remember, the cardiologist is on a leave of absence and his office is closed. So I phoned medical records at Tor Gen, and gave them permission to release the info to the insurance co. They said the insurance co never requested it!!! I said i would have them fax the request, but medical records doesn't accept faxes or emails. The insurance company must pay for this information and it will not be released until it is paid for. Now we are in quite a pickle. Insurance is saying we don't have coverage.

So now there are 3 suitcases, carry ons, a wheelchair, portable oxygen concentrator and a big medical bag in the room at Comfort inn. If DD is medically transported to Toronto can I travel with her? Can we take anything on that plane? How can DH take all this stuff with him if he is left to fly on his own? So many things to consider. It could cost $30,000 to fly her back to Toronto. As it turned out, this couldn't happen anyway. She could not be transported if she didn't have a bed at Tor Gen and are you sitting down? There was a 2 week wait for a bed, but Tor GGen wasn't worried. She was in a safe place and being taken care of. DH and I were frantic. We could very well loose the farm over this. Time is going on, DD needs a defibrillator but she is not a candidate for such surgery, but wait! There is a new type of defirillator out. The leads do not go into the heart. Fl hospital can perform such surgery. They have implanted many defibrillators and have a surgeon who has implanted more of this type of defibrillator than any one else. However, do we have the coverage? Insurance would like it done in Toronto. Well, I guess so. Then they wouldn't have to pay for it, Ohip , or provincial medical coverage will pay. But the insurance will not say if we have coverage until they get the 6 month report from the cardiologist who is on leave of absence.

  1. DD has been in ICU for 2 weeks now. We couldn't move forward or even back. Then, the answer to our prayers.

    The Electrophysiologist cardiologist came in the room, saying he had good news for us. Hey, we can use some good news. He asked us not to tell anyone, so I can't say exactly what follows, but as he was speaking, we got our miracle. Please use your imagination. The following day, DD was wheeled down for surgery. She had a subcutaneous defibrillator implanted just under the skin below her left armpit, with a lead going down the left side, under the left breast, and then up between the two breasts. She had a surgeon who has implanted more of these devices than anyone else. Her anethesiologist had a 16 year old son with Down's Syndrome. Meanwhile, we paced back and forth in the waiting area. The surgery took longer than they said it would. Finally, we were ushered into the consultation room where the surgeon will talk to us. He came in and told us how it went (fine) and as he was talking, the nurse burst into the room and said "You've got to come and see this!" He rushed us and the surgeon down corridors and through doorways to the recovery room. There was DD sitting up in bed, holding court. Everyone was gathered at the foot of the bed getting such a kick out of her. She was smiling, and talking, charming the whole staff. She was so excited to see us. After a few minutes she was taken back to her room. Some of our friends came to see us and no way no how was DD going to go to sleep. She stayed awake, refusing to miss a minute of anything. What a Girl!!

    I phoned the insurance company after the surgery. I hope you are sitting down. They said now she was covered! I could have choked someone. When we learned that she was to be discharged I called the insurance people again. Did they want us to fly straight home? We don't have a reservation. No, no, you are covered. Stay if you want! I phoned the manager of Pop and explained that we were going to try to squeeze a few more days into the vacation. DH was now with us, so we would need a bigger room for a week. DD had appointments to have the defibrillator checked, another trip to Orlando to see the electro-cardiologist, and another visit on our last day to have her surgical staples removed. She had 18 staples on her left side, and 8 between the breasts. WDW looked after us and put us in a suite at Art of Animation, ground floor with a living room, kitchen, bedroom , regular bathroom, and another bathroom with a roll in shower. They were so good to us. Everyone we met was wonderful to us.

    Two days later, she was discharged. We knew at 8:00 am that she would be, but it took all day to get the papers . In the meantime, there was a continuous stream of people coming in to wish her well. Many, many nurses, doctors she had met over the past two and a half weeks, coming not to check her but to say goodbye. One of the doctors said that DD was the longest survivor with that heart defect. Apparently there is no documented evidence of any one living that long. Most die by the time they are 5 years old. DD turned 46 in July. Cleaning ladies, chaplins, Case managers, Child care workers, on and on. I felt I should put our tea and cookies for this receiving line. At 5:00 pm the discharge papers finally arrived, and we were on our way, Still, nurses and attendants were rushing up to give us a hug and say goodbye. We stayed over at Comfort Inn, then phoned the insurance gain to make sure we were ok, then off to Art of Animation. The manager phoned to see that we were being looked after and the manager of housekeeping dropped by to make sure we had everything we needed.

    DD was very weak. I could give her a shampoo or a shower, but she was too weak for both. When we went to the parks she could only do 1 thing. Then she was done for the day. The exception was one day at Epcot when she did the Frozen ride, and met Mary Poppins too. When we got back from Epcot, we discovered a bag from Art of Animation, with cookies, juice, water, cheese, crackers, trail mix, more trail mix, fruit, so many things. We couldn't eat it all. That sure was a nice surprise.

    After a week, we flew home. I know we will never go back. Even if the insurance or DH said it would be ok, I don't believe I ever could . It was the most traumatic thing you could ever imagine. Whenever I would close my eyes to sleep, I would see cardboard caskets being loaded onto airplanes. I would dream that I was driving down the highway with DD beside me , glancing over to her to see she was gone, dragging her out of the car and doing cpr again, or that she would wake up with the defibrillator lying beside her. Horrible, horrible nightmares.

    All of this happened 16 months ago. Every day I'm celebrating with DD, hugging her to the point of her frustration but that's ok, I've got my girl. The post traumatic stress is slowly dissolving and DD is doing fine. To look at her you would never know that she was once clinically dead for 7 minutes. They said most people are afraid to start cpr, afraid of hurting the person. I must add, DD was so sore. She cried whenever her bed was adjusted or she had to move. No bones were broken, but she had a badly bruised sternum. I was I learned that the mortality rate is 95% if one goes into cardiac arrest. Only 5 % survive, and most of those have physical or cognitive impairment, but because I started the cpr right away there was no damage done. I mentioned those statistics to a CM and she told me no, in WDW the statistics go up to 28% survival because the paramedics are there so quickly. So it couldn't have happened in a better place.

    We took DD to Toronto General, where the head of the device department told us that DD has the Cadillac of defibrillators. It wasn't approved in Canada, so they had to apply to Ottawa to be able to download the software to check it. It has been checked several times now, and DD is doing fine. She went through a period where the heart rate was very erratic, 77, 55, 62, 28, 47 62, 35 etc. The Dr put a holter monitor on her for 3 days and in that span of time, her heart stopped 248 times. Well, I assure you that put me in another tailspin. Apparently, the medication Florida Hospital put her on can cause this, so the medication was discontinued. The med was for fibrillation, but the icd should help in that regard. So, ya. To look at DD you would never suspect that she has these issues. My little energizer bunny keeps going and going.

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My heart leap put of chest as I read this. My little sister has downs and a heart murmur. All I can say is I am so relieved and happy your DD is okay.
 
pampam said:
Three disasters.

Years ago, I bought US $ traveler's cheques in Canada. Got to WDW and found out that they had accidentally given me Canadian $ traveler's cheques instead. Canadian $ was very low at the time, and my traveler's cheques were about as valuable as toilet paper. The bank in Canada reimbursed me the difference but I still lost every time I cashed a cheque because I was dealing in a foreign currency. Stressfull.

Another trip. I phoned home and learned that my BIL had died. I had to go home right away. Disney was spot on, phoning the airline for us, arranging DD's oxygen for the trip home, phoning DH to let him know of our changed plans, and arranging transportation to the airport. This was years before Magic Express.
Your daughter is so lucky to have you, and it sounds like she is the light of your life. Hugs to you that you had to go through all that. Keep enjoying, our children our our pecious gifts
The last disaster was a nightmare beyond description DD and I flew out from Toronto for our annual pilgrimage to WDW.. The following day, DH applied for his passport, thinking he may join us later. It is not his happy place, but DD enjoys it so usually it is just Mom and Daughter time. We had been there about a week, seeing the parks, shopping, just taking our time. We had a handicap room at Pop, close to the food court, and it was a great. I must add that DD has Down's Syndrome and all the health problems that go with it. So she uses a wheelchair, oxygen, and we just take our time, doing things at her speed. I must also state that DD never complains. Also that I am not medically trained, so please don't fault me. I do the best I can.
  1. On Monday Jan. 23 2017 DD was still sleeping so I took our cups and went for the coffee run. Just outside our door was the pool, and they were doing c.p.r. training with the life guards. I had taken c.p.r training but it was a few years ago, and I could use a refresher course too. One forgets so much, and things change. I found it very interesting. One never knows when such things will be needed, so I watched what was going on behind the fence for 6 or 7 minutes. 30 compressions 2 puffs. 30 compressions 2 puffs. Very interesting. I went and checked on DD, then went back out for the coffee. By this time, the lifeguards had changed partners and were at the beginning of the training. Someone has collapsed. What do we do? Are you all right? Do you need help? Are they breathing? Do they have a pulse? Are they younger than 8 years old? Why do we need to know this? 30 compressions and 2 puffs. I watched for another 5 minutes then carried on for the coffee.

    We went to Disney Studios that day. DD wore her Belle gown and looked just wonderful. I noticed that she seemed a little off. I took her oxygen, not too bad, but the oximeter said her pulse was not regular..60, 55, 70, 40, 66, 35, 72 etc. Is this thing acting up? I went to first aid and asked them to check her pulse. The nurse didn't give me her numbers, but checked it a few times, said it seemed ok. She didn't notice anything unusual. I even used the oximeter on DD at the same time and the readings were the same as hers. Ok. Just a fluke. DD seemed ok. We carried on.

    The next morning, we slept in. When I realized we were running late, I woke up DD and got washed and dressed. DD got up, I grabbed the cups, but decided I would phone DH first while DD got up and ready. I was sitting on one side of the king bed talking to him and I felt DD get on the other side of the bed. The conversation carried on but then I excused myself while I checked on DD. She was laying on the bed with her legs hanging over the bed to the floor, her arms above her head. "That's nice" I thought , having a good stretch. I looked at her, her eyes were open, mouth open, but she was gone, a grey colour. I tried to rouse her, but couldn't. Ran to the phone, told DD I'd call him back. Tried to call 911 but couldn't get out of the Disney phone system. Opened the door and called "Call 911, call 911, I need help here in this room. Call 911" Rushed back to DD. She wasn't breathing. I started c.p.r. Someone rushed into the room and reminded me she needed to be on the floor. Duh!! I knew that, just wasn't thinking. Dragged her on the floor and resumed c.p.r. He said can I help? I said, "yes, you see that machine there? It's oxygen. Turn it up as high as it will go!" 30 compressions 2 puffs. 30 compressions 2 puffs. Come on baby! you can do this.. Mommy needs you. 30 compressions 2 puffs, over and over. DD gave kind of a gurgle, as the paramedics burst into the room. By this time a small crowd had gathered at the door. I told them that DD just make a sound but not sure if she was breathing. Not! Cardiac Arrest. They took over. 30 compressions 2 puffs again and again. No response. Defibrillator, everyone stand clear! The defibrillator said not to zap her, and she began to rouse. She had ben in vtec for 6-7 minutes. By the time she was on the gurnney she was conscious, and by the time she got into the ambulance she was "chatty Cathy". I grabbed my bag, her bag, a file with her medical history, and rushed after them. As I climbed into the front of the ambulance, the manager of Pop gave me her card with her own phone number on the back, telling me to contact her if there was anything I needed. Off to Celebration Hospital, all the time, telling her that I was here in the front seat, it was going to be ok. Trying to tell myself the same thing.

    We arrived at Celebration, and she was stabilized. The staff there said this never happens. They expected her to be intubated, on life support. I figured they were trying to be kind. I phoned DH to update him, and then we were transferred to Florida Hospital. Enroute, they again said "We never see this! This is so encouraging to us! On tv it happens all the time, but we never, never see this. By starting early cpr, you saved her life." I sure didn't feel that way! I was grieving over a loss, so afraid I would loose her.

    At Florida Hospital, as you can imagine, it was a blur. She was put in i.c.u. and we met many many doctors. They were so relieved that I had brought her records with her medical history. All sorts of nurses and others came in to meet us. They wanted to meet the mom who did cpr and saved her daughters life. Meanwhile I was feeling like a failure. Tests were done, which were compared to the records I brought. it was determined that there was no damage done to her heart. The echocardiogram which I had brought with us was the same as the one done there. I had forgotten the charger for my phone, and DD's glasses, so I phone the number the manager of Pop had given me and those things were rushed to the hospital.

    The next day I phoned the insurance company and gave them the file number I had been given. They said, don't worry. We are going to look after you. One of the pediatric cardiologists wandered in as I was talking to them on speaker phone, so he overheard some of the conversation. He asked who I was talking to and was very impressed. He said that in Fla the insurance companies were not so nice. They didn't even want to talk to you. I also phoned some friends from home who spend their winters in Florida about an hour away. I felt alone and needed some support. I phoned my congregation at home, and family. This could be terrible. Everyone needed to be informed.

    The doctors were very impressed that I had all the information they needed to give DD her care. Very supportive, except once. DD needed a defibrillator . She was not a candidate for that type of surgery, and one doctor told me if it happened again, just to let her go. Don't do cpr again. Well! That just added to the burden I was already carrying. I'm alone, fighting this , trying to cope. I explained to him that DD loves life. She line dances, plays cards at the senior center, has tea with the older ladies, has a whole congregation of people praying for her right now and is a vibrant part of the community. Everybody who knows her loves her, and if they don't love her it's only because they don't know her. My daughter is not disposable, and as long as she is enjoying life, and takes an interest in things I will fight for life right along side of her. If she loses interest in life, or seems to have given up, then I will understand but until then, I'll be cheering her on. The following day, his attitude had changed. He walked into the room and said "did you know that your daughter is breaking records? She is the longest living person with that type of heart defect. There is no documented evidence anywhere of anyone living as long as she has with her heart problems" After that he was most supportive.

Toronto general hospital wanted her to be sent back to Toronto. Actually, I'm sure that the insurance company wanted her home because they wouldn't have to pay after she got back to Ontario. Fla hospital said ok. Who is the cardiologist. T g said he was on an indefinite leave of absence. Fla said not sending her back without a cardiologist. They said ok we have one for her. Send her back. Meanwhile insurance was trying to dispute our coverage. Another day passes. We got 3 quotes for medical flight home. Time is passing and chaos reigns supreme. On the weekend all offices are closed.

Meanwhile at home DJ is trying to get his passport expediated. He got a flight for Friday but had to show proof of this before that could happen. This had to be done on the internet and DH isn't able to do this so he went to the shell gas station in our small town and they looked after it. Word of mouth spread and now the whole town knows and are cheering for dd. she was now on prayer lists of different churches because it is a small town and like I said everyone loves her.

My DH picked up his passport in Mississauga and went straight to the airport. He and his sister flew out that Friday night getting to Orlando about midnight. We were told that if she was medically evacuated we might only have 10 minutes notice. Meanwhile DH's nephew and his fiance flew down the next day as a surprise for DD. There is a comfort Inn about 2 blocks from the hospital and it is a very safe area, so we were able to walk back and forth there. DH and I took turns sleeping there so every other night we could get a better sleep if we could sleep which was hardly ever but we were able to shower and try to refresh ourselves. On Sunday I called the manager of Pop and explained that we would have to check out. I didn't know what was going to happen. If we could get back and salvage a few days in DD's happy place we were going to try, but we might be flying home at any time too. WDW paid for my taxi back to Pop and to the comfort Inn so I could clear out our room. That was a very trying time, knowing we might never see WDW again.

The insurance was now making everyone jump through hoops. I signed the releases for our family doctor to release info to them. Debbie, at the dr's asked them what info they needed. They faxed what they needed, Debbie filled it out and sent it back. Insurance said that's not what we want. Debbie said tell me what you want. Insurance said send us the whole file. Debbie said I'm not sending the whole file, it's 4 inches thick. You tell me what you want. They said ok, send the last 6 months of her chart. So she did. Then they said they needed the last 6 months records from the cardiologist. I signed the release. But remember, the cardiologist is on a leave of absence and his office is closed. So I phoned medical records at Tor Gen, and gave them permission to release the info to the insurance co. They said the insurance co never requested it!!! I said i would have them fax the request, but medical records doesn't accept faxes or emails. The insurance company must pay for this information and it will not be released until it is paid for. Now we are in quite a pickle. Insurance is saying we don't have coverage.

So now there are 3 suitcases, carry ons, a wheelchair, portable oxygen concentrator and a big medical bag in the room at Comfort inn. If DD is medically transported to Toronto can I travel with her? Can we take anything on that plane? How can DH take all this stuff with him if he is left to fly on his own? So many things to consider. It could cost $30,000 to fly her back to Toronto. As it turned out, this couldn't happen anyway. She could not be transported if she didn't have a bed at Tor Gen and are you sitting down? There was a 2 week wait for a bed, but Tor GGen wasn't worried. She was in a safe place and being taken care of. DH and I were frantic. We could very well loose the farm over this. Time is going on, DD needs a defibrillator but she is not a candidate for such surgery, but wait! There is a new type of defirillator out. The leads do not go into the heart. Fl hospital can perform such surgery. They have implanted many defibrillators and have a surgeon who has implanted more of this type of defibrillator than any one else. However, do we have the coverage? Insurance would like it done in Toronto. Well, I guess so. Then they wouldn't have to pay for it, Ohip , or provincial medical coverage will pay. But the insurance will not say if we have coverage until they get the 6 month report from the cardiologist who is on leave of absence.

  1. DD has been in ICU for 2 weeks now. We couldn't move forward or even back. Then, the answer to our prayers.

    The Electrophysiologist cardiologist came in the room, saying he had good news for us. Hey, we can use some good news. He asked us not to tell anyone, so I can't say exactly what follows, but as he was speaking, we got our miracle. Please use your imagination. The following day, DD was wheeled down for surgery. She had a subcutaneous defibrillator implanted just under the skin below her left armpit, with a lead going down the left side, under the left breast, and then up between the two breasts. She had a surgeon who has implanted more of these devices than anyone else. Her anethesiologist had a 16 year old son with Down's Syndrome. Meanwhile, we paced back and forth in the waiting area. The surgery took longer than they said it would. Finally, we were ushered into the consultation room where the surgeon will talk to us. He came in and told us how it went (fine) and as he was talking, the nurse burst into the room and said "You've got to come and see this!" He rushed us and the surgeon down corridors and through doorways to the recovery room. There was DD sitting up in bed, holding court. Everyone was gathered at the foot of the bed getting such a kick out of her. She was smiling, and talking, charming the whole staff. She was so excited to see us. After a few minutes she was taken back to her room. Some of our friends came to see us and no way no how was DD going to go to sleep. She stayed awake, refusing to miss a minute of anything. What a Girl!!

    I phoned the insurance company after the surgery. I hope you are sitting down. They said now she was covered! I could have choked someone. When we learned that she was to be discharged I called the insurance people again. Did they want us to fly straight home? We don't have a reservation. No, no, you are covered. Stay if you want! I phoned the manager of Pop and explained that we were going to try to squeeze a few more days into the vacation. DH was now with us, so we would need a bigger room for a week. DD had appointments to have the defibrillator checked, another trip to Orlando to see the electro-cardiologist, and another visit on our last day to have her surgical staples removed. She had 18 staples on her left side, and 8 between the breasts. WDW looked after us and put us in a suite at Art of Animation, ground floor with a living room, kitchen, bedroom , regular bathroom, and another bathroom with a roll in shower. They were so good to us. Everyone we met was wonderful to us.

    Two days later, she was discharged. We knew at 8:00 am that she would be, but it took all day to get the papers . In the meantime, there was a continuous stream of people coming in to wish her well. Many, many nurses, doctors she had met over the past two and a half weeks, coming not to check her but to say goodbye. One of the doctors said that DD was the longest survivor with that heart defect. Apparently there is no documented evidence of any one living that long. Most die by the time they are 5 years old. DD turned 46 in July. Cleaning ladies, chaplins, Case managers, Child care workers, on and on. I felt I should put our tea and cookies for this receiving line. At 5:00 pm the discharge papers finally arrived, and we were on our way, Still, nurses and attendants were rushing up to give us a hug and say goodbye. We stayed over at Comfort Inn, then phoned the insurance gain to make sure we were ok, then off to Art of Animation. The manager phoned to see that we were being looked after and the manager of housekeeping dropped by to make sure we had everything we needed.

    DD was very weak. I could give her a shampoo or a shower, but she was too weak for both. When we went to the parks she could only do 1 thing. Then she was done for the day. The exception was one day at Epcot when she did the Frozen ride, and met Mary Poppins too. When we got back from Epcot, we discovered a bag from Art of Animation, with cookies, juice, water, cheese, crackers, trail mix, more trail mix, fruit, so many things. We couldn't eat it all. That sure was a nice surprise.

    After a week, we flew home. I know we will never go back. Even if the insurance or DH said it would be ok, I don't believe I ever could . It was the most traumatic thing you could ever imagine. Whenever I would close my eyes to sleep, I would see cardboard caskets being loaded onto airplanes. I would dream that I was driving down the highway with DD beside me , glancing over to her to see she was gone, dragging her out of the car and doing cpr again, or that she would wake up with the defibrillator lying beside her. Horrible, horrible nightmares.

    All of this happened 16 months ago. Every day I'm celebrating with DD, hugging her to the point of her frustration but that's ok, I've got my girl. The post traumatic stress is slowly dissolving and DD is doing fine. To look at her you would never know that she was once clinically dead for 7 minutes. They said most people are afraid to start cpr, afraid of hurting the person. I must add, DD was so sore. She cried whenever her bed was adjusted or she had to move. No bones were broken, but she had a badly bruised sternum. I was I learned that the mortality rate is 95% if one goes into cardiac arrest. Only 5 % survive, and most of those have physical or cognitive impairment, but because I started the cpr right away there was no damage done. I mentioned those statistics to a CM and she told me no, in WDW the statistics go up to 28% survival because the paramedics are there so quickly. So it couldn't have happened in a better place.

    We took DD to Toronto General, where the head of the device department told us that DD has the Cadillac of defibrillators. It wasn't approved in Canada, so they had to apply to Ottawa to be able to download the software to check it. It has been checked several times now, and DD is doing fine. She went through a period where the heart rate was very erratic, 77, 55, 62, 28, 47 62, 35 etc. The Dr put a holter monitor on her for 3 days and in that span of time, her heart stopped 248 times. Well, I assure you that put me in another tailspin. Apparently, the medication Florida Hospital put her on can cause this, so the medication was discontinued. The med was for fibrillation, but the icd should help in that regard. So, ya. To look at DD you would never suspect that she has these issues. My little energizer bunny keeps going and going.
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pampam said:
Three disasters.

Years ago, I bought US $ traveler's cheques in Canada. Got to WDW and found out that they had accidentally given me Canadian $ traveler's cheques instead. Canadian $ was very low at the time, and my traveler's cheques were about as valuable as toilet paper. The bank in Canada reimbursed me the difference but I still lost every time I cashed a cheque because I was dealing in a foreign currency. Stressfull.

Another trip. I phoned home and learned that my BIL had died. I had to go home right away. Disney was spot on, phoning the airline for us, arranging DD's oxygen for the trip home, phoning DH to let him know of our changed plans, and arranging transportation to the airport. This was years before Magic Express.

The last disaster was a nightmare beyond description DD and I flew out from Toronto for our annual pilgrimage to WDW.. The following day, DH applied for his passport, thinking he may join us later. It is not his happy place, but DD enjoys it so usually it is just Mom and Daughter time. We had been there about a week, seeing the parks, shopping, just taking our time. We had a handicap room at Pop, close to the food court, and it was a great. I must add that DD has Down's Syndrome and all the health problems that go with it. So she uses a wheelchair, oxygen, and we just take our time, doing things at her speed. I must also state that DD never complains. Also that I am not medically trained, so please don't fault me. I do the best I can.
  1. On Monday Jan. 23 2017 DD was still sleeping so I took our cups and went for the coffee run. Just outside our door was the pool, and they were doing c.p.r. training with the life guards. I had taken c.p.r training but it was a few years ago, and I could use a refresher course too. One forgets so much, and things change. I found it very interesting. One never knows when such things will be needed, so I watched what was going on behind the fence for 6 or 7 minutes. 30 compressions 2 puffs. 30 compressions 2 puffs. Very interesting. I went and checked on DD, then went back out for the coffee. By this time, the lifeguards had changed partners and were at the beginning of the training. Someone has collapsed. What do we do? Are you all right? Do you need help? Are they breathing? Do they have a pulse? Are they younger than 8 years old? Why do we need to know this? 30 compressions and 2 puffs. I watched for another 5 minutes then carried on for the coffee.

    We went to Disney Studios that day. DD wore her Belle gown and looked just wonderful. I noticed that she seemed a little off. I took her oxygen, not too bad, but the oximeter said her pulse was not regular..60, 55, 70, 40, 66, 35, 72 etc. Is this thing acting up? I went to first aid and asked them to check her pulse. The nurse didn't give me her numbers, but checked it a few times, said it seemed ok. She didn't notice anything unusual. I even used the oximeter on DD at the same time and the readings were the same as hers. Ok. Just a fluke. DD seemed ok. We carried on.

    The next morning, we slept in. When I realized we were running late, I woke up DD and got washed and dressed. DD got up, I grabbed the cups, but decided I would phone DH first while DD got up and ready. I was sitting on one side of the king bed talking to him and I felt DD get on the other side of the bed. The conversation carried on but then I excused myself while I checked on DD. She was laying on the bed with her legs hanging over the bed to the floor, her arms above her head. "That's nice" I thought , having a good stretch. I looked at her, her eyes were open, mouth open, but she was gone, a grey colour. I tried to rouse her, but couldn't. Ran to the phone, told DD I'd call him back. Tried to call 911 but couldn't get out of the Disney phone system. Opened the door and called "Call 911, call 911, I need help here in this room. Call 911" Rushed back to DD. She wasn't breathing. I started c.p.r. Someone rushed into the room and reminded me she needed to be on the floor. Duh!! I knew that, just wasn't thinking. Dragged her on the floor and resumed c.p.r. He said can I help? I said, "yes, you see that machine there? It's oxygen. Turn it up as high as it will go!" 30 compressions 2 puffs. 30 compressions 2 puffs. Come on baby! you can do this.. Mommy needs you. 30 compressions 2 puffs, over and over. DD gave kind of a gurgle, as the paramedics burst into the room. By this time a small crowd had gathered at the door. I told them that DD just make a sound but not sure if she was breathing. Not! Cardiac Arrest. They took over. 30 compressions 2 puffs again and again. No response. Defibrillator, everyone stand clear! The defibrillator said not to zap her, and she began to rouse. She had ben in vtec for 6-7 minutes. By the time she was on the gurnney she was conscious, and by the time she got into the ambulance she was "chatty Cathy". I grabbed my bag, her bag, a file with her medical history, and rushed after them. As I climbed into the front of the ambulance, the manager of Pop gave me her card with her own phone number on the back, telling me to contact her if there was anything I needed. Off to Celebration Hospital, all the time, telling her that I was here in the front seat, it was going to be ok. Trying to tell myself the same thing.

    We arrived at Celebration, and she was stabilized. The staff there said this never happens. They expected her to be intubated, on life support. I figured they were trying to be kind. I phoned DH to update him, and then we were transferred to Florida Hospital. Enroute, they again said "We never see this! This is so encouraging to us! On tv it happens all the time, but we never, never see this. By starting early cpr, you saved her life." I sure didn't feel that way! I was grieving over a loss, so afraid I would loose her.

    At Florida Hospital, as you can imagine, it was a blur. She was put in i.c.u. and we met many many doctors. They were so relieved that I had brought her records with her medical history. All sorts of nurses and others came in to meet us. They wanted to meet the mom who did cpr and saved her daughters life. Meanwhile I was feeling like a failure. Tests were done, which were compared to the records I brought. it was determined that there was no damage done to her heart. The echocardiogram which I had brought with us was the same as the one done there. I had forgotten the charger for my phone, and DD's glasses, so I phone the number the manager of Pop had given me and those things were rushed to the hospital.

    The next day I phoned the insurance company and gave them the file number I had been given. They said, don't worry. We are going to look after you. One of the pediatric cardiologists wandered in as I was talking to them on speaker phone, so he overheard some of the conversation. He asked who I was talking to and was very impressed. He said that in Fla the insurance companies were not so nice. They didn't even want to talk to you. I also phoned some friends from home who spend their winters in Florida about an hour away. I felt alone and needed some support. I phoned my congregation at home, and family. This could be terrible. Everyone needed to be informed.

    The doctors were very impressed that I had all the information they needed to give DD her care. Very supportive, except once. DD needed a defibrillator . She was not a candidate for that type of surgery, and one doctor told me if it happened again, just to let her go. Don't do cpr again. Well! That just added to the burden I was already carrying. I'm alone, fighting this , trying to cope. I explained to him that DD loves life. She line dances, plays cards at the senior center, has tea with the older ladies, has a whole congregation of people praying for her right now and is a vibrant part of the community. Everybody who knows her loves her, and if they don't love her it's only because they don't know her. My daughter is not disposable, and as long as she is enjoying life, and takes an interest in things I will fight for life right along side of her. If she loses interest in life, or seems to have given up, then I will understand but until then, I'll be cheering her on. The following day, his attitude had changed. He walked into the room and said "did you know that your daughter is breaking records? She is the longest living person with that type of heart defect. There is no documented evidence anywhere of anyone living as long as she has with her heart problems" After that he was most supportive.

Toronto general hospital wanted her to be sent back to Toronto. Actually, I'm sure that the insurance company wanted her home because they wouldn't have to pay after she got back to Ontario. Fla hospital said ok. Who is the cardiologist. T g said he was on an indefinite leave of absence. Fla said not sending her back without a cardiologist. They said ok we have one for her. Send her back. Meanwhile insurance was trying to dispute our coverage. Another day passes. We got 3 quotes for medical flight home. Time is passing and chaos reigns supreme. On the weekend all offices are closed.

Meanwhile at home DJ is trying to get his passport expediated. He got a flight for Friday but had to show proof of this before that could happen. This had to be done on the internet and DH isn't able to do this so he went to the shell gas station in our small town and they looked after it. Word of mouth spread and now the whole town knows and are cheering for dd. she was now on prayer lists of different churches because it is a small town and like I said everyone loves her.

My DH picked up his passport in Mississauga and went straight to the airport. He and his sister flew out that Friday night getting to Orlando about midnight. We were told that if she was medically evacuated we might only have 10 minutes notice. Meanwhile DH's nephew and his fiance flew down the next day as a surprise for DD. There is a comfort Inn about 2 blocks from the hospital and it is a very safe area, so we were able to walk back and forth there. DH and I took turns sleeping there so every other night we could get a better sleep if we could sleep which was hardly ever but we were able to shower and try to refresh ourselves. On Sunday I called the manager of Pop and explained that we would have to check out. I didn't know what was going to happen. If we could get back and salvage a few days in DD's happy place we were going to try, but we might be flying home at any time too. WDW paid for my taxi back to Pop and to the comfort Inn so I could clear out our room. That was a very trying time, knowing we might never see WDW again.

The insurance was now making everyone jump through hoops. I signed the releases for our family doctor to release info to them. Debbie, at the dr's asked them what info they needed. They faxed what they needed, Debbie filled it out and sent it back. Insurance said that's not what we want. Debbie said tell me what you want. Insurance said send us the whole file. Debbie said I'm not sending the whole file, it's 4 inches thick. You tell me what you want. They said ok, send the last 6 months of her chart. So she did. Then they said they needed the last 6 months records from the cardiologist. I signed the release. But remember, the cardiologist is on a leave of absence and his office is closed. So I phoned medical records at Tor Gen, and gave them permission to release the info to the insurance co. They said the insurance co never requested it!!! I said i would have them fax the request, but medical records doesn't accept faxes or emails. The insurance company must pay for this information and it will not be released until it is paid for. Now we are in quite a pickle. Insurance is saying we don't have coverage.

So now there are 3 suitcases, carry ons, a wheelchair, portable oxygen concentrator and a big medical bag in the room at Comfort inn. If DD is medically transported to Toronto can I travel with her? Can we take anything on that plane? How can DH take all this stuff with him if he is left to fly on his own? So many things to consider. It could cost $30,000 to fly her back to Toronto. As it turned out, this couldn't happen anyway. She could not be transported if she didn't have a bed at Tor Gen and are you sitting down? There was a 2 week wait for a bed, but Tor GGen wasn't worried. She was in a safe place and being taken care of. DH and I were frantic. We could very well loose the farm over this. Time is going on, DD needs a defibrillator but she is not a candidate for such surgery, but wait! There is a new type of defirillator out. The leads do not go into the heart. Fl hospital can perform such surgery. They have implanted many defibrillators and have a surgeon who has implanted more of this type of defibrillator than any one else. However, do we have the coverage? Insurance would like it done in Toronto. Well, I guess so. Then they wouldn't have to pay for it, Ohip , or provincial medical coverage will pay. But the insurance will not say if we have coverage until they get the 6 month report from the cardiologist who is on leave of absence.

  1. DD has been in ICU for 2 weeks now. We couldn't move forward or even back. Then, the answer to our prayers.

    The Electrophysiologist cardiologist came in the room, saying he had good news for us. Hey, we can use some good news. He asked us not to tell anyone, so I can't say exactly what follows, but as he was speaking, we got our miracle. Please use your imagination. The following day, DD was wheeled down for surgery. She had a subcutaneous defibrillator implanted just under the skin below her left armpit, with a lead going down the left side, under the left breast, and then up between the two breasts. She had a surgeon who has implanted more of these devices than anyone else. Her anethesiologist had a 16 year old son with Down's Syndrome. Meanwhile, we paced back and forth in the waiting area. The surgery took longer than they said it would. Finally, we were ushered into the consultation room where the surgeon will talk to us. He came in and told us how it went (fine) and as he was talking, the nurse burst into the room and said "You've got to come and see this!" He rushed us and the surgeon down corridors and through doorways to the recovery room. There was DD sitting up in bed, holding court. Everyone was gathered at the foot of the bed getting such a kick out of her. She was smiling, and talking, charming the whole staff. She was so excited to see us. After a few minutes she was taken back to her room. Some of our friends came to see us and no way no how was DD going to go to sleep. She stayed awake, refusing to miss a minute of anything. What a Girl!!

    I phoned the insurance company after the surgery. I hope you are sitting down. They said now she was covered! I could have choked someone. When we learned that she was to be discharged I called the insurance people again. Did they want us to fly straight home? We don't have a reservation. No, no, you are covered. Stay if you want! I phoned the manager of Pop and explained that we were going to try to squeeze a few more days into the vacation. DH was now with us, so we would need a bigger room for a week. DD had appointments to have the defibrillator checked, another trip to Orlando to see the electro-cardiologist, and another visit on our last day to have her surgical staples removed. She had 18 staples on her left side, and 8 between the breasts. WDW looked after us and put us in a suite at Art of Animation, ground floor with a living room, kitchen, bedroom , regular bathroom, and another bathroom with a roll in shower. They were so good to us. Everyone we met was wonderful to us.

    Two days later, she was discharged. We knew at 8:00 am that she would be, but it took all day to get the papers . In the meantime, there was a continuous stream of people coming in to wish her well. Many, many nurses, doctors she had met over the past two and a half weeks, coming not to check her but to say goodbye. One of the doctors said that DD was the longest survivor with that heart defect. Apparently there is no documented evidence of any one living that long. Most die by the time they are 5 years old. DD turned 46 in July. Cleaning ladies, chaplins, Case managers, Child care workers, on and on. I felt I should put our tea and cookies for this receiving line. At 5:00 pm the discharge papers finally arrived, and we were on our way, Still, nurses and attendants were rushing up to give us a hug and say goodbye. We stayed over at Comfort Inn, then phoned the insurance gain to make sure we were ok, then off to Art of Animation. The manager phoned to see that we were being looked after and the manager of housekeeping dropped by to make sure we had everything we needed.

    DD was very weak. I could give her a shampoo or a shower, but she was too weak for both. When we went to the parks she could only do 1 thing. Then she was done for the day. The exception was one day at Epcot when she did the Frozen ride, and met Mary Poppins too. When we got back from Epcot, we discovered a bag from Art of Animation, with cookies, juice, water, cheese, crackers, trail mix, more trail mix, fruit, so many things. We couldn't eat it all. That sure was a nice surprise.

    After a week, we flew home. I know we will never go back. Even if the insurance or DH said it would be ok, I don't believe I ever could . It was the most traumatic thing you could ever imagine. Whenever I would close my eyes to sleep, I would see cardboard caskets being loaded onto airplanes. I would dream that I was driving down the highway with DD beside me , glancing over to her to see she was gone, dragging her out of the car and doing cpr again, or that she would wake up with the defibrillator lying beside her. Horrible, horrible nightmares.

    All of this happened 16 months ago. Every day I'm celebrating with DD, hugging her to the point of her frustration but that's ok, I've got my girl. The post traumatic stress is slowly dissolving and DD is doing fine. To look at her you would never know that she was once clinically dead for 7 minutes. They said most people are afraid to start cpr, afraid of hurting the person. I must add, DD was so sore. She cried whenever her bed was adjusted or she had to move. No bones were broken, but she had a badly bruised sternum. I was I learned that the mortality rate is 95% if one goes into cardiac arrest. Only 5 % survive, and most of those have physical or cognitive impairment, but because I started the cpr right away there was no damage done. I mentioned those statistics to a CM and she told me no, in WDW the statistics go up to 28% survival because the paramedics are there so quickly. So it couldn't have happened in a better place.

    We took DD to Toronto General, where the head of the device department told us that DD has the Cadillac of defibrillators. It wasn't approved in Canada, so they had to apply to Ottawa to be able to download the software to check it. It has been checked several times now, and DD is doing fine. She went through a period where the heart rate was very erratic, 77, 55, 62, 28, 47 62, 35 etc. The Dr put a holter monitor on her for 3 days and in that span of time, her heart stopped 248 times. Well, I assure you that put me in another tailspin. Apparently, the medication Florida Hospital put her on can cause this, so the medication was discontinued. The med was for fibrillation, but the icd should help in that regard. So, ya. To look at DD you would never suspect that she has these issues. My little energizer bunny keeps going and going.
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That is such a frightening experience, you two are so lucky to have one another. Our children are our precious gifts in life, I loved your story and the happy ending.
 
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I took my then six year old daughter on her first trip to Disney thirteen years ago I think it was second day of parks when I started having a miscarriage in the restroom. Disney called the paramedics were I was rushed to the hospital. Disney kept in touch and gave us non expiring pass to come back another time. I stayed in hotel for two days and got myself together before taking my daughter back to the park for a few days. We still had one day left on the pass and few years later while we were in Tampa bay for football game we decided to drive up and take my 2 year old to magic kingdom for her first time using that pass. Also, I forgot to mention Disney gave my six year gifts and took her around the parks and brought her and my husband to the hospital later that evening. The cast there were great to my daughter.:love:
 
lelew said:
I took my then six year old daughter on her first trip to Disney thirteen years ago I think it was second day of parks when I started having a miscarriage in the restroom. Disney called the paramedics were I was rushed to the hospital. Disney kept in touch and gave us non expiring pass to come back another time. I stayed in hotel for two days and got myself together before taking my daughter back to the park for a few days. We still had one day left on the pass and few years later while we were in Tampa bay for football game we decided to drive up and take my 2 year old to magic kingdom for her first time using that pass. Also, I forgot to mention Disney gave my six year gifts and took her around the parks and brought her and my husband to the hospital later that evening. The cast there were great to my daughter.:love:
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Oh my, so sorry to hear you went through all that. Disney really does help out any way they can in the worst situations. Hugs
 
Two minor glitches. First... family had been with us at WDW, but they finally left. It was just DD (who was about 10 at the time) and me, gearing up for our last day, a Magic Kingdom day. The evening before, we had dinner at 1900 Park Faire. Well, by midnight I had my head in the toilet, and vomited all through the night and half of the next day. We couldn't go to MK on our last day; DD was stuck in the hotel room with me. We were offsite at the Nikki Bird, and the staff couldn't have been more helpful, but still so depressing to miss our last day at Disney.

The second one was when we went to celebrate DD"s 21st birthday. She wanted to go to Food&Wine with her parents; even when we offered to bring her boyfriend or best friend along, she said nope, she wanted to do this with just us. COOL!! We went over Columbus Day weekend as everyone was off from school (DD was in college, DH on faculty, I taught in the public schools) andI spent the money for a studio at BWV (we never spend money on the room, values or offsite are fine by us) by renting DVC points. We had a great trip, saving our big Food and Wine day tour for our last day, to celebrate DD's birthday (which was at the end of September)... except I started vomiting around 1am. I was so sick!! DD and DH went to F&W without me, which was fine by me at that point, but I was so sad! I'd planned this trip for most of a year and I missed the highlight, the focus, of the whole trip! I was well enough to travel home the next day, of course! The end of the story is predictable, right? When we got on our connecting flight in Baltimore, DD said "Mom, I feel a little funny." Oh no. BY the time we landed in Portland, ME, she was saying "I'm going to puke, let me off the plane, let me through" and she ran for the bathroom! We met her in the bathroom (small airport) and it was clear she wasn't going to be able to make the 2+ hour trip home. I rented a hotel room, stashed her in it, put DH on the last bus north (he had to teach in the morning), and DD and I stayed in Portland so SHE could be sick! It was a good choice.. we would have had to have the minivan fumigated by a haz-mat team, or just burned, if we'd tried to get her home that night!
 
leebee said:
Two minor glitches. First... family had been with us at WDW, but they finally left. It was just DD (who was about 10 at the time) and me, gearing up for our last day, a Magic Kingdom day. The evening before, we had dinner at 1900 Park Faire. Well, by midnight I had my head in the toilet, and vomited all through the night and half of the next day. We couldn't go to MK on our last day; DD was stuck in the hotel room with me. We were offsite at the Nikki Bird, and the staff couldn't have been more helpful, but still so depressing to miss our last day at Disney.

The second one was when we went to celebrate DD"s 21st birthday. She wanted to go to Food&Wine with her parents; even when we offered to bring her boyfriend or best friend along, she said nope, she wanted to do this with just us. COOL!! We went over Columbus Day weekend as everyone was off from school (DD was in college, DH on faculty, I taught in the public schools) andI spent the money for a studio at BWV (we never spend money on the room, values or offsite are fine by us) by renting DVC points. We had a great trip, saving our big Food and Wine day tour for our last day, to celebrate DD's birthday (which was at the end of September)... except I started vomiting around 1am. I was so sick!! DD and DH went to F&W without me, which was fine by me at that point, but I was so sad! I'd planned this trip for most of a year and I missed the highlight, the focus, of the whole trip! I was well enough to travel home the next day, of course! The end of the story is predictable, right? When we got on our connecting flight in Baltimore, DD said "Mom, I feel a little funny." Oh no. BY the time we landed in Portland, ME, she was saying "I'm going to puke, let me off the plane, let me through" and she ran for the bathroom! We met her in the bathroom (small airport) and it was clear she wasn't going to be able to make the 2+ hour trip home. I rented a hotel room, stashed her in it, put DH on the last bus north (he had to teach in the morning), and DD and I stayed in Portland so SHE could be sick! It was a good choice.. we would have had to have the minivan fumigated by a haz-mat team, or just burned, if we'd tried to get her home that night!
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Oh gosh that is not supposed to happen at Disney & twice,you poor thing.
 
lelew said:
I took my then six year old daughter on her first trip to Disney thirteen years ago I think it was second day of parks when I started having a miscarriage in the restroom. Disney called the paramedics were I was rushed to the hospital. Disney kept in touch and gave us non expiring pass to come back another time. I stayed in hotel for two days and got myself together before taking my daughter back to the park for a few days. We still had one day left on the pass and few years later while we were in Tampa bay for football game we decided to drive up and take my 2 year old to magic kingdom for her first time using that pass. Also, I forgot to mention Disney gave my six year gifts and took her around the parks and brought her and my husband to the hospital later that evening. The cast there were great to my daughter.:love:
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:hug:'s
 
Ours seems so trivial compared to many of you but no matter what it is, it's a disaster when it deviates from the norm.

Once at Disney, we were married for 2 years, DD was 15 mo old. DH put his ring on the bed, put his sunscreen on, off we went to AK for the morning. He is on the bus saying "where is my ring" and realized he left it on the bed at the Poly. So we went back to the Poly, the bus driver that took us there was nice enough to bring us to the TTC. We went to our room, it was probably around 8-9am, and walked in and mousekeeping had already been there. But dh's ring was on the bedside table. So lucky!!

A few years ago, non Disney trip, we were on Sanibel. We drove down from CT, stayed at my sisters, van seats 7, there were 8 of us but my mom went home that morning so we were down to 7 (dh, me and our 3 kids, my sister and her dh), so we took the van to Sanibel, dh, ds and BIL went fishing, myself, sister and 2 dd's went shelling. I walk back to where dh was and ask him "where is your wallet" as he was knee deep in the water. He points to where the fishing gear is (OK dumb move on his part since he was not watching it and someone could take it) but his wallet was there. Then I ask "where are the key" and he reaches in his pocket, the same pocket that the waves were coming up to and hitting and comes out empty handed. We had a spare set but it was at my sisters, a 10 min drive away over the causeway. We called AAA and $250 later we got a new fob for the car. It took about 2 hours, BIL continued to fish with my ds while dh waited for AAA. All our water was in the car. Luckily it wasn't super hot out!
 
I've done something like that a few times. Somehow my weird ones always have to do with debit cards.

Silly Story Number One:

When I went on my first work trip years ago in my early twenties they gave me cash for my expenses and I was supposed to bring back receipts which I did. I'd never held that much cash in my hand at one time - think it was maybe $175 or $200 - and I put it in my bank account thinking I'd use that new fangled debit card.

Turned out although it was supposedly a nation wide debit card / atm company, it wasn't in use in the city I was sent to. This was before debit cards were also Visa's so I had no way to access any of the funds via the card for anything.

I ended up bawling all over some poor clerk in a check cashing joint who bent the rules to cash a $75 personal check for me. I ate PB&J for many of my meals due to having to spend most of the $75 on training courses and was so pitiful on my return my boss let me keep the remaining cash.

Silly Story Number Two

Then I went on a trip a couple of years ago with my adult children. We were leaving very early from the airport so we decided to stay in a hotel the night prior. When I went to use my debit card to get cash on the way to the hotel it would not work because it was expired. I didn't figure out it was expired until I called the bank which will be important later.

Next I called my spouse at home and asked had he forgotten to give me my card. Found out he'd received his new card but only his in an envelope a few days prior addressed just to him. He just assumed I'd grabbed the separate envelope with mine he assumed they'd sent and never thought to ask.

He decided to drive down to meet me with cash obtained via his debit card. Luckily he decided to stop at the bank in town since he was passing it to get the cash because that's when he discovered his new card wouldn't work, either. Turns out when I had called they put in an order for a replacement card triggering cancellation of both cards.

The hilarity continued when I returned home and discovered they'd once again only sent him a card. Called and finally they sent us two cards, but neither of our codes worked. More phone calls and we eventually discovered we had to go into the bank and set new codes, which could not be the same as our old codes, due to two reports of stolen cards in such a short period triggering some sort of fraud prevention at the bank.

Edit: I added the "silly story" tags because after reading everyone else's these two worst travel experience stories of mine seem awfully minor really.
 
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monorailsilver said:
Ours seems so trivial compared to many of you but no matter what it is, it's a disaster when it deviates from the norm.

Once at Disney, we were married for 2 years, DD was 15 mo old. DH put his ring on the bed, put his sunscreen on, off we went to AK for the morning. He is on the bus saying "where is my ring" and realized he left it on the bed at the Poly. So we went back to the Poly, the bus driver that took us there was nice enough to bring us to the TTC. We went to our room, it was probably around 8-9am, and walked in and mousekeeping had already been there. But dh's ring was on the bedside table. So lucky!!

A few years ago, non Disney trip, we were on Sanibel. We drove down from CT, stayed at my sisters, van seats 7, there were 8 of us but my mom went home that morning so we were down to 7 (dh, me and our 3 kids, my sister and her dh), so we took the van to Sanibel, dh, ds and BIL went fishing, myself, sister and 2 dd's went shelling. I walk back to where dh was and ask him "where is your wallet" as he was knee deep in the water. He points to where the fishing gear is (OK dumb move on his part since he was not watching it and someone could take it) but his wallet was there. Then I ask "where are the key" and he reaches in his pocket, the same pocket that the waves were coming up to and hitting and comes out empty handed. We had a spare set but it was at my sisters, a 10 min drive away over the causeway. We called AAA and $250 later we got a new fob for the car. It took about 2 hours, BIL continued to fish with my ds while dh waited for AAA. All our water was in the car. Luckily it wasn't super hot out!
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I didn’t know AAA can help get a new fob?
 
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My story seems quite trivial comparatively, but it was awful at the time.
On the last day of our trip we had planned enough time to be at Epcot for a few hours, and then fly home. I woke up with a killer migraine, but tried to rally and be with my family. We were in line at Soarin’ and I knew I wasn’t going to make it. I went to a first aid center and laid down. The nurse was were wonderful there. I laid in agony until it was time to go, and it was pouring torrential rain. I have no memory of getting from Epcot to the airport, but I remember the pain in my head during the flight being so bad, it was all I could do not to scream. I must have looked like an addict. I was bent over, rocking back and forth and crying. I remember praying for the plane to crash (terrible, I know)! I got off the plane an vomited in the airport bathroom. A horrible end to the trip.
 
Last year 4 days before we were leaving I broke my toe. Sunday night my wife wanted to go skating, (we are a roller skating family) and I said No Way! knowing my luck I would fall and get hurt before our trip. Well, It was adult night at our local rink so I told her to go and I would stay home and watch the girls and go over our list for Disney. I decided we needed to clean and I was trying to get 2 little girls to listen and in my aggravation I kicked the corner going from our kitchen to the living room. It hurt so bad! I knew I broke it. I iced it for hours and the swelling went down but it still hurt. The next morning (Monday) I was able to get a Dr. appointment and just as I thought, 4th toe broke in 2 places. All I could do was buddy tape it to my middle toe. Our disney trip was painful but I managed. Irma did give me 2 days to stay off it and halfway through our trip it was a lot better. Just sore but not painful.
 
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