vacation planning

For the past four months my mom and I have been planning a trip to Carlsbad California which is just outside of San Diego. About four or five months ago one of Lynelle's puppy raisers Amy approached us with a very generous offer, she offered to let us use her timeshare at a beautiful five star resort in Carlsbad for the week of April 26th. Now this lady is the kindest and most generous of people she has done so much for me and my family, she is truely a rare breed and she gave me a new found faith in humanity that I never had before. There really are wonderful people in this crazy messed up world! Anyway of course I accepted her generous off who wouldn't. If I didn't take it not only would I be passing up the opportunity of a lifetime but I would be letting the timeshare go to waste since Amy was not able to use it at that time which would be a tragic thing being as grand and luxurious as it is. This place has got everything one could possibly imagine and desire in a resort...an Olympic size swimming pool, three Jacuzzis,a waterpark, a fully equipped fitness center, Activity Center with video Game Room & Pool Table and much much more! I know I sound like I'm making infomercial lol. This place looks over the ocean of Carlsbad and the beautiful Carlsbad flower Fields so it has quite a view. Although this place has everything one might need we won't be spending our days there we have many many places to see in Carlsbad, nearby San Diego, and Hollywood that's right we're going to Hollywood baby! in Carlsbad we plan on visiting Legoland, the flower fields, and the ocean. In San Diego we are going to the air and space Museum and the magnificent Sea World. And last but not least we are going to Hollywood California to visit the set of the greatest game show on earth the price is right! that's right we are going to try to get on one of the most popular game shows ever created! just last week I called and got tickets for free, now it may sound like it's a sure thing that we get in but they give away far more tickets than seats so we are going to have to get there very early if we want to make it in the door. My mom and I plan to do everything we can to make it on that show. This could be the best trip of my life! as you can probably tell I'm super excited about this trip. this will be the first trip lasting more than one day since I was hospitalized back in August and trached. the ups and downs in my health prevented me from traveling far from home until recently when my health has really improved. Not to say that it will be without risk or burdens. My mom will have to care for me without the support of family, we will be 9 hrs from family and doctors who are familiar with my special needs. Even though it will have it's dangers I can't live my life in fear never venturing far from home, what kind of life would that leave me with? An unfullfilled one not worth living. Sometimes you have to throw caution to the wind and grab life by the horns. That doesn't mean we aren't taking care to make sure the right things are in place to ensure my comfort and safety. We contacted a local respirtory company in Carlsbad so if something goes wrong with my life sastaining equipment there somewhere we can turn to to resolve the problem. We have also contacted a local medical supply company to rent two crucial pieces of equipment that are much too large to fit in my van. We will be renting for the week a Hoyer lift which is used to transfer me from my wheelchair to my bed and vice versa, and a hospital bed. You may be wondering why I don't just use a regular old hotel bed and that's due to the fact that the head and foot can be raised to position me in bed which is crucial to my care as many of my treatments require me to be sitting up. Besides that are van will be crammed with enough medical equipment to run a small hospital, I am definitely not one of those people who can travel light. We need everything but the kitchen sink when we travel there are really too many things to list on my blog it would take up an entire page so I'll let your imagination do the rest sorry. Here are just a few things I'll be bringing; Suction machine, IPV machineand its attachments, cough assist machine, nebulizer and its attachments, extra circuits for my ventilator, ventilator heater, tons of medication, extra pillows for positioning, and much more I won't get into. As you can see we will have our hands full on this trip but I won't let that deter me from having fun issues part of life living with this devastating disease. I won't let it control my life though and I try not to dwell on the negative. This trip will really give me a chance to show this crippling disease whose boss I won't let it control me! under a fight this thing with every ounce of energy have until the day I die. I am truly a fighter.