The month of July was a whirlwind for us. My stepson's mother was expecting a baby. She had numerous times that she thought she was going into labor, so we had to keep rushing him back to her house. We eventually decided it would be best for him to just stay there until the baby came. So I used that time to get some things done around our house. I painted the living room, the stairway up to my stepson's room, and our master bathroom. I began putting together a few crafts that I would use to decorate our house. Although I still have more to do, it's starting to look much better around here. I'm proud of how good it is all turning out.
The end of July was our Heath family reunion, so we took my stepson and headed to Paragould for that. (His mother had her baby on the 20th.) My parents surprised him when we got to Paragould with a gift. When he unwrapped it he found some Mickey Mouse ears and a shirt saying that he was going to Disney World. We had been keeping the secret for awhile, so it was fun to finally get to see it revealed to him. He was so excited!
We left the next day for Disney. Since we were driving, my parents thought it would be best to stop two nights along the way so my husband didn't have to sit through so much driving at a time. We stopped in Pensacola on the way down, and I got to see one of my good friends who I worked with down there. We drove Tim and Connor by to see my old house and where I worked. We then went to Ocala for the next night. The following morning we drove on into Disney World.
We stayed at Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa. We LOVED it!! We hit Hollywood Studios the first day, but it was only a half day since we spent the first part of the day driving there and getting settled in our room. The next day was Magic Kingdom. We were all amazed at how well Tim was doing. He walked through the whole thing. We only stopped a few times to get him some rest (and of course we had the resting time while on rides). By the time we got back to the room, though, his butt, legs and feet were screaming. I massaged away as much as I could, but I could tell from the look on his face that he was still trying to hide the pain. The third morning we went to Animal Kingdom. Although we absolutely loved it, we only spent about 3 hours there. We decided it was time for us all to get a little rest. We went back to the resort. Tim, Connor and Mom went to the pool so Connor could play and Tim could relax. I slept off a migraine in the room, and Daddy went out exploring the city. Our fourth day was the best. We were all rested, so we hit Epcot early. We had a long day there, but we loved every second of it. That was Connor's favorite park, and it contained his favorite ride "Soarin'". The fifth day we visited Downtown Disney, which turned out to be cooler than I expected. We finished out the week with a park hoppin' sixth day, hitting Hollywood, Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom.
Overall, Tim did an incredible job! We were all so proud of him and of how hard he pushed himself. We took our time coming home, and then we stayed one more night in Paragould before coming back to our house. We have now been home for two days, and I believe everything is catching up to him. He has slept almost non-stop, and his awake hours have been rough on him. With weather moving through, though, he is bound to feel extra pain. But... he got to fully experience his son's first ever trip to Disney World with him! I believe having to put up with a few down days upon return is worth it to get to have such an experience.
He has been reading lately on people with similar injuries who had their legs amputated to rid themselves of the constant extreme pain. He had mentioned it a few times in the past, and reading these stories has led him to thinking a little more deeply about it. So please help us in praying that we can find a way to decrease his pain without going to such extreme measures.
We are meeting with a new doctor for me this week, and we're beginning to look into fertility. We are now on our 13th cycle of actively trying, and we passively tried for 5 cycles before that. He has several VA appointments this month, as well, that are an attempt find solutions to his problems with new doctors. We have deadlines coming up for some appeals and other paperwork we have to complete, so we have some very busy times ahead of us. But I have faith that it will all be good in the end.
Thank you to everyone for your prayers!
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