Blessed Are The Flexible

Plan ahead when taking a trip with a child who has Special Needs.

Call the Med supply company and order extra supplies.
Even mail ahead a box if you can.

See the pediatrician and get a letter for medical equipment, especially if you are flying. And get the OK to fly.

Make sure you have an adequate amount of meds that are needed. Especially refills or scripts in case you run out of prescription meds.

Get extra business cards for the pediatrician and specialists incase of an unexpected visit to a hospital.
Plan on taking extra time to get through TSA security at the airport if you are flying. Especially if you have medical equipment or medications.

Always be prepared to have things NOT go as planned. Be as flexible as possible. Expect the unexpected.

My husband and our boys took a trip to see family and friends.

We were first driving to Wisconsin for a Pastors and Leadership Conference. The morning we were getting ready to leave, I was getting the boys ready and bathed. I was bringing my naked boy to the bath and plop! Out fell his Gastric Tube! We followed the surgeons' directions exactly to a T. We cut the balloon portion off the tube and stuck it right back in the surgical opening and taped it so the hole wouldn't close. Then we called the on call number for the office. Turns out, the surgeon and his nurse were at a medical conference. I talked to the Resident doc on call and we were able to go into the office and the popped a new one (better one) right in.

We made it to our destination in Wisconsin without any problems.

From there, we started to make our way to my hometown in Minnesota, when our vehicle's transmission died. Fortunately, family and a couple that we knew that were at the conference with us were able to take us to Minnesota.

We stayed with my daughter, son-in-laws and grandchildren. We had a blast going to Como Park and Zoo in St. Paul. It brought back memories of my childhood and times before we moved to Detroit.

From there we flew out to a warmer weather climate to see my in law's. It was their first time meeting AaronMatthew. We had such a good time, until... two days into our trip, our oldest son came down with a fever, runny nose, cough and sneezing. And five days into our trip, I awoke with a vertigo attack and was hospitalized for 28 hours. We were due to fly out less than 24 hours from the time I got out of the hospital. I could see AaronMatthew was starting not to feel well. He had a cough and was sneezing with a runny nose, but no fever. I was still really woozy and dizzy. My husband seemed to think I could fly back to Minneapolis, even with a layover. I knew I had to. I just didn't know how? But with AaronMatthew getting sick, I really had to. By God's grace we made it back to Minnesota.

The next day, AaronMatthew got a fever of 102 and was pretty sick. My husband and I took him to St Paul Children's Hospital. He was hospitalized overnight for observation and released the next day.

We we're planning on doing family pictures Saturday evening and AaronMatthew's baby dedication the next day on Mother's Day. My son Trés and I got sick with a stomach bug and I puked (again), for two days. Needless to say, we we're really looking forward to going home, but bummed that we weren't healthy enough to enjoy our trip.