Okay, here goes...
So my son (did I mention he was 5?) required surgery to repair a skull fracture and an epidural hematoma (blood between the outer covering of the brain and the skull). He was transfered to Arnold Palmer Children's hospital, across the street from Orlando Regional Medical center, for the procedure. The surgery took less than 2 hours.
While we were in the waiting room a very sweet man from Disney came by to relieve the manager from the Contemporary. His name was David and he was fantastic. He took my other 2 children to the playground at the hospital and kept them entertained while we waited.
Once my son was out of surgery and settled in the pediatric ICU David took the rest of the family (I stayed at the hospital) back to the Contemporary. Joe ( the manager from the Contemporary) had upgraded their room to the concierge level with a view of the Magic Kingdom. There were balloons and stuffed mickey's for the kids, and they had dinner at Chef Mickey's. This was so helpful to us. The kid's were obviously traumatized by witnessing the accident, so it took their minds off the day somewhat.
As I said, I spent the next 2 nights in the PICU sleeping on a futon with a view of the parking lot
. Needless to say I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. My son convalesced pretty quickly...I was able to wheel him around the hospital in a wagon by the second day.
By the third day my husband had moved our suitcases to a townhouse in the Emerald Isle development on 192. I actually started crying when they told me he was doing so well he could be discharged. I remember how thrilled I was to be driving from the hospital to the townhouse with my baby tucked into a car seat. It could have been so much worse. I try to push those thoughts out of my head...but I can't help but wonder what if...
My son improved so much once he was out of the hospital. By that night he was walking around the condo and blowing bubbles. The next day he and dad took a short walk to hunt for lizzards.
We wanted to try to salvage a little bit of the trip for him, so I called Joe to ask of there was a hadicapped viewing area in the MK we could watch Wishes from. It was spring break so we were afraid of the crowds. Joe arranged for us to watch Wishes that night from the 14th floor concierge balcony at the Contemporary.
The day before we left we took a short trip the the Animal Kingdom to say goodbye to David, the cast member that had spent so much time helping take care of our other children while our son was in surgery. He runs the Nemo musical. He let us in the theatre early so we didn't have to wait in the line.
That night I stopped at Downtown Disney to upgrade our tickets to non-expiring. The cast member ran the tickets and looked puzzled: "I noticed you only used 2 day of your 7 day tickets, was there a problem with your visit?" In my typical midwestern way a stammered and tried to explain what happened without getting emotional...Ha! I ended up crying all over again while I recalled what had happened 5 days prior. She was so sweet she upgraded or passes to non-expiring for free.
So that's about it. He has a scar on the side of his head, but no lasting effects. If anyone asks him about the scar my lovely little man say "I got in a knife fight in Tijuana!" Needless to say dad taught him this one.
We were so very lucky, and really blessed to have met so many lovely people along the way. I still have the socks he was wearing that day in my purse. If I am having a bad day I just take them out and realize just how lucky I really am
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. Yikes, kind of difficult to listen to yourself on a recording, unless you are a professional podcaster
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Too bad because I really want to thank a few CM's on the podcast. Already thanked them in person but it's not enough for what they did.
