Make A Wish Trip

Hello Everyone!

So much for blogging on a weekly basis :(. I am wondering when things will slow down a little bit. We have been on the go for the last two weeks. Saturday, October 16th, we kicked off the MAW trip with a night at the Santa Maria Speedway. Jackson loves the speedway, so MAW thought that would be a great place to to present us with Jackson's wish trip details. We flew out of LAX on Monday morning and arrived in Orlando at about 4:30 in the afternoon. The kids did well on the plane and we met Eric Estrada on our flight. From Orlando airport we went to the Nickelodeon Suites Resort. Tuesday, we spent the whole day at the hotel, where Jackson got slimed that afternoon. He wasn't so sure of all the commotion at first( he doesn't like to be the center of attention), but he enjoyed it afterward when he was covered in slimy green stuff. He even "shared some" with Warren. Wednesday, we had a one day pass to Disney World. We chose to go to Magic Kingdom. The kids, Warren, and I went on rides, met characters, and bought souvenirs. On Thursday and Friday, we had park hopper passes to Universal Studios Orlando and it's sister park, Islands of Adventure. We had a great time both days. Jackson is a roller coaster demon! He had a blast on just about everything we went on. Hayden, on the other hand, wasn't too sure about any of the rides I took her on. Saturday, we spent another day at the hotel, just enjoying their amenities. We hung out at the pool, went on water slides repeatedly, enjoyed poolside entertainment, evening shows, and also booked another private sliming, this time for Madison. Jackson decided this time that he wanted to join in the fun with her, so he was able to be slimed twice in one week. They had a blast getting slimed together. Sunday was checkout day and we had to check out by 11am. Our flight didn't leave until 6:50, so we spent the day at Gatorland. That was a lot of fun also. We saw tons of alligators and a few crocodiles. The kids held an alligator and took a picture. We also fed some of the gators with hot dogs from the "bait booth"and fed a 97 year old tortoise a carrot or two. We watched a gator wrestling show and ate some fried gator nuggets. It tastes like chicken, tough chicken! At about 4pm we headed over to the airport, turned in the rental car, and got ready to board our plane. We arrived at LAX at about 9pm and our private shuttle, Shining Star Shuttle, was waiting for us. They also drove us down to LAX on Monday. We finally made it home at about 1am. The kids handled the trip surprisingly well considering it was non stop and most days they didn't get naps. Jackson did extremely well considering his endurance is so low. Warren and I both took Monday off work, we should have taken another whole week! We were tired.

Jackson turned 6 years old on Tuesday the 26th. Another birthday for Jackson! A really important milestone for anyone who has had cancer. We didn't do much because we had had such a busy week. We will probably do a little something for him in a couple of weeks when Madison come back from her moms. So, that evening of Jackson's birthday we spent it driving up to Family House in San Francisco because of an endocrinology appointment that was pretty important. He had some labs done the week prior to our trip and some of the hormones came back low. Specifically thyroid and cortisol. He needed further testing done asap, and the clinic is only open on Wednesdays in SF. We had a local appointment mid November, but they didn't want him to wait that long. While in SF, he had an ACTH stimulation test done that is specific for checking the cortisol levels. That test took a couple of hours, partly because they had a hard time getting an IV started on him. He is such a trooper when it comes to the pokes. He doesn't like it at all obviously, but he tolerates it. After the test we went and visited his BFF in SF, Jaclyn, his old PT. Next, it was off to the Endo appointment, where he fell asleep on the exam table because he was just so tired. Of course they wanted more blood work and a bone age test, which is an xray of the hand. Thank goodness we left the IV in after his ACTH test, so they were able to draw from the IV and not poke him again. Then off to radiology on the third floor of the 400 building for the xray. All of his appointments were in the same building across the street from the hospital, so not alot of traveling. We are waiting on the results of the test that were done. It seems to be that they will be supplementing his thyroid at least, and possibly his cortisol. They wouldn't prescribe anything for thyroid until the cortisol test come back in order to get the dosage correct. I am hoping to hear from them on Monday.

We came home Wednesday evening after all of his test were complete. Thursday, his kinder class went to the Righetti High School pumpkin patch and picked out pumpkins. It was alot of fun. They had a bounce house, cookie decorating, face painting, tug of war, and Jackson's favorite, pumpkin bowling. The class walked from Alice Shaw, so I ended up carrying Jackson half way there and half way back. Friday, the 29th, we took cupcakes to Jackson's class to help celebrate his birthday, he enjoyed that. So here we are, on Halloween. Jackson is going to be a cockroach again and Hayden is going to be Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street. They are very excited for trick or treating. I will be posting some pictures from our trip here on the blog today also. I hope everyone enjoys! We sure did!

Jenie