Greetings, we have just returned from the "Land of the Mouse." Limited access to the Internet, and, to be honest, a need to avoid thinking about medical issues, kept me from keeping you up-to-date, but all went extremely well. Alyssa loved her time in the sun and only had a few "bumps in the road" with her peritoneal dialysis treatments. Following is a recap of the week's best activities, but as one who has the attention span of a fruit fly, I'll keep it brief.
We left last Thursday, flying non-stop into Orlando. A connection free flight was a must to eliminate the possibility of getting stuck somewhere without access to her dialysis equipment and supplies. We found out quickly that traveling with a person with special needs is a very challenging proposition. We use to worry about whether we packed enough underwear and socks...now we need to focus on such things as getting dialysis supplies delivered to the hotel, where will they be stored and where do we find access to items such as a scale. The latter was procured during a midnight run to an all night CVS store. But don't worry, we all wore clean socks and underwear every day.
Our first few days were spent with Grandma Deff at her Melbourne Beach winter retreat. It was nice to just relax for a few days with visits to the beach/pool , a little shopping and a great deal of talking with grandma. She has been down here since Alyssa fell ill, so much time was spent filling her in on what Alyssa has been through.
On Saturday we switched our home base to Reunion, Florida, a small town near Disney World, to begin attending Ryan's baseball games at Disney's Wide World of Sports. Trying to avoid Disney's exorbitant prices, I hit the web and found a great deal at the Reunion Inn, a new golf resort, with three courses designed by Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson. For half the cost of what Disney wanted, we had a three bedroom villa that felt bigger than our house.
We attended all of Ryan's Athena games, with the team going 6-0. Ryan got to pitch in the big stadium, which is the spring training home for the Atlanta Braves. We also did a couple days in the Disney parks. The weather was perfect - warm days and cool nights - providing us with a nice respite from the chilly Rochester temperatures that we had been experiencing.
Alyssa did very well with her PD treatments. She kept in daily contact with her nurses back in Rochester, providing them with updates on her vitals and getting advice on how to handle a few issues that popped-up. Her blood pressure readings remained good throughout the trip, which prompted her doctor to eliminate clonindine from her daily meds.
The best part of the trip though was just watching Alyssa smile and laugh again. She was able to spend a week away from doctors and tests and just able to be old self again. Sun, baseball, Disney, beaches, grandma and her first real shower in three months...all the ingredients for a great week, which is exactly what it was. The only thing missing were brothers Mark and Kyle who stayed back in Rochester for Kyle's games.
We've learned over the last few months that life can be very fragile and as such, you need to make the most of every day. The past seven days were spent with this in mind and will never be forgotten by all of us.
Now back to work...it's time to start looking for a kidney!
dd
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I am so thrilled that you were able to escape and enjoy the family and weather! I know just how rejuvenating it can be. Thanks for sharing the good news.
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